Council continued to pay phone bills of ex-staff for years

NINE staff had their phone bills paid for years after they had left working for a council, an audit has revealed.

It is also understood that one worker’s phone bill was paid for nearly seven years after retiring.

The findings were contained in a series of internal audits by Kilkenny County Council, which also disclosed that less than 10% of staff accounted for 44% of its expenses claims.

The council was not keeping an accurate log of what cars employees were driving, meaning they could easily have been paid higher rates based on cars with bigger engines than the vehicles they actually drove.

An internal audit said some mileage expense claims were so high that the council needed to consider whether it would be cheaper to just buy or lease vehicles for those staff.

Issues with recording of absences among staff members were also flagged in one of the reports, seven of which were released under Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

Business absences logged by one employee were recorded as a full stop on more than 100 occasions on the council’s internal files. Another used the words ‘business leave’ to record 65 absences without providing any further detail.

An audit also found that 218 employees had accumulated nearly 18,000 unexplained absences and that staff were routinely clocking in at locations other than their actual work base.

An internal audit of social housing raised questions over how the valuation process worked and whether the council was always getting value for money. In one case, a valuation report was commissioned on a house recommending payment of €180,000, which was the exact same as the market asking price.

Yet the same valuation report had also said: ‘The dwelling [was] in poor condition and does not reflect the amount of money being requested from the vendors as it requires an enormous spend to improve.’ The report recommended an independent valuation take place prior to any offers being made on houses.

A review of mobile phone devices found no formal policy in place, lack of supervision and phones being retained after people left service.

The report said: ‘Eleven devices included in August invoice were not recognised by the staff member listed on the invoice. These included mobile phones and 3G Sims.’

Problems were also identified with payment of phones for former staff.

‘One staff member left employment in Feb 2012 – [the council] has paid the bill for the past six years and seven months. This has cost the council €1,068.87,’ it was revealed.

In a statement, director of services Tim Butler said: ‘Internal audit is an independent internal corporate function of Kilkenny County Council with the purpose of analysing systems and processes within the organisation.

‘The purpose of reports by the internal auditor is to highlight facts, examine systems and processes, seek observations from line managers and make recommendations on additional controls required in specific areas and any follow-up required.’

Questions if council was always getting value