Council confirms member of staff has been sacked

Police are investigating allegations that a member of staff misappropriated nearly £ 7,000 from a Renfrewshire nursery.

The claims came to light after Renfrewshire Council published a report which revealed thousands of pounds had gone missing from the pre-five centre.

An internal council probe was sparked in September last year after an employee at the centre, which can’t be named for legal reasons, claimed cash was stolen after she accidentally left it on the bus.

However, after suspicions were raised, council auditors were drafted in to probe the missing money.

Their report alleged the employee misappropriated £ 5,280 and linked her to a further £ 1,151, which it said “cannot be directly attributed to the named employee. However, given the employee’s involvement with these funds it is possible that these have also been misappropriated by the same employee.”

A further £ 350 remains unaccounted for. Following the discovery, a member of staff was dismissed and the matter was reported to the police.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “Following an internal investigation and disciplinary process, an employee was dismissed.

“The matter has been reported to Police Scotland and is subject to an ongoing police investigation.

“The council has developed an action plan to address the recommendations from the internal investigation, ensuring cash handling procedures are robust, providing cash handling training to employees and ensuring management have adequate oversight of financial affairs.”

The council’s auditor d e l i v e red a damning assessment of the centre’s cash handling procedures.

It noted: “The internal control environment operated at the centre and at council HQ for specific areas, such as cash handling, record keeping and income reconciliation, is not adequate to either prevent or detect any possible defalcation.

“The internal control environment at the centre was found to be weak, particularly in relation to compliance with established procedures, segregation of duties, reconciliations and management oversight, which has contributed to the employee being able to misappropriate funds over a significant period of time.”

Following an internal investigation and disciplinary process, an employee was dismissed