Some staff who submitted travel claims included mileage from their home to the office or depot, while other claims were found to be duplicate, a Carmarthenshire Council report has revealed.

In-house auditors checked a sample of 20 mileage claims and found that seven hadn’t deducted the home to office or depot element of the journey, which isn’t covered.

Auditors also identified that seven mileage claims out of 20 were in fact duplicate claims.

In another sample of 20 claims, auditors found that 10 either had no supporting information or valid VAT receipts.

They also checked 20 food and drink claims and identified three where no receipts or other documentation was provided. Auditors were unable to corroborate one of the other claims, said the report before the council’s governance and audit committee, because the relevant manager didn’t respond to them.

It emerged that receipts could not be attached to travel claims on the council’s IT system, according to the report.

Cllr Kim Broom, referring to the home to office mileage over-claiming, said: “Either the message is not getting through, or people are realising they can get away with it.” She felt a strong reminder was needed for staff on this point.

Chris Moore, director of corporate services, said managers should be checking claims before approving them.

Auditors made six recommendations to strengthen existing controls, and staff and managers have been reminded of the various policies.

The internal audit also examined the payroll department and found a previous recommendation for a council-wide directive for approving overtime claims hadn’t been put in place.

Auditors sampled 10 overtime payments and found one which hadn’t been signed by the relevant officer and another which had resulted in the employee being underpaid.

And in four cases out of 10 additional payments made to staff known as market supplements had not been properly authorised or the employee was paid for a shift they hadn’t worked.

Meanwhile two overpayments totalling £3,203.58p were identified because of a late change of post notification or late notice that the employee had left the organisation.

The audit team made 11 recommendations to strengthen payroll controls.

Julie James, a lay member of the committee, said it was a concern that the previous recommendation for an overtime directive had been outstanding for a considerable amount of time.

She also felt that reminding managers about the various protocols by newsletter, as indicated in the report, wasn’t robust enough.

Committee chairman David MacGregor – also a lay member – said newsletter reminders were, in his view, “very weak” and “sloppy” - stating: “I just don’t like it. If you don’t get the responses and improvement you’re expecting to see, I think it needs follow-up action. People need to be called in or spoken to.”

A council payroll officer said a draft overtime document had been developed and that it could be in place in the next couple of months. She added that systems training for managers also took place and that there were ways of reminding staff and managers other than newsletters.