Moray Council: ‘Systemic problem’ claim as 1200 blue badge bills remain unsent
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Concerns have been expressed that Moray Council has a "systemic problem" when it comes to following financial regulations.
That comment came from councillor Donald Gatt (Keith and Cullen, Conservative) during discussions on issuing disabled parking permits.
An internal audit found no bills were ever sent out for 1200 blue badges applied for in 2020/21, resulting in a £24,000 budget shortfall.
Speaking at a meeting of the audit and scrutiny committee on Wednesday, cllr Gatt said "I’m concerned that financial regulations have been breached here.
"It does say there were extraordinary challenges because of the pandemic.
"But for the council to function the council has to keep its income going.
"Just because we’re in a difficult time doesn’t necessarily mean you throw the rulebook out."
The councillor drew attention to another issue where two temporary cabins were bought for £235,000.
These were procured – without proper authority – to house nursery children from Aberlour Primary while that building was being refurbished.
But the cabins were never used and the council is now trying to sell them.
Cllr Gatt said: "This is another incident where financial regulations were not followed, I’m a bit concerned about whether we have a systemic problem."
He also raised worries at the length of time it has taken for the disabled parking policy to be reviewed.
Cllr Gatt said: "The blue badge scheme was last updated in 2013.
"That seems like an excessive length of time to review a policy. We do seem to have a problem keeping our policies up to date."
Audit and risk manager Dafydd Lewis told the meeting his team will look into the invoicing system and a review will come to a future meeting.
There were also calls for the £20 payment for blue badges to be made when people apply for them.
Peter Bloomfield (Elgin South, Conservative) called it "absolutely bonkers" that people were unable to pay for their permits online.
On top of the unissued bills, it was discovered some invoices were not sent out for several months after badges were delivered.
In addition, the internal audit also found clients’ sensitive personal data was not held securely.
Work is now under way to identify those who were never billed for their blue badges but that is not expected to be completed until the end of January 2004.
In the last financial year Moray Council issued around 1700 disabled parking permits, bringing in about £29,000.
