Local authorities in Scotland have been urged to learn from the weaknesses that enabled an Aberdeen City Council employee to defraud the council of £1.1m over nearly two decades.
The employee stole £1.109m worth of council tax refund payments between 2006 and 2023 before a staff member became suspicious and alerted senior colleagues.
A report from the Accounts Commission has found that while the council had a system of controls in place, these were ‘not adhered to and lacked scrutiny’.
It added that the council has acted swiftly to improve its processes over the past year but needs to ‘increase the momentum’ to complete its outstanding improvement actions.
The commission also reminded officers and councillors that they had a duty to safeguard public money by using effective systems and checks.
Andrew Burns, deputy chair of the Accounts Commission, said the Aberdeen City Council case was a ‘cautionary tale.’
‘All councils in Scotland need to learn from this prolonged and significant fraud,’ he said.
‘It isn’t enough to have controls to counter fraud; checks need to be followed, weaknesses identified, and routine testing of systems carried out.’
Aberdeen City Council expects to recover the lost funds in full.
A council spokesperson commented: ‘Aberdeen City Council will carefully examine the findings of the Accounts Commission. A report will be brought to the council for consideration, including the Accounts Commission’s recommended actions and the council’s proposed response to the recommended actions.’
