People are using Moray Council leisure centres and not paying their membership fees.
The issue was flagged up during an internal audit of Keith sports and community centre focusing on income and expenditure.
It found that Fit Life cards have been used while direct debits have not been collected.
‘It beggars belief’
Keith is responsible for the administration of all the council’s leisure centres.
Gladstone software is used to process Fit Life bookings.
However direct debits are administered through the council’s financial management system.
The audit found there were more users processed through the Gladstone system, meaning people were using leisure services but not paying for them.
It was also noted that there was no alert in the software flagging up when a child using a family Fit Life card reached 18.
That would result in them needing their own membership.
And it found clothing and equipment sold at the Keith sports centre was not sourced through the council’s proper procurement channels.
The issue was discussed at the audit and scrutiny committee committee this week.
Procurement policy not followed
Conservative councillor for Fochabers Lhanbryde Marc Macrae praised the work of the audit team for unearthing the issues.
But he is worried others could be tempted to cancel their direct debits and still use their cards.
Mr Macrae said: “It does concern me quite a bit that this paper is in public session.
“Particularly when it’s been identified that payments haven’t been taken but service users still have access to services.
“It beggars belief that this has been allowed to happen.
“And I’m disappointed there’s no officers here to answer these questions.
“How far back does this go and how much has this cost Moray Council?”
Mr Macrae added someone told him recently that they were able to access leisure facilities for six months before their non payment was noticed.
Audit and risk manager Dafydd Lewis said the need at the moment was to undertake a full reconciliation of the systems to make sure problems did not reoccur.
And he was reluctant to put an precise figure on the cost to the council before that work was carried out.
Costs unknown
Monitoring officer Alastair McEachan told the meeting on Tuesday it was the job of the committee to improve scrutiny.
He said: “It’s something we should be open about if we haven’t got things right.”
The service has agreed to adhere to the recommendations set out by the auditors.
Operating costs for Keith sports centre for 2023/24 came to about £472,000.
But it only took around £412,000 in income.
And the council received £1.45 million from the Fit Life scheme.
Conversation