Audit Wales: Care homes 'given cash for dead residents'

Some care homes in Wales were paid for people who had died, a spending watchdog has found.

In 11 cases local authorities continued to pay the homes for people after their deaths at an average cost of £14,545.

A fraud initiative also led to the cancellation of 2,717 blue badges, which are intended for use by people with disabilities to park closer to their destinations.

The exercise found people were using the badges of others who had died.

The review by Audit Wales discovered that fraud cost the public sector £6.5m last year.

It said that 81% of overpayments had been or were in the process of being recovered.

The annual review of the books of public bodies found most of the problems involved council tax discounts (£2.6m), blue badges (£1.4m) and housing waiting lists (£800,000).

Students not entitled to help made up the majority of fraudulent and erroneous claims for housing benefit, at a cost of £600,000.

The £1.4m cost of improper blue badge use is based on a estimate of lost parking revenues.

"I was quite surprised at the level of blue badges in Wales that [are] apparently fraud," said Alexandra Osborne from Disability Wales, the national association of disabled peoples' organisations.

She said she was disappointed by the finding and there should not be more checks on blue badge use.

"The biggest thing is people are not being truthful when someone's passed away and just keep using the badge," she said. "(I'm a) bit worried the media will focus on benefit cheats because it's such a lifeline to so many of us."

She said disabled people already face abuse from people questioning if they deserve a blue badge.

"I don't look disabled," she explained. "I've had a blue badge since I was a kid and have always had this negativity."

Wales Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: "Identifying £6.5m in this latest national fraud initiative exercise is an important contribution to public service funding across Wales.

"It is more important than ever that organisations have sound governance and controls in place to help protect vital services from the risk of fraud," he added.

The Welsh Local Government Association has been asked to comment.