AUDITORS issued a ‘qualifying letter’ to Bolton Council after finding errors in its housing subsidy benefit claims.

Accountants KPMG found cases that resulted in an overpayment of benefits due to applications being incorrectly processed.

The letter means that issues were identified that could not be resolved through adjustment. Chris Paisley told the audit committee that the errors were “quite small in terms of number and value”. Cllr David Greenhalgh said it was a “serious matter” and suggested futher investigation to determine if the problem was down to “human error or something more systematic”.