Stronger protocols have been introduced by Blackpool Council to protect the finances of vulnerable people in the town.

The council’s Client Finances service controls around £4.6m worth of funds on behalf of residents who do not have the capacity to manage their own spending.

The council’s audit committee was given an update on its recommendations to the service to review “additional controls put in place following the discovery of fraudulent activity within the service in 2018.”

A report to the committee adds: “Overall we have assessed that there is an adequate system of controls for client finances.

“However, there is scope to further enhance controls around authorisation of purchase card transactions, finance requests and the reconciliation process.”

These include reconciling financial data in the council’s systems with clients’ bank accounts on a monthly basis.

Councillors were told any discrepancies were “mainly small amounts” due to human error in manually inputting data.

Louise Jones, head of revenues, benefits and customer services at the council, told the meeting the priority of the team was to ensure clients got what they needed when they needed it.

She admitted human error “does happen” but added “clients are never disadvantaged”.

She told the meeting: “Reconciliation is done every month to ensure our system matches up with bank statements.”

Currently the department has 421 clients, an increase from 110 in 2016, with around 100 referrals a year mainly from social workers.

People who rely on the service include those with learning disabilities, mental health problems, older adults or those with ongoing health issues including recent discharges from hospital.

Town hall staff mainly manage people’s benefits payments, although around 50 clients also have capital, and oversee outgoings such as food shopping, clothes purchases, essential items and services such as gym membership.