Auditors have given Devon County Council a 'roasting' after discovering failures showing staff were still being paid after they had left the authority.

In other cases, the council was paying expenses to staff without having the receipts to prove the expenditure was actually made and travel costs were being claimed without saying what the trip was for.

Cllr Alan Connett (Lib Dem) who serves on the council’s audit committee said: "I was shocked to read the reports about what is happening at County Hall.

“People across Devon will be stunned that the council is even failing to check expenses before paying them."

He added: "Thankfully, it is a small number of people who were overpaid when they left the council.

“However, the worry is that if it happening in one department it could be be happening, unseen, in other County Hall departments.

"We were assured that the £11,239 overpaid is being paid back on installment plans apart from £200 which was written off.”

An interim member of staff had their contract extended on the basis it would not be extended again.

However, the contract was, in fact, extended further and approval given.

The report also shows that the longest serving interim member of staff has been at County Hall for two years and the longest serving consultant for three years.

The report says Devon County Council spends around £10.7 million a year on agency workers.

Cllr Caroline Leaver, Leader of the Liberal Democrats group on Devon County Council said:" At a time when every penny really matters and County Hall is demanding more Council Tax from already hard-pushed residents, we would all expect the tightest of grips on the expenditure.

“The auditors have given the County Council a roasting - and rightly so.

"What we see in the auditors report, are frankly shocking examples that will concern everyone.

“The Conservatives have been running Devon County Council for 16 years but they are, very clearly, not in control.

“Money is being wasted and the systems to stop it are simply either not place or not being observed."