Austerity measures and pressures on budgets have led to a reduced internal capacity to investigate fraud and corruption at many councils, according to the Welsh spending watchdog.
In a report released this week, Auditor General for Wales Adrian Crompton said that authorities lost most of their skilled fraud investigators after the creation of a centralised fraud investigation service within the Department for Work and Pensions.
The report said: “While some councils have retained a dedicated counter-fraud resource, internal audit has filled the gap elsewhere.
“However, not all internal audit teams have received formal training and many teams lack counter-fraud experience.”
On cost grounds, only two councils have subscribed to the CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre, the report found.
It estimated that the wider public sector loses up to £1bn a year in Wales through fraud.
