Important files are lying in the trash, there is no business there: Again, inconsistencies arise at the Office for Social Services in Bremen.
The Office for Social Services in Bremen is not at rest. During the inspection of data waste containers, more than 400 documents were discovered that should not have been disposed of. This is the result of a report that the social services authority under Senator Claudia Schilling (SPD) has now presented to the Deputation for Social Affairs, Youth and Integration.
The documents come from the case files of two employees and, as far as we know, are not connected to suspected cases of fraud or breach of trust against two employees of the office. Senator Claudia Schilling explained: “The seized documents have now been recorded and categorized.” They are currently being processed in the office.
As a result, the authority wants to use case management to ensure that all applications are recorded centrally in the software and assigned to a person in the processing department. In addition, the number of staff will be increased and a company will be commissioned to examine the structures and processes and develop recommendations for further improvements. “This will allow us to get an external view and perspective,” said Schilling. The results of the analysis will be presented to the deputation in September.
It was recently revealed that two employees of the authority had allegedly illegally transferred money to their own accounts over a period of years. This caused a great deal of damage, and the public prosecutor’s office is investigating for fraud and breach of trust. You can read more about this here. The investigation into the data waste was initiated because it was wanted to rule out the possibility that the employees – a woman and a man – could have disposed of evidence.
Of the total of 432 documents found, 219 documents relate to payments that were automatically created by the software. Some of these documents should have been sent to the benefit recipients, others should have been kept on file. In addition, 14 applications for benefits under the Maintenance Advance Payments Act (UVG) were found, including twelve applications from communities in need of citizen’s allowance.
At the beginning of August, the office management had all 95 data garbage bins in all six social centers and two central specialist services checked unannounced. According to current knowledge, no other relevant documents were found.
