A Somerset council broke its own rules to secure a social care contract during the coronavirus pandemic.

Somerset County Council – which was officially abolished in March – entered into a contract with Athena in November 2021 to help secure additional care beds for coronavirus patients.

An official audit by the South West Audit Partnership (SWAP), which is based in Yeovil, has found the council broke its own rules regarding the contract, which ultimately cost nearly twice as much as the council had anticipated.

The new Somerset Council said the contract had ended on March 31, 2023 and would implement all changed recommended by SWAP to prevent this from happening again.

The results of the SWAP audit were published before the inaugural meeting of the new council's audit committee in Taunton on April 27.

Athena was commissioned by the county council as part of a wider effort to secure additional beds for covid patients in the latter stages of the pandemic.

SWAP officials founds there were "significant gaps, weaknesses or non-compliance" in the council's approach, with "staff turnover and changes in responsibility" meaning that Athena's work for the council did not have "robust oversight".

The council originally budgeted for this contract to cost £600,000 – but due to multiple extensions, the final bill was £1.1m.

The audit found that the council's adult social care team had not validated invoices for Athena's work, and that an 'exit plan' for the end of the contract had not been produced by the company.

A spokesman said: "It is important to acknowledge the extreme challenges placed on adult services as the effects of the covid lockdown isolation, combined with pressures from around 180,000 new cases per day, negatively impacted elderly and vulnerable adults.

"The council commissioned the Athena contract as a way of releasing acute hospital beds and unblocking intermediate care beds.

"Our findings are not a reflection of the work that Athena has performed, which we believe the council deems to be of a satisfactory quality due to the continued use of them to provide this service.

"Our assessment reflects the way that contract was awarded and the ongoing lack of clarity and responsibility within the council for managing this contract.

SWAP has made a total of ten recommendations regarding the council's procurement processes, which will need to be implemented by the beginning of 2024.

These include relevant training for all adult social care commissioners, proper validation of invoices before payment is authorised, and ensuring 'exit plans' from contracts are in place to prevent unwanted contract extensions.

Somerset Council said it accepted the findings of the audit in full and would ensure that all recommendations were implemented.

A spokesman said: "A key decision was taken in November 2021 to support the local health and care system during a sustained period of heightened demand and escalation linked to covid-19. At the time, we commissioned additional intermediate care beds to help improve the flow out of acute hospitals and support the NHS.

"In order to ensure we were able to meet our duties under the Care Act 2014, we commissioned Athena as a managed service provider to carry out statutory assessments and planning.

"As part of our audit process, we asked SWAP to audit this contact. We have contributed to the independent SWAP audit and agreed to implement all the recommendations by 2024."