TAXPAYERS' cash for social care could have been misspent on "high" mobile phone bills and expensive Apple products.

Money was also spent on utility bills, carers food and household repairs, with two parents also paying themselves "high salaries", according to a report by Oxfordshire County Council.

The local authority – which has to find £70m of savings in its budget by February – said not all of the payments were approved and had not been recovered.

The report by chief finance officer Lorna Baxter added: "The deputy director has confirmed these example items may not be relevant to meet assessed eligible need and will require further scrutiny."

The situation has been flagged as 'red' to a watchdog committee of councillors, who are due to discuss it tomorrow.

The direct payments system, which had a budget of £25m in 2014/15, is used by about 1,770 people who want to organise their own care.

Guidance from the county council says the payments can be used to employ care staff or personal assistants, but not to employ a close relative or person living in their home, or to pay for food, drinks, utilities, gifts or other everyday items.

Yesterday a county council spokesman told the Oxford Mail the direct payments system was being reviewed to see if "there needed to be more controls".

But the local authority claimed it was "impossible to put a figure" on how much cash had potentially been misused.

The spokesman added: "The queries about possible misuse involved only a very small proportion of the total £25m budget.

"The audit of direct payments was conducted to identify any weaknesses in the system. 

"It found that in some cases there needed to be more controls in place to provide management with assurance that all personal budgets were spent as intended, to meet service users assessed care needs.

"It is important to stress that investigations are ongoing and no conclusions have yet been reached. 

"However, should it be found that any funds have been spent inappropriately, steps will be taken to recover the money.

"A new direct payments policy is being developed which will make it clear how funds should be used, whilst retaining the fundamental direct payment principles of service user choice and control."

The county council's audit and governance committee will examine the direct payments system tomorrow at a meeting in County Hall.

Committee member and Liberal Democrat councillor Roz Smith said: "I will be asking officers questions about this.

"With money so tight at the council, we have to scrutinise everything very carefully.

"If mistakes have been made, for whatever reason, we need to get better processes in place."