A further £353,000 in taxpayers cash has been written off by Walsall Council over accounting errors.

It takes the total loss to the public purse from £2.5million to more than £2.8million.

More than £3million was handed out to community groups and charities as far back as 2003 and was supposed to be claimed back from the European Union.

But the council failed to keep a proper audit trail and so is unable to recoup the money.

The latest figure was revealed at last night’s audit committee meeting by Walsall Council chief executive Paul Sheehan.

He said: “There is actually additional de-commitment of £353,000 from other European funding streams which brings the total to £2,872,144.”

Mr Sheehan is to ask the appointments committee whether they want disciplinary action against officers involved. A decision will be made in the coming weeks.

The overall cost to the taxpayer was revealed earlier this week in an independent report into the debacle by financial experts Grant Thornton.

John Roberts, a partner at the firm, was at last night’s meeting and believed one of the main problems was a lack of “transparency.”