ST. PAUL — Minnesota’s legislative auditor has found that some of the state’s welfare programs do a poor job of making sure recipients are actually eligible for benefits.

An audit released Friday looked at several federally funded programs that help low-income, elderly and disabled residents. The issue could become a political one as lawmakers craft the next state budget, as Republicans who control the Legislature have called for big cuts to the Department of Human Services.

As part of the review, the legislative auditor examined the Department of Human Services’ processes and checked a random sample of cases. Some problems were discovered.

The audit reviewed 24 families on the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program and found that eight were not eligible for benefits they were getting. That program is funded by the U.S. government and administered by county workers.

The department’s own review process later identified and corrected the mistakes. The audit recommended the department work harder to educate county workers to prevent these mistakes in the future.

The audit also found that county workers made errors in determining whether elderly and disabled residents were eligible for help under the state’s Medical Assistance or Medicaid program. Four of 40 tested cases were given Medical Assistance benefits they weren’t eligible to receive.

Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Johnson Piper agreed with the findings and said the agency would work harder to improve training for county workers. She also said elderly and disabled Medical Assistance cases would be reviewed.

The audit didn’t look at the state’s major public health programs because it wasn’t directed to do so. A 2014 audit found shortcomings in how the department verified eligibility for these programs, and this time “the department acknowledged that it had not fully resolved most of the findings of our earlier audit of the eligibility determinations in the Minnesota eligibility system.”

Republican lawmakers used error rates found in the 2014 audit to call for a major review of eligibility for public programs.