Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Executive present the Financial Recovery Programme for Members’ consideration.

Included in the report was information regarding the process the Council had been following since the implementation of the new financial system in 2021;and discussions undertaken following the issuing of the Section 24 Notice Statutory Recommendations that had taken place at the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee meeting on 14^th September 2022 and at Executive and Council in November and December 2022 and 2023.

Of the six Statutory Recommendations only one serious weakness remained, which was in relation to the opening balances linked to the budget which should be resolved with the delivery of the Accounts. All other Recommendations had been mitigated. Members were informed that there was one new Key Recommendation linked to the Organisational Capability and Capacity which, it was reported, would be mitigated by the Council’s Workforce Strategy currently being implemented.

Since the previous Finance Recovery report there had been several areas to note. These were as follows:

1. Financial monitoring had been undertaken on TechOne (the Council’s finance system).
2. The 2020/2021 Accounts had been passed through public inspection. However, it was still unclear as to when these Accounts would be audited.
3. The continuation of the monthly Accounts Payable training.
4. The recruitment of the Assistant Director of Finance and Customer Services in April 2024.
5. The appointment of four new members of the Finance team and interviews for five more officers to join the team. This would reduce the reliance on agency staff in the future.

The Executive Committee were informed that some actions had been agreed by the Councils’ external auditors which included the presentation of the draft Accounts of 2021/22 and 22022/23 at the next meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee in late September 2024. However, there was the caveat that these would be presented without the 2020 or 2021/222 Audit adjustments.

It was highlighted that the new Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government had written to Local Councils in July 2024 and noted the unacceptable number of unaudited accounts, the number of which was likely to continue to rise to one thousand later in 2024. In order to rectify this, the Minister would implement secondary legislation to introduce a backstop date for financial years up to and including 2022/23 of 13^th December 2024.

Any updates in this area would be reported to the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee and then on to the Executive Committee.

Following the presentation of the reports Members were pleased with the further clarity provided in respect of the Accounts for previous years. They also noted that the TechOne implementation, although difficult in the first instance, it was now working well and this was a sophisticated system that provided effective planning for the finance status of the Council.

RESOLVED to note:

1)    The progress made on the financial recovery including:

·       Delivery of the Statutory Accounts.

·       Delivery of Statutory Financial Returns.

·       Improvements in the Control Environment.

2)    The work still under way to move back to a best practice operation and the associated timetable for completion of this work, as contained in this report.