The meeting is being held to consider the recommendations submitted by Grant Thornton UK LLP, the local auditor of the accounts for Croydon Borough Council, relating to addressing the s151 Officers Section 114 report and also the Council’s governance arrangements.
The report makes 8 recommendations in this regard, listed below, which the Council will consider at the 29 March Council meeting.
The meeting to be held at the Council Chamber, Croydon Town Hall, and will start at 6.30pm.
Addressing the s114 report
The Council should put in place robust arrangements to address and implement the recommendations of the s151 officer set out in her section 114 report. In our view the Council should:
- finalise the root and branch review of financial management in all service departments and in respect of corporate decisions as part of the Opening the Books exercise
- resolve the accounting arrangements in respect of Croydon Affordable Homes
- invest significant extra resource, when possible, in finance capacity, internal audit and risk management to ensure robust processes are brought into place to monitor progress and meet statutory financial obligations
- demonstrate clearly to Council tax payers how the additional Council tax for 2023/24 has been properly controlled and demonstrates improvements in value for money arrangements.
Improving governance at the Council
The Council should develop a comprehensive project plan for the improvement in governance arrangements to:
- develop an action plan to clear the three outstanding years of accounts and audit by June 2024
- develop and enhance governance process for all key investment decisions and develop a Panel to address the accounting implication of all capital investments
- enhance existing officer control activities by ensuring the Scrutiny Committee approves the monthly budgets report from officers from a governance and control perspective.
- ensure that the lessons learned from the former CEO’s termination payments, as set out to Full Council in 2022, are applied to all future Chief Officer severance payments
The full report and Council’s response to the recommendations will be published in the council meeting agenda papers online. The meeting will be held in public and live streamed.