WHILE Labour Deputy Leader Cllr. Cathy Mitchell has blamed the Government for a “significant backlog” of Local Audits, Warrington South MP Andy Carter has hit back at local Labour Cllrs over a five year delay in audit sign offs and £½ million fees.
He says the council is more like a Hedge fund and, together with opposition Conservative Cllrs. “remains deeply concerned over the financial state of the Council.”
The latest political fall out over the council’s finances follows a letter from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Conservative Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Lee Rowley MP, sharing details regarding the total number of outstanding local authority audits in England. The total figure stands at 520, affecting councils across the country, including Warrington.
In 2015, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government abolished the Audit Commission, a body responsible for auditing local government in England. Handing over the role of external auditing of local government accounts to private companies.
External auditors perform audits on Local Authorities’ accounts once they are submitted. However, due to what the Parliamentary Under-Secretary described as a “significant backlog,” many councils have been left waiting for years for their accounts to be processed.
Nationally, many councils are facing difficulties due to the significant backlog. As of 18th July, only 27% of audits for the financial year 2021-22 had been completed.
Warrington Borough Council was among the 37% of Councils that managed to meet their accounts deadline this May for the 22-23 financial year. Bucking the trend, by publishing its draft accounts on time, unlike the majority of Councils in England.
In total, the backlog comprises 520 outstanding local audits across England, some dating back to 2015-16. Many councils find themselves in a situation like Warrington’s, awaiting external auditors’ approval of their accounts.
The situation has gotten so bad that a “system reset” of the local audit process has been proposed by the Government.
Responding to the backlog, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, stated, “The shortage of qualified individuals and firms engaged in conducting these crucial audits means that the system will deteriorate further before any improvement is realised.”
Cllr. Mitchell, Cabinet member for Corporate Resources, said: “Like most councils, we have consistently submitted our draft accounts on time. So, the national backlog in accounts auditing is incredibly frustrating for us.
“Like many councils up and down the country, we are still waiting for a few of our accounts to be audited, despite submitting them on time. We aren’t alone in this.
“The Government has claimed that problems were compounded due to Covid, but issues have existed with the system long before the pandemic.
“The Government has made numerous promises about how they might fix the problem and reduce the backlog. However, there has been no progress, and we find ourselves still in the same predicament.
“Even the Vice-Chair of the Public Accounts Committee has stated that things are only going to get worse before they get better.
“The closure of the Audit Commission in 2015 by the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition Government has been disastrous. Private companies have not delivered for hard-working, tax-paying families across Warrington.
“What we see now is the Conservative Government realising that closing the Audit Commission and cutting its budget has had a detrimental impact, and councils up and down the country are feeling the effects.
“The responsibility for all these outstanding accounts lies solely with the Conservative Government. It’s time they realised that cuts to public spending have consequences.”
But Mr Carter hit back slamming the council’s five year delay in audit sign off and £½ million fees.
Mr Carter said: “Labour Councillors in Warrington appear to be in complete denial about the reasons for Warrington’s five years of open accounts or they simply don’t understand the system for financial sign off.
“Whist draft accounts may be produced within target time scales the acid test is the External Audit of these accounts. The delays in Warrington are because the independent external auditor won’t give approval to proceed.
“Unlike in other areas, the start of Warrington’s problems were the 2017/18 investments in Redwood Bank and Birchwood Park. Leading to challenges from the External Auditor and the Council only reluctantly amending their stance on the way they treated charges to revenue linked to borrowing to allow the 2017/18 accounts to be signed off.
“One quick way to see how complex the accounts are is to see the fees charged to Warrington by external auditors which were almost £½ million alone for 2017/18, money that should be spent on local services.
“The Council is continuing with their disastrous high borrowing low return strategy creating a complex organisation more akin to a hedge fund than a Council.
“Warrington is a massive outlier, borrowing here is unlike anywhere else in the country and to try and suggest delays in sign off are the same as elsewhere is totally disingenuous. Until these accounts are audited and closed we can have little faith in the draft numbers presented. I, along with Conservative Councillors in Warrington remain deeply concerned over the financial state of the Council.”
MP hits out at Labour Councillors who ‘nod through £145m loan’ without asking any questions!
1 Comment
Yet if your government mr carter funded local authorities properly local authorities could get on with running public services as they were elected to do. Not expecting councillors to make borrowing decisions or face cutting vital services. It is clear what side of that fence your party sits on so please tell us, once you have sold the investments, what will you cut to offset the income they are currently generating?