REDDITCH Borough Council has been issued with a section 24 notice, because of its failure to deliver the 20/21 statement of accounts on time.
Recommendations from auditors are to be discussed next week.
The council say the reasons for the delay include the ramifications of Covid and a higher than usual turnover of staff which occurred during the implementation of a new finance system, with the authority being the first in the country to use its module to log income.
Portfolio-Holder for finance Coun Karen Ashley said: “On top of the financial challenges which face local authorities each year we were presented with a hat-trick of extra challenges which were beyond our control.
“However, following the recruitment of a new Finance Team to fill the vacancies we made immediate headway, as recognised by the auditors in their report, and are on target to produce our draft statement of accounts at the end of November.”
As per the auditor’s recommendations their report will be discussed at the Audit and Governance Committee meeting next Thursday (Nov 10) and then at full Council on November 14.
Council Leader Matt Dormer said: “This has come as no surprise and we have made no secret about it which is why we are in the strong position that we are now with most of the recommendations already in hand or resolved.
“As we continue to navigate the economic crisis and financial challenges, I am confident our highly skilled team and systems will help us to successfully do this and that this Council will continue to not shy away from making tough and unpopular decisions to ensure a buoyant budget.”
Former Tory chair of finance Coun David Thain, defected from the Conservative party to the Green Party in April of this year.
He said: “I took Redditch Borough Council out of Section 24 in 2020/2021.
“Grant Thornton have since given RBC chance after chance but the Council ignores these warnings and, even now, I suspect, are consistently submitting late accounts.
“I am not surprised by Grant Thornton’s current action to put Redditch back into Section 24.
“The Council should start to act responsibly and abandon vanity projects like the new library.
“The Council’s Green agenda is also lamentable and, unfortunately, this will make matters worse.”
Coun Mike Rouse, who took over from Coun Thain in the Finance Portfolio at the end of 2021 said:
“Coun Thain is just plain wrong to claim he took Redditch Borough Council out of Section 24, when in actual fact he was the Portfolio Holder at the time who introduced the IT software that is responsible for the lateness of the accounts.
“When I took over from him at the start of 2022, I asked why on earth we were the first council to use this untested software in the whole UK, which promptly broke, and was told it was a decision already made and couldn’t be reversed.
“I asked if we even negotiated a discount for being guinea pigs, but to my horror found that the council didn’t even do this. During his stewardship of the finances the council took a huge gamble on software that didn’t work, and failed to prepare its own accounts as a result – a legacy he left, and then defected to the Greens just before it all came out.”
