Issue - meetings

Report to follow.

The Committee received the final Statement of Accounts and Audit Report for 2024-25. The Chair noted that late amendments had been issued earlier in the day but emphasised that the changes did not affect the overall financial position. The Interim Deputy Chief Finance Officer, Altin Bozhani, highlighted the key elements of the accounts, including:

• That External auditors had issued a disclaimed opinion due to limitations in verifying opening balances following several years without audit;
• A net revenue underspend of £455k was transferred to the General Fund;
• There had been strong collection rates for Council Tax at 97.4% and Business Rates at 97.9%;
• Commercial income had made a contribution of £9.1m, with occupancy levels at approximately 91%;
• Capital programme expenditure was £33.1m, including completion of the Eclipse leisure centre;
• There had been movements in the balance sheet, including an increase in net liabilities and reductions in reserves due to the £50m regeneration scheme write?off.

The Interim Chief Executive and S151 Officer, Terry Collier, provided further clarification on the accounts. He noted that the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts had been prepared under the previous Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy, and reminded the Committee that a new MRP policy was approved in November 2025. He highlighted that this change would represent a significant shift in accounting treatment and would impact the preparation of the 2025/26 accounts, discussions on which were already underway with Grant Thornton and other stakeholders. He welcomed the work planned ahead of the new financial year to support a timely and well?managed accounts closure process, noting that the timetable would be challenging for both the external auditors and the finance team. He added that the Committee had previously considered and approved the Audit Findings Report, the Value for Money Report and the Annual Governance Statement. The Annual Governance Statement included in the Statement of Accounts which had been signed by the Leader and the Interim Chief Executive in line with requirements. The remaining document requiring signature was the Letter of Representation, which the Chair and Interim Chief Executive would sign as part of the meeting’s decisions.

Members of the Committee raised serious concerns regarding the late publication of papers, which some felt significantly limited their ability to scrutinise the accounts effectively. They were also unhappy that amendments issued on the day of the meeting were shared without a clear summary of changes.

Councillor Howkins asked for it to be noted in the minutes that she would not be voting to approve the accounts due to the late circulation of the papers, late amendments and requested a recorded vote.

The Committee’s concerns regarding the late circulation of papers were noted. Members also recognised the substantial effort by the finance team and auditors in finalising the accounts. Officers advised that a written summary of the amendments made would be provided to members after the meeting.

Committee members also sought clarification on the size of certain audit adjustments and queried inconsistencies previously identified in the reserves figures. Officers advised that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12