Agenda item

RESOLVED

That  (i)    subject to the receipt of advice satisfactory to the Section 151 Officer and Members from King’s Counsel with respect to the Council’s Chief Financial Officer’s Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts and the position of Members in relation to this, Full Council approves and submits the accounts to the External Auditors, BDO, in line with the statutory backstop requirements noting that this is done in the knowledge that they are based on the accounting policies and practices of the time and the information that was available at that time, additionally noting that this recommendation is made on the basis that

(a)         the Council’s Section 151 Officer’s via his explanatory statement to Full Council on 26 September 2024, has confirmed that the accounts are based on the best information available and the policies and conventions in place for the year that the specific accounts refer to; and

(b)         Officers have confirmed that there are no further matters relevant to the above accounts as of the date of this meeting  [4 December 2024] that should be brought to the Committee’s attention.”

         (ii)   the accounts for the financial year 2022/23 are approved and submitted to the Council’s external auditors, BDO, in line with the statutory backstop requirements, noting that this is done in the knowledge that they are based on the accounting policies and practices of the time and the information that was available at that time, additionally noting that:

(a)     the Council’s Section 151 Officer, via his explanatory statement to Full Council on 26 September 2024, has confirmed that the accounts are based on the best information available and the policies and conventions in place for the year that the specific accounts refer to; and

(b)     Officers have confirmed that there are no further matters relevant to the above accounts as of the date of the Full Council meeting on 12 December that should be brought to the attention of members; and

(iii)  it be noted that the Audit and Governance Committee (in respect of the final accounts for years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22) and the Council’s Section 151 Officer (in respect of the final accounts for the year 2022/23) have themselves noted the support of the Commissioners in the approach taken.

Before the item on the Final Accounts was introduced by the Portfolio Holder, the Mayor asked the Director of Legal and Democratic Services, Adesuwa Omoregie, to explain the background to the report before the Council.  The Council was advised that the Audit and Governance Committee had considered the final accounts for 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 at its meeting on 4 December 2024.  The accounts for 2022/23 had not been available at the time as the period of inspection had not yet ended. 

The Government had set a backstop date of 13 December 2024 for historic accounts to be signed off for audit and the Council was now asked to approve the accounts for the four years, with recommendations from the Audit and Governance Committee for the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 accounts and Officer recommendations for the 2022/23 accounts.  Copies of the accounts had been published in advance of the meeting.

The report itself was introduced by Councillor Roberts, Portfolio Holder for Finance.  Whilst the Council was required to approve the historic accounts for audit purposes, the Portfolio Holder recognised that Members were reluctant to do so given the concerns over the reliability of the accounts.  As such, the recommendations had been drafted in such a way that the caveats around the proposed decisions were clear.  It was emphasised that the Section 151 Officer had confirmed that the accounts reflected the information available at the time to the best of his knowledge and reflected the accounting practices applied by Woking in the years in question.  Furthermore, the Council had sought King’s Counsel’s (KC) legal advice given the circumstances faced by the Authority, which had confirmed that the approval of the accounts did not imply approval of past decisions though would allow the external auditors to reach an opinion.

The Vice-Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, Councillor Oades, spoke to the recommendations of the Committee, explaining that the Committee had added caveats amidst the concerns over the financial position of the Council.  The advice of the KC had been sought to assure Councillors that they would not face litigation.

In response to a question from Councillor Oades, the Chief Executive, Richard Carr, stated that the legal advice had confirmed that the Authority had a duty to approve the accounts by the backstop date set by the Government for all local authorities.  Once approved, the accounts would be submitted to the external auditors for their opinion, which was expected to be in the form of a disclaimer.  An abdication of the responsibility by the Council to approve accounts would bring it into disrepute and would be unhelpful when the Council was again seeking Exceptional Financial Support.

The proposals before the Council were debated and concerns over the accuracy of the accounts and the implications for Members were repeated.  However, it was emphasised that, whilst the Council was required to approve the accounts, it had been acknowledged that they were far from perfect.  The Portfolio Holder responded to the main points raised during the debate, acknowledging the difficult position that Councillors had been placed in.

In accordance with Standing Orders the names of Members voting for and against the recommendations were recorded as follows:

In favour:                                Councillors A Aslam, A-M Barker, G Cosnahan, W Forster, P Graves, I Johnson, M Kuipers, R Leach, L Lyons, C Martin, J Morley, F Mumtaz, E Nicholson, D Roberts and M Sullivan.

Total in favour:                       15

Against:                                  Councillors S Howes, A Javaid and D Jordan.

Total against:                         3

Present not voting:                 The Mayor and Councillors H Akberali, S Greentree, S Mukherjee, S Oades, P Pandher, J Pearce, M I Raja and L Rice.

Total present not voting:        9

The recommendations were therefore carried by 15 votes in favour and 3 votes against.

RESOLVED

That  (i)    subject to the receipt of advice satisfactory to the Section 151 Officer and Members from King’s Counsel with respect to the Council’s Chief Financial Officer’s Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts and the position of Members in relation to this, Full Council approves and submits the accounts to the External Auditors, BDO, in line with the statutory backstop requirements noting that this is done in the knowledge that they are based on the accounting policies and practices of the time and the information that was available at that time, additionally noting that this recommendation is made on the basis that

(a)         the Council’s Section 151 Officer’s via his explanatory statement to Full Council on 26 September 2024, has confirmed that the accounts are based on the best information available and the policies and conventions in place for the year that the specific accounts refer to; and

(b)         Officers have confirmed that there are no further matters relevant to the above accounts as of the date of this meeting  [4 December 2024] that should be brought to the Committee’s attention.”

          (ii)   the accounts for the financial year 2022/23 are approved and submitted to the Council’s external auditors, BDO, in line with the statutory backstop requirements, noting that this is done in the knowledge that they are based on the accounting policies and practices of the time and the information that was available at that time, additionally noting that:

       (a)     the Council’s Section 151 Officer, via his explanatory statement to Full Council on 26 September 2024, has confirmed that the accounts are based on the best information available and the policies and conventions in place for the year that the specific accounts refer to; and

       (b)     Officers have confirmed that there are no further matters relevant to the above accounts as of the date of the Full Council meeting on 12 December that should be brought to the attention of members; and

          (iii)  it be noted that the Audit and Governance Committee (in respect of the final accounts for years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22) and the Council’s Section 151 Officer (in respect of the final accounts for the year 2022/23) have themselves noted the support of the Commissioners in the approach taken.