Purpose: the report summarises the work of the external auditor on the Council’s housing benefit subsidy claim.

Recommendation: the Committee is asked to discuss this report.

The Committee considered the report of the Council’s external auditors, Ernst & Young, summarising the work on the Council’s housing benefit subsidy claim and the outcome.

David Guest, Ernst & Young, introduced the report, outlined the certification process and explained there was no leeway or materiality permitted in the certification. He thanked officers for their help with the audit.

He and officers reported and answered questions as follows:

·         There was no leeway in the extremely proscriptive auditing requirements from the Department of works and Pensions.

·         There was a caseload of around 12,000 individuals. Claims were tending to become more complex and require more work to assess.

·         Speed of assessment and accuracy were not always compatible performance targets. It was acknowledged that errors created extra work for staff and adverse impacts for claimants.

·         Additional testing was required because of the number of errors, creating a significant amount of work for a small net effect.

The Committee agreed to note the certification of claims letter and returns report.

The Annual Audit letter presented by the Council’s external auditors Ernst & Young.

Purpose:

To set out the key issues arising from the work of the external auditors.

Recommendation:

The Committee is asked to note the Annual Audit letter.

The Committee considered the Annual Audit letter for the year end 31 March 2015 presented by the Council’s external auditors, Ernst & Young.

Alan Witty said that the housing benefit audit was complete and would be reported at the March meeting.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

Annual Audit Results report for the year ending 31 March 2015 submitted by the external auditors Ernst & Young (to follow).

Recommendations: that the Committee note the report and comments from the external auditors and the Head of Financial Services.

The Committee considered the annual audit results report of the external auditors, Ernst and Young (circulated separately).

Mick West and Alan Witty, the external auditors, introduced the report and confirmed that there were no further matters to report and this was an unqualified audit and value for money assessment. There were no independence issues. Fees may be adjusted to take account of additional work on the accounts. The audit of housing benefits would be completed and reported later in the financial year.

In 2015/16, the value for money conclusion would be escalated to show ‘significant risk’ because of looming risks to financial resilience. The audit would be conducted under a new code from the National Audit Office.

Nigel Kennedy and Jackie Yates said that the outstanding unqualified audit result with no issues raised was down to the hard work of the financial accounting team. Adjustments to the draft accounts were technical changes and had no impact on the overall financial position of the authority. The 2015/16 risks would be addressed in the preparations for that audit.

The Committee agreed to note the report of the external auditor and the audit opinion.