The External Auditors have now completed their work on the Annual Audit of Accounts and have asked that their letter on this subject is distributed to all Councillors. Reproduced below are some of the key paragraphs from the 15-page report:
The Council has a good track record in achieving the revenue budget and managing financial performance and met its savings target of £2.1m in 2012/13. The Council's updated Medium Term Financial Strategy, submitted to Cabinet on 23 October 2013, sets out the requirement to deliver savings of £1.26m in 2013/14, and £5.3m over the following three years to 2016/17, in order to deliver a balanced position. This will be a significant challenge for the Council that will require further transformation to secure the level of savings required and maintain sufficient service quality. At 30 September 2013 the Council forecasts a surplus of £300,000 by the end of the 2013/14 financial year.
The Council has proper arrangements in place for securing financial resilience. The Council has robust systems and processes to manage effectively financial risks and opportunities, and to secure a stable financial position that enables it to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.
Overall our work concluded that whilst the Council has managed the reductions in finance from central government so far, it faces further challenges ahead because of the further significant planned reductions in future government funding.
However, the current arrangements for securing financial resilience are good. There is appropriate challenge and support from members, and the Council prepares and keeps under review its medium term financial plan. There are good arrangements in place to monitor and manage revenue and capital budgets, and regular reports to management and members on financial and service performance during the year.
We have reviewed whether the Council has prioritised its resources to take account of the tighter constraints it is required to operate within and whether it has achieved cost reductions and improved productivity and efficiencies.
During the year the Council continued to use the funding allocation it received under the former Housing Market Renewal programme to promote the improvement of housing provision in the borough. This included the purchase of further properties and their transfer to the Council's developer partner for refurbishment.
We reviewed the robustness of the Council' arrangements to deliver its programme of savings totalling £1.26m to deliver a balanced budget in 2013/14 and its plans to identify further savings of £3.36m over the next two years. The updated Medium Term Financial Strategy submitted to Cabinet on 23 October 2013 now forecasts savings required of £2.9m over the next two years and a further £2.4m in 2016/17.
A link to the full report can be found on the Hyndburn Labour Group Facebook page:
Facebook - Hyndburn Labour Group
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