However, Catherine Bell, Cumberland Council’s chief finance officer, said she had spoken with the Department for Levelling Up (DLUC) and she had been informed that they were not expecting them to all be signed off.
Members of the council’s audit committee received an update on the external audit progress report at a meeting in Allerdale House in Workington on Tuesday (May 28).
Councillor Gillian Troughton (Howgate, Labour) wondered what impact the situation would have on Cumberland Council and, when referring to the Copeland accounts added: “We should have known of that.”
Committee chairwoman councillor Lucy Patrick (Harraby South, Labour) also wondered what risk the late accounts posed for the one year old unitary authority.
Members were told that the external auditors were following a programme of work to get assurance over the accounts.
According to a council report, the Carlisle City Council 2022-23 draft accounts were published on May 3 and the Minister for Local Government wrote to the leader of Cumberland Council on February 27 in respect of the “exceptional financial support setting out the actions the council is required to complete.”
The report states: “This references a requirement for ‘fully audited and signed off accounts’ for Copeland for the remaining years up to 2022-23.
“The council is working on producing accounts for 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
“These are expected to be published by August 2024.”
Members of the committee noted the contents of the external audit progress report and sector update presentation.
In March, the former Copeland Council was the subject of a damning report by external auditors found its financial reports to be ‘one of the worst’ they’ve seen.
At the time, a full audit of the 2018/19 accounts for Copeland still had not been produced due to ‘a lack of submitted accounts according to representatives from accountants Grant Thornton, who were tasked with the audit of three former Cumbrian authorities Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland.
Members of the audit committee were told that Copeland’s financial management was below expectations and emphasized failures in leadership and resource allocation.
Concerns were raised about a cultural issue within Copeland, with suggestions to learn from past mistakes.
The impact of a cyber-attack in 2017 on Copeland’s financial reporting was noted, and calls were made for a more effective audit committee and proactive engagement with challenges.
At the time, Grant Thornton stressed the importance of meeting the September 30 deadline for submitting accounts to avoid government intervention.
