Meeting documents

The 2018/19 Statement of Accounts for Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC), one of the predecessors of Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWTC), was approved by the Audit Governance and Standards Committee on 11 November 2019. The Committee received the external auditor’s unqualified audit opinion, which supported the conclusion the accounts presented a true and fair view of TDBC’s financial performance and position for the year ended 31 March 2019.

Although the accounts had been approved and published together with the auditor’s opinion, as reported at the time, there remained an outstanding matter in respect of an objection to the accounts. This was lodged with the auditor by a local elector, exercising their rights under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, related to redundancy payments. The final notice to close the audit for 2018/19 had not been issued by Grant Thornton LLP pending the review and findings in respect of the objection.

The report presented a summary of the work undertaken by Grant Thornton LLP in response to the Objection, and their conclusions and recommendations.

Grant Thornton LLP had subsequently issued its notices of the conclusion of the audit for both the 2018/19 TDBC Accounts and the 2019/20 SWTC Accounts.

The 2018/19 Statement of Accounts for Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC), one of the predecessors of Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWTC), was approved by the Audit Governance and Standards Committee on 11 November 2019. The Committee received the external auditor’s unqualified audit Opinion, which supported the conclusion the accounts presented a true and fair view of TDBC’s financial performance and position for the year ended 31 March 2019.

Although the accounts had been approved and published together with the auditor’s opinion, as reported at the time there remained an outstanding matter in respect of an objection to the accounts related to redundancy payments. This was lodged with the auditor by a local elector, exercising their rights under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. The final notice to close the audit for 2018/19 had not been issued by Grant Thornton LLP pending the review and findings in respect of the objection.

Grant Thornton LLP had concluded its review in response to the objection, with a summary of the background, work undertaken, findings and recommendations included in the report.

The external auditor concluded:

a) He would not issue a Report in the Public Interest

b) He did not believe the redundancy payments were unlawful and would not be seeking a declaration from the Court to that effect.

There were valuable lessons identified within the recommendations presented by Grant Thornton in the report, which members were requested to note and take into account in any future decision making in respect of redundancies.

During the debate the following comments and questions were raised:-

·        There was a statutory right of appeal, the objector had been advised to take legal advice to where they stood under the right of appeal.

·        The lack of audit trail was a concern to committee members, that there was no trail of evidence of the decisions made along with some key information retained by the previous Council.

The Audit and Governance Committee:-

1.     Noted the summary report and recommendations from Grant Thornton LLP in respect of the Objection to the Taunton Deane Borough Council Statement of Accounts 2018/19.

2.     The Committee noted that Grant Thornton LLP gave notice on 21 June 2021 of the Conclusion of the 2018/19 Audit for Taunton Deane Borough Council and of the 2019/20 Audit of Somerset West and Taunton Council.