The Audit Committee of Haringey Council met on 10 November 2025 to discuss a range of reports covering the council's audit functions, risk management, and financial performance. The committee was scheduled to review the external auditor's annual report, treasury management activities, internal audit progress, and anti-fraud measures. Members were also expected to discuss the corporate risk register and organisational arrangements for procurement, including compliance with the Procurement Act 2023¹.

External Auditor's Annual Report and Value for Money Report

The Audit Committee was to consider the draft Auditor's Annual Report from KPMG, which summarised findings from the ongoing audit of the council's statutory accounts for 2024/25, including a value for money (VFM) risk assessment review.

The draft report from KPMG noted that they had not yet completed their work relating to the financial statements, and therefore had not reached any conclusions in respect of these areas. However, the report did include a progress update on work over significant risk areas, including:

• Management Override of Controls: KPMG found the design and implementation of management review controls relating to journal entries and post-closing adjustments to be ineffective.
• Valuation of Land and Buildings: KPMG found the design and implementation of management review controls in relation to the underlying assumptions that drive the valuation to be ineffective. They also raised a control recommendation around the timeliness and accuracy of the valuation process.
• Completeness of Expenditure: KPMG had evaluated the design and implementation of controls for developing manual expenditure accruals, and identified a control deficiency in relation to the review of journals.
• Valuation of Post Retirement Defined Benefit Obligation: KPMG found the design and implementation of management review controls in relation to the review of the underlying assumptions to be ineffective.

KPMG's work to assess the arrangements the council had put in place to secure economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in its use of resources was underway. The accompanying VFM risk assessment document identified six significant risks to achieving value for money. KPMG planned to perform further work to ascertain if these risks gave rise to significant weaknesses in arrangements.

The VFM risk assessment identified significant risks in relation to financial sustainability and improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The assessment noted that the council had relied upon Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) of £10 million to close the 2024/25 accounts and had applied for up to £37 million for 2025/26.

The significant risks identified in relation to financial sustainability related to:

• The council's arrangements for financial response and recovery for future periods, and how the council aimed to reduce reliance upon EFS to achieve a balanced position.
• The actions taken to improve cost saving identification and delivery against the backdrop of the need to reduce the cost base to remove reliance on EFS.

The significant risks identified in relation to improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness related to:

• The council's increasing use of expensive, nightly paid accommodation and hotels/B&Bs.
• A lack of oversight and processes in place for the effective management of the commercial property portfolio across areas such as leases, repairs and health & safety, which could impact the council's return on investment.
• The council's processes to ensure that social care spend was sufficiently forecast and managed, and that financial contributions from patients were assessed and recovered in a timely manner.
• The council's procurement processes to enable it to achieve value for money in respect of contracts entered into for services received.

Treasury Management Q1 Report 2025/26

The Audit Committee was scheduled to receive an update on the council's treasury management activities and performance for the quarter ending 30 June 2025. The report provided an update in accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's (CIPFA) Code of Practice.

The report noted that the council's primary objective when borrowing was to strike an appropriately low-risk balance between securing low interest costs and achieving cost certainty over the period for which funds are required. As part of its strategy for funding previous and current years' capital programmes, the council held £1,056.3 million in loans on 30 June 2025.

Throughout the quarter, the council's investment balances ranged between £13.6 million and £83.3 million, ending at £95 million on 30 June 2025.

Internal Audit Progress Report

The Audit Committee was to review the work undertaken by Internal Audit between 1 April and 31 August 2025. The report detailed progress on internal audit coverage relative to the approved internal audit plan, including the number of audit reports issued and finalised.

The report noted that Forvis Mazars, the council's external provider, had delivered 144 days of audit work during the period. Eight internal audit reports had been issued since the last committee meeting, with the majority assigning a Limited level of assurance.

The report also included a summary of the priority 1 recommendations raised from the work of internal audit and their status. As of 31 August 2025, 28 priority 1 recommendations remained outstanding.

The report highlighted significant issues arising in Quarter 1, including:

• Responsive Repairs: A lack of evidence to support key performance indicator (KPI) reporting and a high number of open responsive repairs cases.
• Arrangements for Managing Contracts within Housing: The Asset Management Team did not hold an accurate, comprehensive, or up-to-date log of asset management contracts within Housing Services.
• Management, Monitoring and Collection of Key Income Streams: A single income report was not created and presented to the Council's Leadership Team (CLT) for increased scrutiny.
• Use of Data and Business Intelligence: Gaps in BI adoption and engagement, including inconsistent adoption of BI tools, and limited collaboration with the Data and BI team.
• Virtual Schools: PEPs were not initiated in a timely manner.
• Management of Green Haringey: No record of the maintenance activities was required for each park or greenspace in the borough.

Anti-Fraud, Bribery & Corruption Report

The Audit Committee was scheduled to receive a report detailing the work undertaken by the in-house fraud resources in the Audit and Risk team during quarters one and two of 2025/26.

The report noted that the team's work was driven by the council's Anti-Fraud, Bribery & Corruption Strategy, which was approved in 2024. The highest risk fraud areas were identified as housing, enforcement, social care and corporate.

The key projects planned for 2025/26 included:

• National Fraud Initiative
• Temporary Accommodation
• Fraudulent payment of PCNs
• Hidden Assets in Financial Assessments
• Procurement
• Squatting
• Use of Death List information

The report also provided an update on the team's performance measures, including properties recovered and right to buys prevented.

Updated Corporate Risk Register

The Audit Committee was asked to note the Corporate Risk Register as at 30 September 2025. The most significant Red risks were:

• Maintaining and strengthen financial viability/balance across MTFP including failure to deliver identified savings.
• Non-delivery of transformational change due to lack of corporate change functions.
• Failure to prepare for the impact associated with climate change, including air quality and pollution, extreme weather.
• Unable to attract and retain scarce skills or those in high demand.
• Building Control.
• Failure to meet housing / achieve full regulatory compliance for Council Housing Stock standards.

Organisational Arrangements for Procurement and the Procurement Act

The Audit Committee was to receive an update on progress with all internal audit recommendations relating to Strategic Procurement, the current position with the implementation of the changes to ensure compliance with the Procurement Act 2023, progress on the implementation of the Procurement Modernisation Plan and the newly created Commissioning Modernisation Plan.

The report noted that since the mobilisation of the Procurement Modernisation programme in 2023, improvements had continued to be made. From April 2025, a further five internal audits had been undertaken, which touched upon procurement or contract management activity.

The key challenge areas that required further focus included:

• Requirement for a new e-procurement and contract management system, with related interfaces into other systems such as Liquid Logic.
• Ensuring directorates complete quarterly pipeline returns.
• Contract owners to adopt good contract and performance monitoring practices.
• The development and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The report also provided an update on the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023, noting that the council had implemented policies and procedures which align with the Act, including a refresh of the Contract Standing Orders and the Procurement Code of Practice.