The Governance and Audit Committee are scheduled to meet to discuss the treasury management strategy, customer feedback, counter fraud measures, and best value interventions. The meeting will include verbal updates from the external auditor and on committee business. Also included for discussion is the action tracker, which lists the progress that has been made on the committee's prior recommendations.

Treasury Management

The committee will receive a Treasury Update Report covering treasury management activity up to the end of September 2025. The report includes an economic update from the council's treasury advisor, though it notes that this commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of officers or the County Council as a whole .

The report notes that local authorities must not borrow to invest primarily for financial return, in accordance with the 2021 Prudential Code.

The council's borrowing strategy aims to balance low interest costs with cost certainty and flexibility to renegotiate loans. At the end of September 2025, the council held £664.5m in loans and no new borrowing was undertaken in the first half of the year. £68.1m of existing loans were allowed to mature or were repaid. The council continues to hold Lender's Option Borrower's Option (LOBO) loans, but no banks exercised their option to propose an interest rate increase during the period.

The council also holds significant invested funds. The Treasury Update Report states that both the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) code and government guidance require the council to invest its funds prudently, prioritising security and liquidity over the highest rate of return. The council's investment balance ranged between £457.7m and £705m during the period.

The council has investments in equity, multi-asset and property funds. The value of these holdings increased to £184.1m at the end of September 2025, showing an unrealised gain of £6.5m since March 2025.

The Treasury Update Report states that forecast net debt costs are lower than budget due to early loan repayments and higher yields from cash investments.

The report also details the council's compliance with treasury management indicators, including security, liquidity, and interest rate exposures.

The committee will be asked to endorse the report and recommend its submission to the County Council.

Customer Feedback

The committee will review the Customer Feedback Annual Report for 2024/25, which summarises compliments, comments, and complaints received by the council.

Overall complaints at stage one are down 3% on the previous year, but stage two complaints are up 49%, which was expected due to efforts to reduce the backlog within Special Educational Needs (SEN). The increase in comments is attributed to more robust logging of feedback, particularly via GovMetrics on the council's website and those relating to the booking system for Household Recycling and Waste Centres (HWRC).

The report indicates that Adult Social Care and Health (ASCH) saw a 7% increase in complaints, while Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) saw the largest increase overall, largely due to SEN-related issues. The majority of complaints in the Chief Executive's (CED) and Deputy Chief Executive's Departments (DECD) related to the Contact Centre and Finance.

The Customer Feedback Annual Report states that the council responded to 70% of complaints within corporate timescales, compared to 61% the previous year, against a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of 85%. Workload was cited as the main reason for late responses.

In 2024/25, £669,604.11 was paid in compensation, settlements, and waived charges as a result of complaints. This includes £239,680.60 paid or waived in Adult Social Care and Health, £649.10 for Growth, Environment and Transport, and £429,274.41 for Children, Young People and Education.

The report also provides an overview of complaints to the standards committee (member complaints) and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

The committee will be asked to note the contents of the report for assurance and to review a self-assessment form in Appendix C regarding the council's commitment to the LGSCO's code of complaint handling.

Counter Fraud

The committee will discuss the Counter Fraud Report 2025-26, which covers the period from April 2025 to September 2025.

Key messages from the report include:

• The Kent Intelligence Network (KIN) identified £1,455,104 of savings, with Kent County Council benefiting £398,923 (net).
• Identified irregularities amount to £179,000 of savings, subject to full financial recovery.
• The biennial National Fraud Initiative is in progress, with identified savings of £5,538 (actual).

The Counter Fraud Team delivered 15 fraud-related training sessions to 423 individuals and created a desk top fraud risk assessment tool. The team has also been shortlisted for the Public Finance Awards 2025 in the outstanding fraud prevention, detection and recovery category.

The report notes an increase in irregularity referrals, with 288 received between April 2025 and September 2025. This is attributed to increased awareness of the need to report irregularities. There have been increases in irregularities relating to contract management, blue badge misuse, and theft of IT equipment.

The Counter Fraud Report 2025-26 provides a breakdown of irregularity referrals by directorate and fraud type, including Adult Social Care and Health, Growth, Environment and Transport, and Chief Executive/Deputy Chief Executive Departments.

The report also includes updates on the Counter Fraud Action Plan 2024/2025 and the National Fraud Initiative outturn.

Best Value Duty

The committee will receive an update on best value interventions, as required by the Local Government Act 1999. The act places a duty on local authorities to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

The update lists the nine statutory interventions currently in place at other local authorities, including Birmingham City Council, the London Borough of Croydon, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Nottingham City Council, Slough Borough Council, Spelthorne Borough Council, Thurrock Council, Warrington Borough Council and Woking Borough Council.

The update also notes that the government is able to issue Best Value Notices to facilitate engagement with an authority and to obtain assurance of the steps it is taking to comply with the Best Value Duty. There are currently Best Value Notices in place for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Cheshire East Council, Newham Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority.

The report provides case studies of Birmingham City Council, Thurrock Council, Woking Borough Council, and Spelthorne Borough Council, highlighting the issues that led to intervention in each case.

The committee will be asked to note the report.

Governance and Audit Committee Action Tracker

The committee will review the Governance and Audit Committee Action Tracker, which provides an update on the progress of actions agreed at previous meetings. For example, at the meeting on 30 October 2025, the committee discussed the Kent County Council Wholly Owned Companies, and Mr Ben Watts committed to ensuring that future agendas would include detailed performance and finance updates in relation to them.