Richard Harbord: September accounts sign-off a ‘fantasy’ at many councils

Deadline slips as auditors and finance grapple with remote working and valuations.

Being a section 151 officer in a local authority is absolutely the best job there could possibly be. Those with aspirations should know that in my opinion it is a far more satisfying job than being chief executive with all that that entails.

However, it is never straightforward, which is probably explains why it is the job to have. But at the moment it is full of frustrations.

The greatest single enemy is uncertainty. There is no chance of meaningful medium-term planning and even the current year offer little reassurance. The inability of central government to understand the timescales for effective financial planning is always incomprehensible.

The one-year settlement and doubts over the level of assistance for Covid costs is difficult. The inherent weakness of the current system of financing local government is obvious and writ large. It seems incredible to think that the devolution of business rates and the work of the fair funding formula were so well advanced such a short time ago and now all that effort is wasted and hopes dashed.

Review

A number of children services are threatened with judicial review with the secretary of state over the failure to have robust sufficiency strategies and the failure to achieve the objectives of those strategies. We have already had judicial reviews about reductions in budgets and failure to consult with affected parties. I shall be surprised if there are not more. It seems no defence that the resources are just not there.

Financial pressures are everywhere. The recent report on council-owned nurseries states that on average these nurseries have had a deficit of £76,000 in the last financial year and 23% said they could not afford to continue with current funding levels.

I know that a number of our schools and nurseries have cumulative deficits beyond salvation by recovery plans. The government announced £60m funding as a temporary solution last November but we certainly have not seen the detail of that.

Most authorities will be working on the closing of accounts at present. Our auditors say the 30th September is a fantasy for sign off and they and there colleagues will aim to get it done before Christmas.

We used to have lists of authorities named and shamed for missing closure deadlines. That does not operate any more. I am told by auditors that at least one authority has not had 2017-18 signed off and around thirty are in the same position over 2018-19.

Auditors, of course have the difficulty of virtual auditing, and authorities with virtual closing. Given that, the current situation may actually be remarkably good.

I have found that in a number of authorities there have been increasing difficulties over the valuation of assets and professional arguments between auditors and valuers which has contributed to delays. Currently that is exacerbated by difficulties over inspection of properties for valuation.

If the Covid road map is adhered to there will soon be decisions to be made over the return to the office. Our agile working surveys of staff show that a few people want to return to the office full time but most hope to work from home two or three days a week. We have, during the last year, recruited staff from all round the country and they will not wish to commute. This all requires careful thought and planning to maintain an effective and motivated workforce.

There is little sign of any dramatic policy shift in adult care, which has been promised for so long.

A lot of authorities will have additional uncertainty from the current elections and possible changes in policy.

There has a lot of noise nationally about the degree of fraud in, for instance, the business rate grants last year when authorities were urged to pay out quickly. Whether there will be any review of that remains to be seen

The list of difficulties is endless, but solutions and answers seem thin on the ground.

Richard Harbord is former chief executive at Boston Borough Council.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

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