To receive a report on the requirement to implement the CIPFA Financial Management Code from 1^st April 2021 and note the results of the initial self-assessment of the Council’s current standing against each of the Financial Management Standards, which had been carried out in March 2020.

Stuart Donnelly, Financial Planning & Strategy Manager, submitted a report on the The Financial Management Code 2019 (FM Code), which had been introduced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA), which set out for the first time, the standards of financial management for local authorities.  Local authorities would be expected to comply fully with the FM Code from 1 April 2021, with 2020/21 effectively being a shadow year.  An initial self-assessment of the Council’s current standing against each of the Financial Management Standards was carried out in March 2020 by the Financial Planning & Strategy Manager in conjunction with the Council’s Section 151 Officer using a RAG Rating approach.  The findings of the initial self-assessment against the seventeen Financial Management Standards were summarised in the report and indicated the overall rating was ‘amber’.  This was consistent with the results of the CIPFA Financial Management Model Staff Survey which had been issued to all staff within the Finance Department.

The report had appended the CIPFA Financial Management Code 2019 and the accompanying guidance notes, which were intended to provide practical guidance to implement the Code. The guidance notes stated that, “it is for the individual authority to determine whether it meets the standards and to make any changes that may be required to ensure compliance. Authorities should be able to provide evidence that they have reviewed their financial management arrangements against the standards and that they have taken such action as may be necessary to comply with them”. Therefore, regular self-assessment exercises would be required in order to demonstrate compliance with the Code going forward.  In order to assist, CIPFA would be running training events in September 2020 to introduce the Code and provide practical implementation tips.  Consequently, a follow-up self-assessment exercise would be undertaken in January 2021 once the guidance notes had been fully considered, and relevant officers had been able attend one of the CIPFA training events and further work had been completed.

Resolved:

(1)           That the requirement to implement the Financial Management Code from 1st April 2021, be noted;

(2)           That the findings of the initial FM Code Self-Assessment, which rated the Council as ‘amber’, be noted;

(3)           That a further self-assessment exercise would be undertaken in January 2021 and reported back to this Committee in advance of full implementation of the FM Code from 2021/22, be noted.