This report provides an update on key findings emanating from Internal Audit reports issued since the last quarterly progress report.

Paul Harrington, Chief Auditor, submitted a report providing an update on the key findings emanating from the Internal Audit reports issued for the period 1 July to 30 September 2022. The report provided a summary of the findings following each audit review, summarised the recommendations and management actions that had been put forward for each area and stated the overall assurance opinion level given by the Internal Audit team. A total of five audit reviews were finalised in the period with four receiving a positive opinion and one receiving a negative opinion. The specific areas looked at were:

·       Waste Management Operations (Substantial Assurance opinion given);

·       Rent Accounting (Reasonable Assurance opinion given);

·       Compliance with the Local Government Transparency Code (Reasonable Assurance opinion given);

·       Compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (Reasonable Assurance opinion given) and

·       Deferred Payments (Limited Assurance opinion given).

In relation to Deferred Payment Agreements (DPA), which enabled people to use the value of their homes to help pay for care home costs, it was found that communication and coordination between services in Adult Social Care and Legal Services needed to be improved. Deferred payment applications had been either progressed as a solicitor’s undertaking or remained as an unsecured interim funding arrangement, creating a risk of carrying higher levels of unsecured debt than necessary because applications were not being processed promptly.  There were arrangements in place to monitor the recovery status of these debts by the Social Care Debt Monitoring Group, although further emphasis to include interim funding arrangements and solicitor undertaking cases would be desirable to enable a fuller analysis of the DPA position.

The report also detailed the audits that were currently in progress and gave a summary of investigations work between 1 July to 30 September 2022.

Resolved:     That the audit findings be noted, and the recommendations and management action underway, as set out in the Internal Audit & Investigations Quarter 2 Update Report, be endorsed.