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The Head of Finance – Corporate introduced a report of the Director of Finance which presented the draft unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2023- 24, the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2023-24 and the Financial Management Code assessment. The Statement of Accounts set out the Council’s financial position, along with a summary of its income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2024. The Annual Governance Statement reflected key governance issues up to the date of the approval of the annual statement of accounts, and therefore a final version was to be reported to the Committee in October 2024 for approval alongside the final version of the Council’s financial statements.

Members queried increases in costs associated with exit packages and rises in number of staff in salary bands above £50,000 within the accounts. The Director of Finance confirmed that increases were primarily related to impact of NJC pay awards; that there had been no threshold changes for some years; and that severance/early voluntary redundancy costs were met via allocated reserves planned as part of the transformation programme. Members also discussed issues relating to procurement non-compliance included within the Annual Governance Statement. 

Resolved – That

1. The draft unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 be noted;

2. The draft Annual Governance Statement for 2023/24, including the actions planned in 2024/25 to address the two significant governance issues identified from this year’s annual governance review, be noted and approved; and

3. The Financial Management Code Assessment for 2023/24 be noted.