Auditors Deloitte have been unable to sign off WC’s accounts for 2019/20 due to ‘pervasive weaknesses’ in the council’s accounting.

They found “49 areas where weaknesses in control have been identified, 24 of which … (were) assessed as having a high severity of impact.” They conclude this means the council does not appear to have proper arrangements in place to secure value for money.

Council leaders have reacted by saying it was a long time ago and it would be too difficult to put things right, so they’re asking for the deficiencies to be effectively written off.

The accounts for subsequent years have also not been finalised.

The auditors’ report has been tagged on to the end of what’s likely to be a long council meeting on Tuesday February 27th. It’s a legal requirement for the report to be considered by councillors, though the response of the administration will be to say it’s not really a problem so the criticism and the deficiencies can be safely ignored.

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