The Audit and Corporate Governance Committee's meeting on Thursday 20 February 2025 included a wide-ranging discussion of the Council's financial affairs including the adoption of its Statement of Accounts, its Pay Policy Statement and the Members' Allowances Scheme. It also reviewed the audited accounts of Camden Living and Camden Learning, two companies in which the Council has a financial stake. The Committee also considered the Annual Governance Statement and the External Auditor's Annual Report.

The 2023/24 Statement of Accounts

The report pack contained the Statement of Accounts for 2023/24, with the External Auditor, Forvis Mazars, having issued a disclaimer of opinion. In such instances the Financial Reporting Council have stated that it should be made clear that local authorities should not be adversely judged that such an opinion has been issued. This is the second year in a row that Forvis Mazars has been unable to complete sufficient audit work on the Council's accounts to provide an unqualified opinion as a result of the backstop arrangements introduced by the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2024¹. The report pack also contains the Council's summary of the accounts which explains that the General Fund revenue outturn for 2023/24 was £307.0m against a budget of £307.2m. The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) outturn was £252.7m against a budget of £251.1m.

Pay Policy Statement 2025/26

The report pack contains a summary of the pay accountability requirements arising from the Localism Act 2011 and the draft Pay Policy Statement for 2025/26, which is very similar to the 2024/25 statement.

The pay policy statement is prepared for the start of each financial year and approved by Council as has happened since the Act was introduced in 2012.

As a minimum, the statement must include the Council’s policies on:

• the remuneration of its chief officers • the remuneration of chief officers on appointment • the approach to the payment of chief officers on their ceasing to hold office under or to be employed by the council • the remuneration of its lowest paid employees, along with the authority’s definition of ‘lowest paid’ and the rationale for adopting that definition • the relationship between the remuneration of chief officers and employees that are not chief officers.

The Pay Policy Statement for 2025/26 details proposed changes to the Officer pay scheme deleting the three lowest pay points and restructuring the three lowest pay grades to deliver a new Minimum Earnings Guarantee of £31,730 with effect from 1 April 2025. The pay ratio for 2025/26, which will see the Chief Executive's pay being 7.3 times that of the lowest paid employee and 5.1 times that of the median salary, is also included.

Members' Allowances Scheme 2025/26

The report pack contains the draft Members' Allowances Scheme for 2025/26, which sets out proposed allowances for the financial year.

Before 1 April each year, local authorities are required under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to agree a scheme for the payment of allowances to councillors for the forthcoming financial year. This is known as the Members’ Allowances Scheme (“the Scheme”).

The scheme must be approved by full Council after being considered by the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee.

All local authorities must have regard to an independent remuneration panel’s recommendation when adopting or amending their Scheme. Camden uses the Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors in London (“the IRP”) established by London Councils.

The IRP's most recent report, which was published in 2023, is included in the report pack. Last year the basic allowance was increased in line with the National Pay Award by £2,352 taking it to £15,692. This year the IRP is recommending a 2.5% increase taking the basic allowance to £16,084.30 from 1 April 2025.

Camden Learning Annual Accounts

The report pack contains the audited accounts of Camden Learning, a company in which the Council has a 19% stake, with the rest being held by Camden schools.

Camden Living Financial Statements

The report pack contains the audited accounts for 2023/24 of Camden Living, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Council.

Camden Living Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the London Borough of Camden incorporated in 2016 to help improve housing opportunities for Camden people.

Camden Living owns 65 intermediate rent properties and has a further 48 units from the Council on an operating lease². It also has 34 units let to refugees at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rents on an operating lease. These 34 units were partly funded by a grant from the government's Local Authority Housing Fund.

Annual Governance Statement 2023/24

The report pack contains the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2023/24.

Camden Council is committed to achieving the ambitions set out within the strategic visions of We Make Camden and The Way We Work.

The AGS notes that, as required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Council is required to conduct an annual review of the effectiveness of its systems of internal control. The review for 2023/24 concluded that the Council had effective governance arrangements in place during the year.

No significant governance issues were identified during 2023/24 that met the criteria as defined by CIPFA.

However, a number of general issues have been highlighted that will continue to be monitored during the coming year including: the delivery of Council services in line with the We Make Camden community priorities; the development and implementation of an Outcomes and Assurance Framework aligned to We Make Camden; and the development and delivery of the next iteration of the Council's Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Auditor's Annual Report

The report pack contains the External Auditor's Annual Report covering the financial years ending 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2023.

This report presents to the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee the Auditor’s Annual Report (AAR), summarising the work undertaken by the council’s external auditor Forvis Mazars for the years ended 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2023.

The report covers the opinions on the Council's accounts for those two years (an unqualified opinion for 2021/22 and a disclaimer of opinion for 2022/23). It then goes into greater detail on their assessment of Camden’s Value For Money (VFM) arrangements covering Financial Sustainability, Governance and Improving Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness. In each of these areas Forvis Mazars have identified no risk of significant weakness, no actual significant weakness, and make no recommendations.

Risk Deep Dive – Adult Safeguarding

The report pack contains a report providing an overview of the principal risk of Adult Safeguarding, which aims to enhance the Committee's understanding of how this risk is being managed.

Adult safeguarding in Camden aims to protect adults who may be vulnerable to harm, abuse, and neglect, whilst promoting their rights, autonomy, and wellbeing. This approach is guided by the Care Act 2014, which establishes statutory principles and duties, and is supported by local partnerships to ensure effective protection and support.

The report describes the risk mitigation and monitoring arrangements in place, including: the work of the Camden Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board (SAPB), which is a multi-agency partnership involving statutory, voluntary, and independent organisations, and its sub-groups; the Council's approach to supporting its workforce, early help and prevention work, transitional safeguarding work and work to support carers; and planned changes to mental health social work, including a formal staff consultation proposing changes to the way mental health social work is delivered in the borough.

Changes to the Constitution

The report pack contains proposed changes to the Council's Constitution. The Constitution is the document that sets out the basic rules governing how the Council operates.

The report outlines possible changes to the Constitution. It seeks to explain the motivation for each suggested change and then the change itself as it will appear in the Constitution should it be agreed.

The proposed changes include: disbanding the Joint Chairs of Scrutiny Committee; amending the rules for asking oral questions at full Council; amending the rules about deputation requests and petitions to ensure they relate to subjects over which the Council has control or influence and to prevent those either standing for or holding political office from being part of the deputation party; including a rule that the Mayor can close the meeting to the public before it begins if it is deemed likely to be severely disrupted; allowing reports to be taken as read at full Council; and mirroring the existing rule in the Committee Procedure Rules, which prohibits banners from being brought into meeting rooms, in the Council Procedure Rules.

Ending of the Shared Service Arrangements between Islington and Camden Councils

The report pack contains a report on the plan to cease the shared service arrangements for the Internal Audit and Risk Management service between Islington and Camden Councils, in place since 2012.

This report presents to the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee the plan to cease the shared service arrangements for the Internal Audit and Risk Management Service between Islington Council and Camden Council.

The shared service involves sharing the Head of Internal Audit (HIA) and Risk Manager posts. Under these arrangements Camden is the employer, and currently recharges 50% of the cost of those posts to Islington. Under the proposals the two officers in the shared roles will retain their positions and work exclusively for Camden. Equivalent posts will be established and recruited to within Islington, with interim arrangements put in place during any vacancy period.

Both organisations acknowledge the benefits this arrangement has brought since 2012, however the operating environment has changed significantly over the last 14 years. Local Government is experiencing unprecedented change, financial pressures, demographic shifts and increasing demands.

The termination date for the agreement is proposed to be 1 July 2025.

Please note that this is only a summary of what was scheduled for discussion, based on the information contained within the report pack. It does not describe what was actually discussed or any decisions that were made.