The Corporate Committee of Lambeth Council met on 24 July 2025, to discuss a range of issues including audit reports, financial performance, and governance. The committee approved the Annual Governance Statement, and considered reports on internal audit, counter fraud, emergency planning, and the Central Hill Estate Trust. Due to time constraints, the meeting was extended by 30 minutes.

• External Audit

  The committee received an audit strategy memorandum from Forvis Mazars LLP, the external auditors, outlining their audit plan for the year ending 31 March 2025. Suresh Patel from Forvis Mazars noted that this year's audit would be very involved and complicated , with more risks identified than usual, reflecting the council's financial challenges and previous audit findings.

  Paddy Sadd from Forvis Mazars highlighted key changes to the audit approach, including a reduction in performance materiality¹ and the implementation of a new auditing standard, ISA 600 revised, which requires a more proactive risk assessment process for group financial statements, particularly concerning Homes for Lambeth (HFL). Louie Dearmer from Forvis Mazars, explained that the list of significant risks was longer than usual, focusing on risks related to HFL companies and the valuation of loan facilities made available to them. He also mentioned significant risks identified around the valuation of current assets and liabilities in the pension fund audit, which had led to a disclaimer of opinion in the previous year.

  The auditors also reported on value for money, noting four significant weaknesses related to financial sustainability and arrangements for HFL. They intend to include value for money reporting in the draft auditors' annual report, due by the end of November. They also received objections to the prior year's statement of accounts, and procedures to address these are ongoing, with finalisation expected by the end of August.

  In response to questions from Paula Mills, Independent Member, officers explained the reasons for the delayed publication of the accounts, citing additional work required for the annual government statements and the pension fund. They also provided assurances that progress had been made in addressing weaknesses in transaction listings for the pension fund, with expectations that all issues would be resolved by the time the auditors commence their work.

  Councillor Matthew Bryant, Deputy Group Leader, asked about the money arrangements and whether the auditors would be increasing resources or time spent on that, and whether they would be doing any sort of deeper diving, particularly looking at how the council's getting value for management, and its contract management.

  The committee concluded by noting the report.

• Statement of Accounts

  Pete Tesker, Acting Deputy Director of Finance, presented the draft statement of accounts for 2024-25, acknowledging the challenges faced by the finance team due to a compressed timetable and outstanding information requests from previous years. He noted that the initial version of the accounts, published on 30 June, did not contain the pension fund or the annual government statement, and an updated version was published on 15 July with a further 30-day public inspection period.

  Ms Mills sought assurances that the accounts had been prepared in line with the code of practice, and Mr Tesker outlined the experience and training of the staff involved, the established processes in place, and the use of external advice when needed.

  Ms Mills raised concerns about the council's overspend of £60 million and the low level of general reserves, questioning how the council planned to rebuild reserves and prevent future overspending. Mr Tesker acknowledged the significant reduction in the general fund balance and outlined plans to address this through a medium-term financial strategy, which would involve delivering financial savings or generating more income.

  Councillor Linda Bray asked about plans to put pressure on the government to allow increases in rents, given increased costs due to building regulations. Fiona Connolly, Corporate Director for Housing and Adult Social Care, responded that there was a consultation going on at the moment around social rent convergence.

  Councillor Bryant asked about the significant increase in the provision for bad debts, as noted in the accounts.

  The committee concluded by noting the draft accounts.

• Annual Governance Statement (AGS)

  Paul Rock, Assistant Director Internal Audit and Counter Fraud, presented the council's draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for approval, highlighting a new approach involving monthly questionnaires for directors and corporate directors to assess governance arrangements. He noted that the AGS included statements from the Chief Finance Officer, the Monitoring Officer, and the Head of Paid Service, and included an action plan to address identified challenges.

  Councillor Bray asked about the progress of a new policy regarding purchase card documentation, controls, and monitoring. Mr Rock responded that the policy had been drafted but its launch had been delayed while they're dealing with those comments before launch, but he'd received assurance it will be out by the end of August.

  Ms Mills praised the detailed nature of the AGS and its inclusion of an effectiveness review, as well as its identification of areas for improvement. She suggested reflecting on the governance of partnerships and including a colour assessment rating for Principal E.

  The committee approved the annual government statement.

• Council's Response to Statutory Recommendations

  Lynn, introduced a report providing an update on the council's action plan in response to statutory recommendations from external auditors. She noted that the action plan had been updated to include more detail, and highlighted progress in several areas, including the completion of actions for Recommendation 1 and the introduction of a robust spend control process.

  A member of the public, Mr Morrow, criticised the report for lacking figures and failing to address the outturn costs for 2024-2025. He also raised concerns about the financial impact of winding up Homes for Lambeth and the management of risks associated with budget cuts.

  Ms Mills expressed similar concerns, stating that the report did not provide enough information to assure the committee that the council was appropriately addressing the recommendations. She requested more qualitative and quantitative information, as well as better timing of reports to reflect decisions taken by the cabinet.

  Councillor Bryant echoed the need for more evidence in the report and raised concerns about the budget-setting process, given the forecast overspend early in the financial year. He also questioned the limits of demand management for statutory services and sought examples of spending that had been turned down through spending controls.

  Officers responded to the questions and concerns raised, with Glenn committing to providing more evidence and statistics at the next committee meeting. Jacqueline Moylan, Interim Director of Finance, noted that one of the recommendations in the report on Monday is around procuring some external support on that. Adam Britton, Assistant Director of HR, added that the reduction in agency spending numbers has been significant since we introduced spend controls.

  The committee agreed that while they had reviewed progress that's been provided to us, they felt that more information was needed.

• Corporate Committee Effectiveness Review and Action Plan

  Paul Rock introduced a report on the effectiveness review and action plan for the Corporate Committee, conducted by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Elizabeth Honch, presented the review's findings, noting the committee's collaborative working style and apolitical nature. However, she also highlighted the committee's unusually wide remit, which caused distraction from audit committee responsibilities, and a lack of a clear sense of purpose.

  Ms Mills supported the recommendations and suggested adding a review of governance arrangements around significant partnerships to the terms of reference. She also recommended mapping the work programme against the terms of reference to ensure sufficient coverage of key areas.

  The committee approved this action plan.

• Internal Audit Annual Report and Opinion 2024/25

  Paul Rock presented the Internal Audit Annual Report and Opinion for 2024/25, noting that he had offered limited assurance because whilst there are many positives and there have been some good reports from internal audit and outside the council regulation the number of limited assurances that we've offered is still too high in my view and management implementation of actions that needs to improve.

  Councillor Bryant expressed concern about the limited assurance opinion, questioning what needed to be done to achieve real assurance in the future. Ms Mills echoed these concerns and suggested inviting the chief executive to a future meeting to discuss how he was addressing audit recommendations. She also highlighted concerns about the tree maintenance service audit and the lack of compliance with health and safety regulations.

  The committee considered the report.

• Internal Audit Progress Update 2025/26

  Paul Rock presented the Internal Audit Progress Update for 2025/26, noting that engagement with management had been a challenge and some audits had been deferred.

  James Haddock, raised concerns about leaseholder service charges, stating that the meeting is trying to assess how the council is dealing with significant issues on the basis of no report from external audit not due yet a partially complete action plan from internal audit because he doesn't deal with the housing bits no complete plan from housing and no risk register which suggests to me that the item should be postponed deferred until the next meeting when hopefully we will have more of those papers available. Tracy Gregory, raised similar issues, stating that she had not received a response to questions raised at the last committee meeting and that no action had been taken to address the limited assurance on leaseholder billing from two years prior.

  Ms Mills expressed dissatisfaction with the action plan and requested a more detailed report covering all issues related to leaseholders. She also suggested a wider piece of work by internal audit on contract management for housing works.

  Fiona Connolly responded to the points raised, and the committee considered the progress report.

• Counter Fraud Annual Report 2024/25 and Counter Fraud Progress Update 2025/26

  Paul Rock presented the Counter Fraud Annual Report for 2024/25 and the progress update for 2025/26, highlighting the team's strong counter fraud response and the savings identified.

  Ms Mills commended the report and suggested including information on cashable and non-cashable savings in future reports. Councillor Bray raised concerns about blue badge fraud and the need for fairness in enforcement.

  The committee considered the report.

• Senior Management Structure

  Louise Searle, Interim Director of Human Resources and Organisation Development, presented a report on proposed changes to the senior management structure, noting a reduction in directorates from seven to five and a deletion of three director posts. She stated that the consultation closed on the 18th of July and that the final structure will launch on 1 October 2025.

  Councillor Bryant questioned whether the committee was actually being asked to make decisions.

  Ms Mills inquired about the savings for a full year will be a million pounds and so obviously for this year we're all the proportion of that going forward and whether that was in taking on board those costs or are they two separate things.

  Councillor Bray asked can we be assured that uh the restructuring will actually save money bearing in mind um a who's comments about having to pay redundancy etc etc and b also presumably it may be necessary to employ other people to take up the workload that the uh getting rid of um experienced officers um it is going to cause so um is there can we be assured that there will be a significant saving.

  The committee noted the report.

• Annual Report from Disaster/Emergency Planning

  Desmond Okechukwu, Assistant Director Assurance, presented the annual report from Disaster/Emergency Planning.

  Councillor Bray asked about planning with neighbouring boroughs.

  The committee considered the report.

• Trusts of the Charitable Property Specified in Paragraph 1 of The Order of The High Court (Claim Number 11046/2008) (previously known as the Tower Hamlets Environmental Trust (Central Hill Estate)

  David Thomas, Contracts Lawyer, presented the trustees' annual report and accounts for the financial year 2023-24 for the charitable trust benefiting the Central Hill Estate². He noted that approval today will allow us to as charge our functions as corporate trustee committee to um to meet that requirement and will also allow us to implement the actions that came before corporate committee last last meeting those actions were to allow us to publish the report on the council website and then to move on to developing a more fun accessible financial summary and then in due course we will explore mechanisms for enhanced community engagement.

  A member of the public, Pete Elliott, spoke about the lack of genuine consultation and transparent governance over the trust funds.

  The committee approved the trustees' annual report and accounts for last year.