The Audit Committee is scheduled to meet on 7 October 2025, to discuss external audit updates, the corporate risk register, the annual information governance report, the annual complaints and enquiries report, the annual audit committee report and the work programme.

External Audit Update

The committee is scheduled to receive an update on the status of unaudited accounts from 2020/21 to 2024/25. According to the report pack, Thurrock Council has five years of unaudited accounts outstanding.

| Financial Year | Auditor | Current Status | Comment | 2020/21 | BDO | There is an outstanding objection | BDO will disclaim the accounts for this | |---------|-----|-----------------------------------|--------------------------------------------| | | | to the accounts which has held | year because of the outstanding | | | | up the audit process | objection. There are also investment | | | | | valuation issues and the original backstop | | | | | date was missed. | | 2021/22 | BDO | The objection for 2020/21 has | BDO will disclaim the accounts for this | | | | impacted on the finalisation of | year. | | | | the audit | | | 2022/23 | BDO | The objection for 2020/21 has | BDO will disclaim the accounts for this | | | | impacted on the finalisation of | year. | | | | the audit | | | 2023/24 | EY | Draft accounts were published in | The accounts will be disclaimed by EY | | | | May 2025 and the public | given the outstanding issues for the prior | | | | inspection period has ended. | years and as the draft Statement of | | | | | Accounts were prepared after the | | | | | backstop deadline of 28 February 2025. | | 2024/25 | EY | The accounts were published on | The accounts will be disclaimed by EY | | | | 15th August and the inspection | given the disclaimer opinions in prior | | | | period started on 18th August | periods and their impact on the brought | | | | and is due to end on 29th | forward balance sheet position | | | | September. To date there have | | | | | been no questions or objections | | | | | raised. EY have the draft | | | | | accounts and the Council is | | | | | waiting for feedback on the | | | | | statements. EY are not intending | | | | | to undertake a detailed audit and | | | | | will update the committee | | | | | separately. | |

The report pack states that the council is seeking legal advice regarding the objection to the 2020/21 accounts.

The report also notes the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) scale fees for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are £359,723 and £388,177 respectively. These fees are set for the completion of a standard audit, and are subject to change depending on the amount of work required.

Annual Complaints and Enquiries Report 2024-25

The committee is scheduled to discuss the Annual Complaints and Enquiries Report for 2024-2025. According to the report pack, the number of complaints received during the reporting period was 2318, a 19% increase from the previous year. The report pack attributes this increase to changes in the waste collection schedule and the introduction of an online complaints form. The report pack also notes that 39% of complaints were upheld, an improvement from the 43% recorded in the previous year. The report pack states that 90% of complaints were responded to within the specified timeframe, an improvement from 87% in the previous year. The report pack also provides data on MP and member enquiries:

• 82% of 438 MP enquiries were responded to within the specified timeframe.
• 94% of 4174 member enquiries were responded to within the specified timeframe. The council also received 2575 external compliments, a 23% increase compared to the previous year.

The report pack includes details of the top 10 complaint areas, learning from complaints and Ombudsman decisions. It also contains separate statutory complaints procedures and reports for Adult Social Care and Children's Social Care.

The report pack states that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Housing Ombudsman have put in place complaints handling codes that the council must adhere to, and that the council complies with these codes.

Appendix 1 of the report pack details complaints and enquiry activity and performance based on the top 10 complaint areas. It also provides trends based on the top 10 areas for complaints and enquiry activity, as well as learning and outcomes from upheld complaints. Appendices 2 and 3 of the report pack provide details of Children's Social Care Complaints and Adult Social Care Complaints respectively.

Annual Information Governance Report April 2024 - March 2025

The committee is scheduled to discuss the Annual Information Governance Report for April 2024 to March 2025. According to the report pack, the council processed 93% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests within the 20-working day legal timeframe, based on 1092 FOI requests processed. The report pack notes that the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) expects public authorities to answer at least 90% of FOI requests within the legal timeframe. The report pack also states that the council received 115 Subject Access Requests (SAR) under the Data Protection Legislation, with 84% of these requests processed within the legal timeframe.

The report pack provides the following data regarding data sharing:

• 104 data sharing requests were received from the Police.
• 242 data sharing requests were received from other third parties.

The report pack notes that the volume of data sharing requests has increased by 59% compared to last year.

The report pack states that for the reporting period there was 1 data protection incident that was reported to the Information Commissioners Office by the council, where a mail merge error sent a debt letter to the wrong address.

The report pack also provides details of records management activity, with a focus on reducing the number of physical records and driving forward best practice in relation to the management of electronic records.

Appendix 1 of the report pack provides additional FOI information for the reporting period. Appendix 2 provides a breakdown of SAR per service area and additional information on general data protection compliance. Appendix 3 provides additional details regarding Records Management work activity.

Corporate Risk Register

The committee is scheduled to discuss the corporate risk register¹. The report pack includes the corporate risk register, which identifies a number of key risks facing the council, including:

• Failure to deliver effective Adults Services
• Devolution
• Budget/ MTFS delivery
• Long term Financial sustainability
• Government Intervention
• Failure to deliver effective Children's Services ('Safeguarding, Placements)
• Lack of robust Business Continuity and Emergency Planning arrangements
• Significant breach of the Data Protection Act and a catastrophic IT Failure
• Failure to adequately deliver a statutory service/duty leading to a harmful event for an individual(s) for which the Council is responsible
• Failure on the part of the Council to mobilise its response to the Climate Change emergency.
• Inability to effectively manage the volume of people presenting themselves as homeless and the additional pressures placed on the homeless budgets.
• Ineffective governance and management/procurement of contracts
• Failure from the Council in its statutory responsibilities and does not adhere to both central and local governance arrangements.

For each risk, the register identifies the cause and effect, the likelihood and impact, the risk rating, the mitigations/controls in place, the risk owner, and the mitigated risk rating.

Annual Audit Committee Report 2024-25

The committee is scheduled to discuss the Annual Audit Committee Report 2024-25. According to the report pack, the report provides a summary of the work completed by the Audit Committee during the municipal year 2024/25. The Audit Committee's work programme covers the following areas:

• The council's governance
• Internal and external audit functions
• Risk management
• Counter fraud
• Complaints and information governance activity

The report pack states that in 2024/25 the Committee membership consisted of six councillors in proportion to the Council's political composition: Councillor Fraser Massey (Chair), Councillor Srikanth Panjala (Vice Chair), Councillor Alex Anderson, Councillor Ngozi Alike, Councillor James Halden and Councillor Mark Hurrell, as well as co-opted members Charles Clarke and Jasdip Singh Nijjar.

The report pack notes that the Committee met four times during the municipal year 2024/25, and that meeting dates, agendas, reports and minutes can be found on the Council's website.

The report pack states that the Committee has received regular updates from the Council's previous external auditors Binder Dijker Otto (BDO) on the progress they are making in completing the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 accounts, but that the Committee have not yet signed off the Statement of Accounts for outstanding years because the audit remains incomplete pending the conclusion of an objection to the accounts going back to 2020/21.

The report pack also notes that the new external auditors Ernst Young (EY) attended the March meeting, and updated the Committee that they were unable to finalise the accounts for 2023-2024 due to the previous years Statement of Accounts not being finalised yet.

The report pack states that the Council's Internal Audit team conducts comprehensive reviews of the Council's services throughout the year to identify areas of concern and provide actionable recommendations, but that the volume of work completed was insufficient to enable the provision of a robust Head of Internal Audit Opinion for the year.

The report pack notes that the Risk Management Strategy 2024-27 was presented at the October meeting, and that the Audit Committee have been kept updated as to changes being made in the Council regarding risk.

The report pack also states that the Committee were updated as to the Counter Fraud Teams performance in 2023/24, and that the Committee members requested that benchmarking is added to future reports so the team's performance can be compared with other Local Authorities.

The report pack notes that at the July meeting the Local Code of Corporate Governance was brought to the Committee for the first time, and that at the January meeting revised Annual Governance Statements were provided to the Audit Committee for the years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 as the previous documents were no longer credible given the information officers are now aware of.

Appendix 1 of the report pack contains the Audit Committee Work Programme 2024-25.