The External Auditor presented the report advised that the audit of the Pension Fund Accounts was complete subject to letters due to be signed by various parties following the Committee meeting. The Auditors expected to provide an unqualified opinion.

A large amount of work had been required late in the day following the McCloud judgement (relating to pension liabilities for all ages rather than only older pension members) and therefore the liabilities for the Local Government Pension Scheme had been re-assessed. Currently the Government had been denied an appeal on this judgement and therefore the additional liabilities needed to be recognised. There was one disclosure on the Pension Fund.

In relation to the Council accounts, the Pension fund liability had led to a rerun of the actuary assessments and this was reflected in the amended statements.

The External Auditor gave an overview of the areas of focus for and advised that there had been no significant changes to the accounts arising from the audit. The External Auditor informed the Committee that in relation to CIF, auditors were satisfied that this was well dealt with by officers and only some small changes had been made, with an uqualified opinion proposed.

The External Auditor noted that there were no other reporting issues and members noted that the contingent liability had been discussed at length during the Pension Fund Investment Advisory Panel and comfort had been given in line with other bodies satisfying the panel on these issues.

The External Auditor gave an overview of the Audit Results Report for the main Council accounts including the updated scope and advised that the auditors were working hard to ensure the work was completed by the deadline of 31 July 2019 and were being well supported by officers to achieve this.

The External Auditor advised that there was one unadjusted difference in relation to the DSG (dedicated schools grant).

In relation to valuation of PPE (Property, Plant and Equipment) the auditors were content that there were no significant adjustments to be made this year and whilst detailed recommendations for improvement would be made, officers had worked hard to improve PPE records and had been successful in doing so.

Value for Money assessments were fully complete and resulted in an unqualified opinion and auditors were content that the content of the MTFS (Medium Term Financial Strategy) was comprehensive and with reasonable assumptions.

In relation to the DSG a recovery plan had been produced however this was not factored into the MTFS and would lead to a budget gap going forward.

Following recommendations made last year in comparison to this year, auditors noted that whilst this was a work in progress officers were doing all of the right things to improve where improvements were required.

Members expressed concern regarding the DSG and the Director for Corporate Services advised that since the introduction of the DSG, the DfE (Department for Education) had allowed for deficits to be carried over and did not expect these to be funded by Council general resources.

The Chair thanked the auditors for their hard work which was recognised by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

1. That Committee approved the audited Statement of Accounts, including the

Group Accounts and the Pension Fund Accounts (Appendix 2), subject to any

further comments from the External Auditor.

2. That Committee noted any comments made by the Pensions Fund Advisory Panel regarding the Pension Fund Accounts.

3. That Committee noted EY’s Audit Results Report (Appendix 4) for the Pension Fund accounts under the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 260.

4. That Committee noted EY’s Audit Results Report (Appendix 3) for the Statement of Accounts under the ISA 260.

5. That the Chair signed the Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of

Accounts (Appendix 2).

6. That the Chair signed Letters of Representation (Appendices 3 and 4) for the Statement of Accounts and Pension Fund Accounts.