Issue - meetings

Report of the Corporate Director for Finance and Resources

Councillor Audra Wynter, Portfolio Holder for Finance and HR, Ross Brown, Corporate Director for Finance and Simon Parsons, Audit Manager, presented the report which outlines two areas, Appointeeships and HR/Payroll, which had received no assurance when internally audited. The following information was highlighted:

Simon Parsons provided an overview of the report on Appointeeships. The following information was highlighted:

(a)  the level of assurance provided by this report was No Assurance which is the lowest level of assurance;

(b)  the Appointeeships team used to sit within the Nottingham Revenues and Benefits (NRB) Ltd and transferred to Customer division in April 2023; 

(c)  the Appointeeships team look after DWP benefits on behalf of individuals who cannot manage their financial affairs themselves under arrangements agreed with DWP;

(d)  Internal Audit reviewed the service following a data matching methodology after the Director of Adult Health and Social Care raised concerns around the monies recorded in the system, and how they were accounted for, including a particular concern regarding the balances of individuals who had passed away;

(e)  the review determined that the computer system in use was not fit for purpose as it could not provide a full record of income, charges, money paid out and balances;

(f)  as a consequence monitoring was not effective and DWP benefits may have been overpaid because balances above DWP thresholds may not have been notified to DWP;

(g)  the Appointeeships team have limited powers to identify balances controlled by families or other parties relevant to DWP benefits and as a result are not always able to establish when DWP thresholds are reached;

(h)  the citizens funds were swept from the Council’s income account straight into the Council’s General Fund bank account rather than into separately identified sub-accounts. The money has not been misused, but there is a risk as it is more difficult to account for it;

(i)  Internal Audit will follow up the report later in 2023/24;

Lucy Lee, the Director of Customer Services, provided the following comments:

(j)  a number of actions have been developed to provide assurance on Appointeeship; 

(k)  both Appointeeship and Deputyship services have come under the remit of Customer Services and they are being combined to provide better value;

(l)  the monies for individuals were kept in a ringfenced way. They should have been kept in individual accounts, but the digital system used by Customer Services did not allow for this. The Caspa system used for Deputyships does allow for individual accounts and will be used for Appointeeships;

(m)a manual record is kept for Appointeeship accounts;

(n)  a search agency has been commissioned to find next of kin relating to deceased persons accounts. 15 have been found, whilst 16 have been unable to identify next of kin and money will be transferred to Crown Estate. The remaining 201 accounts are being searched for;

(o)  12 cases above the DWP threshold have been identified. There are genuine reasons in each case and continuous monitoring is ongoing;

During the discussion and in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39