Issue - meetings

Grant Thornton, external auditors, will present the findings of their grant certification  work for 2011/12.

The Council’s performance around claims had continued to improve and no significant issues had arisen from the certification work undertaken by Grant Thornton. A recurring error with regards to the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Scheme had been identified, but the impact of such errors had reduced since the previous year. A composite indicative fee had replaced the previous hourly rate, and the fee as set out in the report incorporated a 40% reduction. This fee assumed that no qualification letters would be issued and that there would be no further issues arising in respect of the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Scheme.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that the issues around the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Scheme were very complex and that many Councils made errors relating to this area. Haringey’s performance continued to improve, and the borough’s current performance in this area was estimated by the auditor to be just below the median when compared with other authorities.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.