Dudley Council’s watchdog 'failing to hit targets' – according to shock report
Dudley Council’s own watchdogs are failing to hit targets and suffering from a lack of resources, according to a shock new report.
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The authority’s director of finance found a series of problems at the council’s Audit and Risk Management Service, including a failure to recruit a principal auditor for five years.
An interim report from the director says the council has tried four times to recruit a principal auditor but failed “largely due to the salary on offer”.
The report, which has been prepared by interim director of finance, Brendan Arnold, ahead of a meeting of the council’s Audit and Standards Committee on February 17, has more bad news.
Mr Arnold said: “Also, a part-time senior auditor resigned in July 2024 after being absent for the first four months of the year.
“Audit and Risk Management Services have an income target that we have been unable to achieve for many years.
“In line with good financial management this issue needs to be addressed and will require a saving of £60K to be found during 2025/26.
“In order to achieve this saving, the team will need to be restructured.”
The cash-strapped council currently has tough spending controls in place which means no attempt has been made to fill vacant posts.
The report also reveals the service also missed a number of performance targets for 2024, it completed 73 percent of its audit plan against a target of 75 percent.
A total of 88 percent of draft reports had been issued within the target nine weeks of the start date, while 64 percent of final reports had been issued within six weeks.
There was better news for initial management responses to the service, 100 percent had been received within four weeks.
The report also highlighted a problem with staff being diverted from internal audit work to detailed investigations including probes into suspected fraud.
Mr Arnold, who concedes in the report a restructure will mean job losses, said: “The promotion and embedding of the Risk Management Framework is suffering through the lack of resources.
“When Audit and Risk Management Services took over responsibility for risk management no new resources were provided.
“Risk owners need a lot of support if risk management is going to be an effective tool.”
