The purpose of this report is to consider the risks and associated mitigations outlined in the internal audit reports on Registration Services and Housing Solutions - Financial Processes.

The Principal Auditor, South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) introduced the report.

Attention was drawn to the ‘Registration Service: Final Report – February 2023’ document at appendix A of the report.

It was highlighted that:

1.          17 recommendations had not been followed up following the General Registration Office (GRO) report submitted to the council in February 2022.

2.          The Registration Service had been transferred to the Law and Governance directorate in July 2022 and the Head of the Practice Management was tasked with managing the service.

3.          As part of the GRO’s recommendations, an Internal Audit had been requested and undertaken with the main focus being to review the progress of the 17 recommendations. It was noted that the review also included a review on actions taken from recommendations made from an internal review carried out in October 2021.

4.          Limited assurance was issued following the findings of that audit. The priorities within the appendix were highlighted.

The Head of the Practice Management (HOPM) provided the committee with an update on the actions taken. A written summary was included at Appendix D.  The following points were highlighted:

·            There was still work to be done but there was more assurance that the processes and staff training were in place to ensure that the department was able to carry out the work the GRO expected the council to do.

·            It was noted the GRO had attended the service twice since January 2022 and they were much happier with the progress made and would be revisiting in 2 weeks’ time.

In response to committee questions it was noted:

1.          The morale of staff was described as ‘up and down’ but, with the recruitment of further staff and with the development and support provided over the last six months, it was thought that it was generally improving. The changes being made were seen to be helping staff in their day job and in turn provided the public with a better service. The addition of the online appointment booking system in December 2023 would vastly improve the management of the high volumes of calls and emails received from the public.

2.          Shropshire Council had undertaken the quarterly checks for the backlog of 2 years up to March 2023. Herefordshire Council were just completing the quarterly check for the end of June 2023. It was highlighted that these checks did take up a large amount of time especially with new staff. However the checks had to be kept up and, with the additional staff recruited, the service would have more capacity in conducting these. The council would have conducted 4 quarterly checks by July 2024.

3.          It was considered that the removal of the cash payments element had significantly reduced risk but systems to monitor income still needed to be put in place; to allow, for example, the tracing of individual payments to specific certificates so these could be seen in budget reports. It was thought this would be addressed in the next couple of months. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23