Corby Council tenants may have been billed wrongly for repairs, says auditor

The audit, carried out for the council by the Welland Internal Audit Consortium, found that one in five invoices for repair work were incorrect, in a test of 25 invoices.

This was said to be due to “spreadsheet formula errors and keying errors”.   

In addition, there was no evidence to confirm that leaseholders had been informed in advance of repair work costing more than £250 in four out of eight invoices tested.  

Efforts to recover leaseholder debt were also criticised, with no action taken for over three months to recover debts in 36 per cent of the cases audited.

The review also highlighted that the council did not have a data protection policy or a nominated data protection officer. 

In both areas the auditor gave the council a rating of limited assurance.

This means there are significant weaknesses in key elements of the control framework which mean that significant risks are not managed or mitigated, and that testing demonstrates significant levels of non‐compliance with prescribed processes and procedures.

The findings are to be discussed at tonight’s audit and governance committee meeting, at 7pm in the Cube.