The Audit Commission has accused Medway Council of
ignoring the advice of its external auditors by shifting £2 million from a
‘ring-fenced’ housing budget to its general fund. The Kent authority’s chief
executive employed ‘special urgency’ powers in September to raid its housing
revenue account, council papers from last month reveal. Such powers allow
senior officials to make urgent decisions which are approved later by
councillors. The £2 million raid makes Medway the fifth council to sanction
such controversial transfers on the advice of consultancy Capita. The
CLG is probing the ‘appropriateness’ of
the move. In total, £37.5 million is now known to have been taken from council
housing budgets during September before the legal ‘loophole’ pinpointed by
Capita was sealed by the government on 1 October. Read more on Inside Housing.
No comments:
Post a Comment