Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor Douglas Mills.

None.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record

The Chair introduced the Financial Modernisation Programme.

The Financial Modernisation Programme had been initiated in response to recommendations from external and internal auditors. It aimed to improve certainty around the Council’s financial position, particularly in light of challenges with budget monitoring and the transition to Oracle Fusion. The programme was being delivered in partnership with Grant Thornton and encompassed finance structure and systems; budget monitoring and management; Oracle system optimisation; and governance and accountability.

Hillingdon had been working with Grant Thornton on the Oracle Improvement Plan since September 2024. In February 2025, Cabinet had approved a request from the Corporate Director of Finance to bring in capacity and capability to create and deliver a Financial Improvement Plan with CIPFA. These were combined into the Finance Modernisation Programme, launched in April 2025. The initial focus had been to support the understanding of the budget outturn position; to improve the budget monitoring forecasting processes; and to address issues with the use of Oracle. It was also noted that the Council had recently appointed a new Section 151 Officer.

A review of accounting had been done to ensure that there was a solid baseline on the 2024/25 outturn. Adjustments to the 2024/25 financial position had been identified, totalling an approximate £14.1 million adverse impact as a result of historic issues including writing out a negative reserve, updates to the Council’s Treasury and Minimum Revenue Provision calculations and changes to the Council’s Bad Debt Provision policy.

The Council’s finance system had gone live in May 2024, upgrading to the latest cloud-based version of Oracle. However, inadequate training and knowledge transfer had led to poor understanding of changes to business processes and the routine maintenance requirements of the system. The system as implemented had proved to be overly complex and had been adapted to meet existing Council processes. Documentation of the system was incomplete and not always up to date. The Council did not have the in-house capacity or capability to effectively support and maintain the solution.

Oracle’s planning and monitoring functionality had underperformed, leading to off-system workarounds. Some documents around processes and procedures lacked detail. Budget holders lacked confidence and access to reliable data.

The current finance team was large and high-cost relative to the Council’s size. Manual interventions in basic functions such as forecasting and reporting were prevalent due to unrealised system efficiencies. Accountability was concentrated among a small number of senior officers.

The Council had been using Oracle for a long time. The latest cloud-based version, Oracle Fusion, included enterprise resource planning (ERP) for core finance and enterprise performance management (EPM) for planning and budgeting. Budget holders primarily interacted with EPM.

The initial stage of the Financial Modernisation Programme had been organised into six key work streams with the immediate priorities around ensuring a robust understanding of the 24/25 outturn and targets for 25/26.

1. Accounting and control – identification and assessment of areas of risk in the Council’s Accounting processes and Controls and 24/25 Year End preparations
2. Budget Monitoring – Implementation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 155.

The Chair introduced the Governance Review Improvement Plan (GRIP), which encompassed governance-related improvements, including financial and directorate governance. This item aimed to provide an overview of the GRIP, its structure, progress, and next steps.

The GRIP had been commissioned in March 2025 following internal and external audit reports in late 2024 and early 2025. It addressed recommendations related to financial and directorate governance, especially in light of the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings targets approved in February 2025. It was sponsored by the Chief Executive.

The GRIP was structured into three workstreams:

Each workstream reports would progress to the Corporate Governance Group, a statutory officer group, which met monthly and reported to the Corporate Management Team (CMT). The GRIP document was a live, evolving control document with updates at each Corporate Governance Group meeting. The Audit Committee would also receive updates at every meeting.

The Finance Modernisation Programme was embedded in Workstream 1; a new MTFS app had been rolled out to support directorate-specific savings tracking; spend controls were integrated into the broader governance framework; and a uniform planning format had been introduced for business and finance plans to ensure alignment from strategy to individual performance.

Members asked how the Council would ensure that the GRIP’s values, such as timeliness, inclusivity, openness, honesty, were embedded in the organisational culture. Officers responded that the GRIP was transparent and open to Member feedback; internal and external auditors were engaged for ongoing input; and the Corporate Governance Group played a key role in monitoring cultural alignment. There had been positive results from the recent staff survey, which could be presented to the Committee; and increased visibility of senior leadership.

Members asked about the delay in publishing the 2024/25 final accounts. Officers expected submission by mid-August 2025 due to the need for high assurance and accuracy.

Members requested access to the Directorate Governance Internal Audit Report. It was noted that the report could be shared with Committee Members.

The Chair asked if Internal Audit were happy with the GRIP and actions taken in response to the Directorate Governance report. Internal Audit officers noted that they were happy, that the actions were appropriate, and progress was satisfactory. It was acknowledged that full implementation would take time, but initial steps were strong. Members noted they were happy with the GRIP.

The Chair asked if the Council had considered governance areas more broadly. Officers noted that Workstream 3 was specifically created to address broader governance.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 156.

Officers noted that the Work Programme highlighted upcoming meeting dates and the expected agenda items.

The Chair noted the request to bring an update on staff survey results to the November Committee.

RESOLVED: That the Audit Committee:

1. Noted the dates for Audit Committee meetings;

2. Noted that updates on the GRIP would be presented to each Committee; and

3. Requested an update on the staff survey at the November Committee meeting.