Reform to begin Musk-style audits of councils

Indeed. Irregularities were discovered that sound like an accumulation of clerical errors across different departments.

KCC counter fraud manager James Flannery said ...

Unfortunately, it is human error a lot of the time. It could be the manager is on long-term sick and the person left and the relevant actions weren't taken in the system.

You don't resolve these things by cutting resources but by increasing them.

Just listening to the local television and Reform’s plans for KCC.

I’m so glad I don’t live in Kent

And some people think it doesnt matter what Party a Local Councilor represents.

Whitewavemark2

Just listening to the local television and Reform’s plans for KCC.

I’m so glad I don’t live in Kent

I live in Kent and I am very happy that Reform have been voted in.

Do you feel however that this audit is necessary, cancelling all meetings, and the right people carrying it out? I'm not going to assume that all Reform voters think the same.

Teazel2

Whitewavemark2

Just listening to the local television and Reform’s plans for KCC.

I’m so glad I don’t live in Kent

I live in Kent and I am very happy that Reform have been voted in.

They didn’t seem to know what they were talking about!!

But whatever floats your boat😊

Teazel2

Whitewavemark2

Just listening to the local television and Reform’s plans for KCC.

I’m so glad I don’t live in Kent

I live in Kent and I am very happy that Reform have been voted in.

Why?

If REform are going for DOGE style committees, does that mean they are going to employ drug-addled South Africans to run them?

Musk stated his audit would save trillions of dollars- the latest figures are a few million saved- no wonder he's gone...
still I suppose if Kent CC save a few quid on transport for disabled kids it will have been worth it...

Our Council is broke, no money in the coffers at all. They did employ at great expense, a person to look at the books and the conclusion was we were broke, waste of money we don't have. Employ people in the first place that know what they are doing seems obvious but unachievable.

growstuff

Teazel2

Whitewavemark2

Just listening to the local television and Reform’s plans for KCC.

I’m so glad I don’t live in Kent

I live in Kent and I am very happy that Reform have been voted in.

Why?

Its obvious, they want to eliminate wasteful spending, something all councils seem to do.

Wyllow3

Do you feel however that this audit is necessary, cancelling all meetings, and the right people carrying it out? I'm not going to assume that all Reform voters think the same.

Its very necessary, and I hope they can identify and eliminate wasteful spending as well as trying to reform pensions.

So who is doing the audit?

What security must they pass.

What access do they have to sensitive information?

Can businesses be confident that contracts with the council are kept confidential?

Can individuals be sure that personal information is kept confident.

What access will they have to the pension department? The future investment plans etc.

Councils and their departments hold probably more total information about people than any other public run body.

Listening to Reform, absolutely nothing they say or do fills me with the confidence that they have either sufficient knowledge or judgement to carry out an audit of their own members let alone the biggest LA in the country.

Teazel2

Wyllow3

Do you feel however that this audit is necessary, cancelling all meetings, and the right people carrying it out? I'm not going to assume that all Reform voters think the same.

Its very necessary, and I hope they can identify and eliminate wasteful spending as well as trying to reform pensions.

Elected councillors have no jurisdiction over the pensions of the Council’s employees Teazel2. If they have promised that they cannot deliver.

Teazel2

Wyllow3

Do you feel however that this audit is necessary, cancelling all meetings, and the right people carrying it out? I'm not going to assume that all Reform voters think the same.

Its very necessary, and I hope they can identify and eliminate wasteful spending as well as trying to reform pensions.

So what is the evidence of your so-called "wasteful spending".

Actual evidence, not a chance to use the soundtrack of the unlawful and unconstitutional steps the Orange One has taken.

Unless you take the time and trouble to actually look at and understand a) the role of local councillors and b) the way councils are funded and statutory services, it’s almost impossible to state “all councils waste money”

Local Councillors are specifically voted in to represent and support the interests of their ward and the people living in them.

They already keep an eye on finances by their presence on committees such as scrutiny and finance.

Brand new councillors, especially those with zero knowledge of their remit, responsibilities and authority should be attending induction and training, learning from experienced councillors, learning by attending various committees, it’s a huge learning process.

I’m extremely glad I don’t live in Kent!

Whitewavemark2

So who is doing the audit?

What security must they pass.

What access do they have to sensitive information?

Can businesses be confident that contracts with the council are kept confidential?

Can individuals be sure that personal information is kept confident.

What access will they have to the pension department? The future investment plans etc.

Councils and their departments hold probably more total information about people than any other public run body.

Listening to Reform, absolutely nothing they say or do fills me with the confidence that they have either sufficient knowledge or judgement to carry out an audit of their own members let alone the biggest LA in the country.

You make it sound like audits should never happen.

Councils have a legal obligation to provide certain services.

What has happened over the austerity years since 2010, is that cuts to the LA funding from government and restraints on the precept has left them so severely short of money that they have real and existential crises in providing the legal services let alone any vanity spending..

And as someone mentioned above, every council is not the same regarding income from either the government or the precept.

Cossy

FriedGreenTomatoes2

My bugbear is procurement issues. A friend worked in local authority and 25 years ago she went to the local admin manager saying she needed a desk lamp and had found one in Ryman’s (her local store) for a tenner (which included VAT).

Oh no, she was told. Shecould only order one through the Council’s contracted supplier so was given a very thick full colour glossy catalogue.

Guess what? The same desk lamp as the one in Rymans was £85 (not including VAT).

I’ve always remembered this illustration of how money truly is wasted. There will be a lot of waste uncovered I bet.

I absolutely agree with you re procurement.

This does need looking at and improving.

Surely the problem is systems and accountability. Once a member of staff starts buying little bits and pieces 'on the cheap', the door is opened for fraud. Payments from petty cash and slowly items increase in value and then mysteriously disappear, either because they were never real anyway or because they are sold on.
This is why professional, accredited auditors insist on purchases from validated sources accompanied by authorised invoices that can be tracked.

fancythat

Whitewavemark2

So who is doing the audit?

What security must they pass.

What access do they have to sensitive information?

Can businesses be confident that contracts with the council are kept confidential?

Can individuals be sure that personal information is kept confident.

What access will they have to the pension department? The future investment plans etc.

Councils and their departments hold probably more total information about people than any other public run body.

Listening to Reform, absolutely nothing they say or do fills me with the confidence that they have either sufficient knowledge or judgement to carry out an audit of their own members let alone the biggest LA in the country.

You make it sound like audits should never happen.

Audits at councils happen all the time! From internal auditing by accountants, to audits by HMRC, to audits by external accountants.

Just not some bod that the Reform loons have dragged in.

What are these vanity projects and wasteful schemes, I'd like to hear some examples please.

This is doomed to fail in terms of providing better public services. it is just an exercise in performance politics.

Looking at the 2025/26 Kent CC budget, where will Reform find substantial cuts when 73% of it is earmarked for adult social care and children’s services - which is little different to other councils.

The remainder is spent on waste services, public health, highways, transport and community services.

Reform say:

For too long British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut.

By that token they can’t cut waste services or highways because bins will be emptied even less frequently and potholes won’t be fixed.

Transport would be concessionary bus passes. Perhaps they’ll stop funding passes for the eldery and the disabled. Or cut some bus services altogether.

Public health covers things like public toilets, pest control, inspection of eating establishment for food safety and so on. Which would people prefer? Fewer toilets, more rats or more food poisoning?

Community services are things like parks, sports facilities, swimming pools, libraries and theatres. Do you want green spaces maintained where you can walk your dog or take children to play, take children for a swim or to play sports or borrow books free of charge to develop their reading skills or to take them to the panto?

Do doubt some cost savings will be found through chiselling service providers but ultimately you get what you pay for.

Kent CC budget says: We provide a huge range of essential services to Kent residents, spending over £2.6 billion (excluding schools) each year.

There are over 700,000 households in Kent. If Reform could find £5 million pounds to cut which was passed on to the taxpayer, it would reduce council tax bills by about £5 a year for the average household. Do people really want to see vital services cut to save less than tuppence a day?

It would be peanuts anyway. My county council spend 2.5 million a day on adult social care and a similar amount on children’s services. It would be shameful to make cuts to either.

It will be really interesting to see what these people achieve.
If I had to guess there will be a few inflammatory headlines and then the whole thing will fizzle out, but not before at least one of the DOGGING team are exposed as an out and out wrong un.

Fried in his Musk costume? Who on earth takes these people seriously?

silverbrooks yes

Whitewavemark2

Councils have a legal obligation to provide certain services.

What has happened over the austerity years since 2010, is that cuts to the LA funding from government and restraints on the precept has left them so severely short of money that they have real and existential crises in providing the legal services let alone any vanity spending..

And as someone mentioned above, every council is not the same regarding income from either the government or the precept.

Absolutely!