Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Council: Facing the financial challenges
Hi all
Please see a link to our new video outlining the reality of the financial challenges faced by Haringey Council, our commitment to transparency and working with residents to find solutions and to take the fight to national government as we call for fairer funding for local services.
You can watch the video here.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan77
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Every Haringey resident should watch this. Austerity has destroyed local services. National government needs to step up.
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Jo Kuper
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Thanks Dan! I hope people will watch and share, and we'll also keep sharing. We also hope to see lots of residents at the Town Halls starting in September.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Ford
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Welcome to the hard realities of local government.
Are there any options to run care homes in house ? Private sector has been bought out by hedge funds I understand. Central government needs to block these vultures! Imagine that happening to the NHS.
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Hi Neil, I totally agree that central govt needs to block these procurements. I don't know about what options have been discussed re the possibility of running care homes in house, I will look into it.
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The video boils down to 'we don't have enough money, we'll ask the Government to give us more'.
There is no mention of the steps that the new administration will take to review the efficiency of the services they are required to deliver. Similarly, there is no mention of the steps that will be taken to fix the financial systems, processes and governance frameworks that are currently preventing auditors from giving an opinion about the state of the council's finances. In simple terms, that means that money goes in but there is no certainty about how much is spent or what it is spent on (or indeed whether the services are provided to a good standard).
Any request for additional funds from the Government (ie. a bail out) will be met with the following questions from HM Treasury:
- where are you spending your money and what steps have you taken to become more efficient?
- what are you doing to generate additional revenue?
- how much are you spending, who is approving it, how is it being tracked and what risks are being managed?
It might be that the new administration is asking those questions and will be able to mount a compelling business case for additional funds, but the video doesn't mention that and simply saying we need more money isn't going to solve the problem.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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YEAR after year: shocking Audit Opinions
THE role of external auditors' is not widely appreciated and the significance of Audit Opinion are understood still less. There are four primary types which could broadly be considered as grades:
- UNQUALIFIED—the top. The one that CEOs and company directors covet
- QUALIFIED—as long as an accounting treatment is clear and transparent, this could be an honest disagreement
- ADVERSE—the accounts produced by the organisation do not represent a true and fair view of the financial position
- DISCLAIMER—due to the state of the accounts, no Opinion is possible
Motivated by the same public-relations consideration that buried their Buss Report, the council does not advertise this worst-possible Opinion.
Nonetheless, they have to publish their accounts:
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The latest Draft Statement of Accounts 2025/26 include:
2.26 From their work, KPMG identified five areas of improvement in respect of arrangements to secure VfM and noted these in their Auditor's Annual Report published in February 2026, for the 2024/25 financial year. KPMG’s opinion is that the Council does not have appropriate arrangements in place to secure economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the use of resources
Haringey PR/public relations spin:
In one sentence, council PR manags to amalgamate three of the four separate grades of Opinion, helping to blur or disguise the Auditor's single, overall Opinion: Disclaimer (or no Opinon).
for 2024/25, we received a (disclaimer) qualified opinion from the external auditor. This means that while the auditors believe the financial statements generally present a true and fair view, there were certain matters where they were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence.
(my bolding)
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The Auditor's Annual Report for our council for the year ended 31 March 2025, is the most recent available. In the PDF on page four "Executive Summary", their finding is:
We will issue a disclaimer of opinion on the Council’s financial statements by 27 February 2026. This is because we have been unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence over the financial statements as we have been unable to perform the procedures that we consider necessary to form our opinion on the accounts ahead of the statutory backstop date of 27 February 2026. Further details are set out on page 7. (my bolding)
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This is not the first Disclaimer of Opinion. The previous Auditor (BDO) issued Disclaimer Opinions for at least three years running. Does anyone care?
Our taxes have paid for the shambles and the presentation of the shambles.
Can the Greens bring an end to this conduct?
Knowing what income and outgoings is basic to any organisation and important for any resident. However, accounts and accounting have been a low priority. Labour seem to have taken this area for granted and prioritised other things. Labour leaders either turned a blind eye or turned their eyes elsewhere.
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What sometimes happens to organisations that are chronically loss-making
I know from my time with a Member firm of the Stock Exchange that the published accounts of a troubled company can change dramatically following a takeover by another company or a boardroom coup or significantly changed management.
The intention is normally to stop any fraud or hiding-conduct, expose fully all the losses or to end any accounting trickery. This tends to produce truthful accounts that may shock shareholders or potential investors. If the company is Listed, then the share-price will probably fall a great deal.
Our council's accounts have been chronically poor by external objective measure.
In a similar way as above, the new Green Administration now have a golden opportunity to make a clean breast of our council's accounting.
If they don't, then central government may loose patience with Haringey producing sub-standard accounts, year after year after year. Nobody wants to see that.
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Thanks Clive, these are pertinent points. I'd like to reiterate our commitment to transparent accounting, including getting the basics right, that residents understand our income and outgoings across the budget, you will soon see our financial transparency dashboard, and look forward to discussing these issues with residents at the forthcoming Town Halls. We also have plans to introduce participatory budget models, all of which are intended to give residents fair oversight into the finances, and a fair opportunity to contribute.
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Hi Jo, the mere fact that you've read my musings is a hopeful sign!
Screenshot of the Auditor's actual Opinion and not municipal PR spin:
The valuable advice of the external auditor is likely to be an excellent starting point. They give this paid-for advice every year. In the past however, Momentum-Labour and local-New-Labour Administrations appear either to have given insufficient regard to Auditors' advice, or not followed it through with sufficient vigour …
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Johann Beckford
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Hi Brian, thanks for engaging with the film just jumping in having been involved in the film making. The purpose is to very clearly identify what we see it the biggest issues with Haringey's financial situation and share that with residents across the Borough so they can best understand the pressures the council is under. We rightly hear lots of challenges in our inboxes and our surgeries about a range of issues but too often just blaming the finances in the moment is viewed as an excuse. This film can start hopefully to communicate the challenges we face to as many residents as possible. I think it is certainly worth acknowledging that when demand for services grows and yet funding has been cut by 55% since 2010, it's little wonder that services become stretched. We are very open that we will be a campaigning council that talks about the pressures on the ground and highlights that for us to truly deliver for residents in a way that we want to then the funding situation has to change.That is not to say we're not doing anything else. At full council on Monday 20th July, all councillors approved a plan for much stricter governance around council finances to drive good value for money across services. We're also identifying priority areas for additional revenue generation and reviewing processes to ensure identified savings are delivered. Officers are working hard at turning our manifesto into concrete plans and I'm feeding in lots of ideas to give our next budget a distinctive green flavour. Always happy to hear ideas for what more we should be doing so please send me an email with further thoughts if you have them but on this video we thought 10 minutes was already long enough!ThanksJohann
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Thanks Johann. That sounds promising. Good luck and thanks to you and Ms Kuper for engaging with people on this forum.
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Permalink Reply by Nigel
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Cllrs Beckford and Kuper asked for input. All IMHO:
Much of what was said in the video was clear and some promises looked positive. I would like to echo and add to what Brian Mahoney has posted.
The video pointed out the fast-rising amount and cost of debt. Borrowing is worse than poison at these levels, even if the lender might be the Government. Debt is also killing the ability of central Govt to spend where it needs to do so, including in the subvention of local authorities like Haringey. It would be irresponsible of the Council to increase debt now in the hope of greater Govt subvention or debt relief some time in the future.
New councillors now have an opportunity to change the face and reputation of Haringey Council by substantive and realistic action. They should each accept and abide by their core duty to act prudently and responsibly with the public money entrusted to them, as acknowledged in the video.
Asking for help from the officers in devising plans for review is a step forward but it almost certainly introduces delay to remedial action and can distract from the tools they already have. A responsible exercise of that duty requires councillors to embark on the important and painstaking (if tedious) task of questioning each line of expenditure regardless of previous policies under which the money was and is intended to be spent, so they understand where the money goes and how much. For that they may need to be bold with the Council's own officers and establishment, whose own priorities may not exactly coincide with that duty.
It would be a good start for councillors with responsibility for particular policy areas to have the senior official responsible for execution in that area to embark on that task with them.
There is little point in looking backwards, bleating about how or why the Council is in such dire financial straits or "fighting" central Government, itself in financial difficulties, for more money. To do so is to waste valuable time and money.
Of course, making the Borough leaner, cleaner and more resident- and business-friendly would attract ratepayers and in turn increase that third of the Council's income. The forthcoming revision of valuations for rating should also put some more money in the Council's coffers.
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