TVCA auditor writes to Angela Rayner criticising 'limited engagement' from Ben Houchen authority
Auditors into TVCA write to government over concerns surrounding Ben Houchen-led TVCA
It’s an off-schedule Teesside Lead as I have some breaking news to bring you.
Auditors for Ben Houchen’s Tees Valley Combined Authority have written to Angela Rayner to complain about a “lack of engagement” from the authority when trying to complete its audit of 2023/24’s accounts.
Tees Valley Combined Authority’s auditors are writing to the government over concerns relating to the authority’s ability to secure value for money.
After raising concerns to the Ben Houchen-led TVCA in February about the possibility the authority may not have abided by the law in publishing its accounts for 2023/24, auditors EY had to wait until April to receive responses to concerns it had raised in January.
The auditor has written to secretary of state Angela Rayner, saying it received “limited engagement” from the authority as it attempted its audit and “encountered a number of challenges in being able to progress with our audit planning procedures which is of significant concern.”
Among those concerns are the fact TVCA only provided its general ledger to the auditor last week, despite being given clear instructions on how to do so securely in January.
EY are also critical of TVCA’s failure to notify them of “significant governance changes”. The auditor says it only received communications in respect of this after it noticed coverage in local media.
Significantly, EY criticises TVCA for “a general lack of responsiveness to our audit enquiries, in particular where made by more junior members of the audit team, with enquiries only being acknowledged, and not necessarily responded to, when followed-up by more senior members of the audit team.”
The criticisms stem from the period between EY being unable to sign off TVCA’s accounts last year and last month where it found the authority’s inability to deliver value for money - which it discovered in the 2023/24 period - “are ongoing and significantly impacting on the Authority’s ability to meet its statutory reporting obligations.”
EY were concerned about TVCA’s resources to handle its financial obligations, and highlighted the fact it had not published its Annual Governance Statement alongside its draft accounts last year - something it is legally obliged to do.
TVCA has since re-published the statement as part of a re-run of the 30-day public consultation period for its accounts, but has done so too late for EY to be able to say it has done so within the legislative timeframe.
In a letter to TVCA on 15 April, EY says it wrote to the authority in December last year to inform it that it had not met its legal duties in publishing last year’s accounts. TVCA officers told the auditors in February it was assessing how to meet those legal duties, and despite EY asking for an update in March, it wasn’t until April that TVCA told the auditors what its plans where.
TVCA published the Annual Governance Statement, but EY says in its letter it “does not include all of the changes we expected.”
The auditor continues: “We included this matter in our correspondence to management on 13 March 2025, along with the fact we were still awaiting responses to our written enquiries to the Authority’s Monitoring Officer issued 8 January 2025. These responses were subsequently received on 1 April 2025.
“As a result of these matters, there is a significant delay in the completion of the 2023/24 audit beyond the statutory backstop date of 28 February 2025,” they write.
TVCA has called extraordinary meetings for its cabinet as well as for the South Tees Development Corporation and the Hartlepool and Middlesbrough Development Corporations to take place on 14 May.
The auditor is writing to Angela Rayner under Section 24 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. The authority in question must hold a public meeting by law to explain how it plans to deal with issues raised by its auditors.
Ms Rayner’s department issued a Best Value Notice to TVCA last month because of concerns around value for money at the authority, and the authority intends to include its response to EY’s letter in its action plan in response to that notice.
TVCA have been approached for comment.