Hidden in plain view

What Morley Town Council Censored in the 2009-2010 annual report:

(2009 figure in brackets)

General Administration £107,204 (£85,877)

Total expenditure £190,630 (£169,107)

Balance as at 31st March £78,623 (£91,660)


(Accurate to within £1 due to rounding- the audit opening balance was £1 less than the annual report opening balance).

This information is in the public domain and "confidentiality issues" is MTC being what a friend of mine described as being... err... shifty.



Where did I track it down? In Morley Library, in a locked filing cabinet with a sign saying "Beware of the leopard"


(Not quite that bad, but two green box files were locked away somewhere upstairs and a helpful Librarian went and fetched them after consulting with someone behind the scenes).


In the box amongst a somewhat jumbled assortment of old Agendas, Minutes & Annual reports, there was the 2009/2010 internal audit report for acceptance at the May Annual general meeting. (I assume they did, the July Agenda with May Minutes hadn't made it to the filing yet).


Reverse engineering the figures once the closing balance is known is of course child's play. The arrogance shown by the Council that those of us who are actually forced to pay 99.9% of the income are not allowed to know the expenditure unless we went to the AGM is nothing short of astonishing.


The question remains, though, as to whether those figures were available for inspection during July, or if they were censored to visitors. (If there were any).


The balance sheet figures in the annual report are presented in a different way to the figures the Audit Commission wants. (e.g. the audit commission aren't interested in which committee spends what).

They do ask for staff costs to be separated out though, and they define staff costs as:-

"Total expenditure or payments made to and on behalf of all employees. Include salaries and wages, PAYE and NI (employees and employers), pension contributions and employment expenses".

The figures for the last three years are:

2008 £53,275
2009 £51,986
2010 £81,404


(The first two figures were published on the town hall noticeboard last year when the internal audit figures were posted alongside the statutory notice of accounts inspection. This year, only the statutory notice was posted, not the internal audit figures. I suspect this is redaction by accidental on purpose oversight, i.e. plausible deniability).


This year has leapt up without any obvious change of staffing in the Town Council office. I also don't see how a compromise settlement with a former employee after losing a tribunal judgement fits in with the definition of Staff costs above. 


Let us see if Mazers agree...

The Audit Commission speaks

Thank you for your email to the Audit Commission regarding the 2009/10 accounts of Morley Town Council as presented in that council’s Annual Report published online.

I must stress that the accounts presented on the council’s website as part of the Annual Report are not the statutory accounts of the council. The annual report is not a statutory requirement and so is not regulated. One would hope, however, that any financial information presented in an annual report would be both complete and consistent with the audited statutory accounts of the body.

The council’s statutory accounts come in the form of an Annual Return which is subject to independent external audit. The council must publicly display the annual return, which includes both accounting and annual governance statements, for 20 working days. During that time you may ask the council any question you like about the accounts or to see any detail of them. There is certainly nothing in the legislation that supports partial disclosures of income or expenditure in the Annual Return and it is, indeed, unusual. So presuming the council’s annual return is complete, you should be able to find the information you seek there.

Local electors have rights in relation to the accounting statements. These include the right ‘to inspect the accounts…and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating to them.’ You may find the Commission’s guide – Councils Accounts Your Rights – helpful in detailing your rights and how to use them. It is accessible at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nationalstudies/localgov/Pages/councilsaccountsyourrights03072006.aspx .

In case of access to potentially personal information which is protected, you can also ask the external auditor (see directory at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/aboutus/contactus/Pages/ourauditors.aspx to find your local auditor) to determine whether the information you seek is personal information or not.

You may also request to see the information you seek through your rights under Freedom of Information legislation.

I am copying this response to your council’s appointed auditor and to Morley Town Council for information.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely

George Wisz | manager limited assurance audits
Audit Commission | First Floor | Millbank Tower | London | SW1P 4HQ |

Questions to Morley Town Council

Eight questions sent to the Town Clerk under FOI today:-

1) The balance sheet in the recently published annual report does not show a closing balance. MTC presumably sought advice on this. Which body advised that it was legal to redact the closing balance and what did they say?

2) The annual report claims reasons of confidentiality for redacting 2010 general administration, total expenditure and closing balance. Is this related purely to the out of court settlement with K Barrett after losing the Employment tribunal in March 2009?

3) which party proposed that the out of court settlement be on a confidential basis- the Morley Town Council Barrister or the Solicitor representing K Barrett?

4) If it was MTC that proposed confidentiality in the out of court settlement, what was the justification for doing so?

5) Have Mazers been consulted in the matter of redacting the Annual Report Balance Sheet? If so, what was their expressed opinion?

6) Will the closing balance be redacted in the audited reports available later this year?

7) Had I have visited the office during the pre-audit accounts inspection window up until July 28th, would I have found that the closing balance was redacted?

8) Did any electors or interested parties inspect the accounts during the July 2010 inspection window?

Check back in twenty working days to see how I got on...

Where has all the money gone?

The latest piece of insanity from Morley Town Council is to publish the annual accounts balance sheet in the annual report- WITHOUT A BALANCE.


I can't see Mazars being impressed with that and await the audited accounts with interest...

*edit* I couldn't wait, see the post above.