Wirral Council’s new finance director criticised a “cultural issue” in how the local authority makes payments.
This came as councillors were told at an Audit and Risk Management committee “there are still issues to be sorted out” with a new system to manage Wirral Council’s finances just weeks before it goes live.
A new system to bring in council controls over finances and reduce fraud risk had been expected to come in April 2022 but it was postponed until the following financial year. Officers said it will also improve the decisions councillors make on council finances.
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Wirral Council has approved another budget for next year to close its current budget gap but faces at least four more years of difficult decisions to balance the books.
Cllr Tom Anderson, leader of the Conservative group, previously said the financial management system cost more than £10m and criticised the delays given it involved the management of public money.
He also raised concerns around payments being made without purchase orders, a form of documentation, at a meeting on February 15 in relation to the new system.
A move to stop payments being issued without a purchase order was voted down over a major risk to the council but councillors voted for greater transparency going forward.
Matthew Bennett, the council’s director of finance, at a meeting on March 1 said the new system “won’t resolve no purchase order no pay because a lot of that is down to people.
"Someone actually has to raise a purchase order being made in advance of a payment being made when they place that order for goods and services, and the system can’t substitute for that.
“There’s a cultural issue that we have to address within the organisation so that those procedures are being followed correctly.”
A report by the council’s internal audit team which inspects council finances said: “The project remains on schedule however the results of the user acceptance testing that is currently undergoing are crucial to the achievement of this.”
Cllr Jason Walsh criticised the report saying “The report makes it sound like it's on track for delivery in agreed timescales that it’s going to be delivered by April but that is a delay. It’s not quite accurate, it's going to be on time. It’s going to be on time for the new target I guess.”
Mr Bennett said he will be leading a review into the processes around purchase orders and an independent report will be coming back to the committee.
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