Compliance with the Financial Management Code

The self-assessment against the CIPFA Financial Management Code is designed to support good practice in financial management and to assist local authorities in demonstrating their financial sustainability. All local authorities were required to demonstrate full compliance against the six principles by 31 March 2022. It is the opinion of the Chief Financial Officer that the council is financially resilient and delivers value for money. However, in striving for financial excellence the council has developed a set of actions for improvement:

• Continue the roll out of the best value challenge process in 2026/27 which involves internal and external stakeholder evaluation.
• A review and refresh of the financial regulations during 2026/27.
• Continued additional budget monitoring of high risk/demand led services.
• Continuation of budget holder training programme for all levels of officers with budget responsibility.
• Continuation of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) Board to identify savings through cross-directorate workstreams and ensure the delivery of savings and mitigating actions.
• Establishing MTFS savings and Project Management Office (PMO) assurance processes.

Update on Issues Identified in 2024/25

There was no significant governance issues raised in 2024/25.

Significant Governance Issues 2025/26

As set out in the risk section, there are a number of known risks where mitigations and actions are put in place as identified in the section on risk. There are not considered to be any significant governance issues.