Agenda

To approve the record of the meeting held on 19 March 2026.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

This report presents an update to the plan of Medway Council’s External auditors, Grant Thornton, for the audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2025/26.

This report sets out Grant Thornton’s (GT) plan to rebuild audit assurance at Medway Council following the disclaimer of opinion issued under the statutory backstop for the years ended 31 March 2025, 31 March 2024, 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2022. This plan has been agreed with management and will be communicated to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in July 2026.

In April 2002 the Authority adopted the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice (the CIPFA Code) which requires the Authority to approve, as a minimum, treasury management semi-annual and annual outturn reports.

This report includes the requirement in the 2021 Code of reporting of the treasury management prudential indicators. The non-treasury prudential indicators are incorporated in the Authority’s normal [revenue and capital monitoring] report.