Account Audit Overdue: Calls for Transparency at Sefton Council

It’s been almost 4 years since Sefton Council last published a set of audited accounts, with the last set of available fully audited accounts being for the year 2019/20. 

Conservative Group Leader on Sefton Council, Councillor Mike Prendergast, is calling on Sefton Council to get their accounts audited and get it done sooner rather than later.

Councillor Prendergast said, “Over the last decade residents in Sefton have seen their Council Tax go up, parking charges increase, in Southport we have the unedifying site of Southport Pier being closed by Labour and in Crosby, Labour councillors and cabinet members planned to shut down the library there too.

The council has a turnover running into the hundreds of millions of pounds and major decisions are made with public money. 

Over the last few years Labour in Sefton have used tax payer money, your money, to increase councillor allowances, help service the debt used to buy Bootle Strand and provide a multi million pound loan facility to a speculative property development company. 

Many people, might consider these huge financial decisions questionable and may doubt whether they display sound commercial acumen.

It is therefore, vital that the accounts of Sefton Council are fully audited by an independent auditor and made available to the public as soon as possible. Someone, other than Labour councillors and council employees need to review and check the accounts of Sefton Council.

The failure to provide fully audited accounts and not even publish draft accounts for 2022/23 by the deadline of 31st May this year is just another example of the democratic deficit that exists in Sefton. Many major decisions are hidden from public view and oversight and scrutiny committees at the council are chaired and run by Labour councillors; Labour get to mark their own homework.

We need an independent auditor to review the accounts of Sefton Council as otherwise members of the public may start to think, why is it taking this long to audit the accounts and what exactly is being hidden from us?”