Slough Council faces 'significant challenges' in making savings

Members of the council’s audit and corporate governance committee met on Wednesday, January 21, to discuss the latest findings of the council’s internal audit team.

Internal auditors are responsible for assessing whether the council’s risk management, control and governance processes are in place.

Wednesday’s audit and corporate governance meeting heard Slough Borough Council has completed 23 internal audit reviews so far during the 2025/26 financial year.

Areas that have been reviewed include asset management and disposal, schools in the borough, leisure services contracts, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) complaints and temporary accommodation.

The council’s internal team are tasked with providing a score for these areas.

This ranges from a substantial assurance – if the services provided were good – down to reasonable, partial and minimal assurances if improvements to services are needed.

The council’s asset management and disposal was one of the services given a ‘partial assurance’ score which means it poses a risk to the council.

Slough Borough Council has been looking to sell a number of its assets in recent years, such as council-owned buildings, in a bid to pay off its multi-million pound debts.

But the council’s latest internal audit mid-year progress report said the borough’s asset disposal programme is not as effective as it should be.

The report said there is a ‘lack of a centralised asset database and an updated strategic asset management plan’.

“The council faces significant challenges in its asset management and disposals, largely stemming from historical underinvestment, inadequate data management and staffing issues,” the mid-year progress report said.

If council-owned properties are not sold to generate income, money must be spent on maintaining them.

The internal audit report said the council’s lack of a ‘robust preventative maintenance programme’ continued to pose a substantial financial and operational risk to the council.

Councillor Subash Mohindra (Con, Upton) asked how these issues are being addressed to improve the score of ‘partial assurance’.

Ian Kirby, head of internal audit at Slough Borough Council, said: “We provided some clear recommendations for the team, they’ve been accepted.

“The recommendations that have been made will be monitored by the organisation moving forward.”

These include implementing a ‘robust’ asset database, reviewing future partnership arrangements and having a closer working relationship between the council’s finance and property services on yearly valuations.

The council’s finance improvement plan was also assessed, although the review was not a formal assurance audit and no opinion was expressed.

Mr Kirby added: “Finance improvement has been and will continue to be a key consideration for the council.

“Our ‘advisory’ review of the [finance] improvement plan provides assurance that the plan is progressing in the right direction and that the key focus will remain on delivery.”

There has been a ‘good level of engagement’ from the wider organisation with the financial improvement plan, he added.

A review into the council’s health and safety – including accidents, incidents and near misses – was also assessed and given a ‘partial assurance’ score.

Mr Kirby said: “Although the review did identify a number of significant control weaknesses largely linked to the updating of policy and procedure, our partial assurance score did reflect the appointment of a new health and safety manager, a clear acceptance of our recommendation and a clear direction of travel to implement the recommendations that have been made.”

A total of 11 recommendations have been accepted for areas that need to be addressed.

As part of the internal audits, the performance of some schools in the borough was also looked into.

Schools including Baylis Court Nursery, Cippenham and Lea Nursery received ‘substantial’ or ‘reasonable’ assurances, meaning their performance was good.