A shortage of staff has delayed several internal audits at Kirklees Council, councillors have been told.
The issue was discussed during a meeting of the council’s Corporate Governance and Audit Committee at Huddersfield Town Hall on 19 June. At the meeting, members were reviewing progress on planned audits.
When questioned by Reform UK councillor David Birch on why a number of audits had been delayed, Kirklees Council’s Head of Audit and Risk, Martin Dearnly, said the problem was linked to recruitment challenges rather than financial constraints. As a result, some audits had not been completed on schedule.
Martin Dearnly said: “It’s not that we don’t have a budget, we just have difficulty recruiting people.”
“You can’t make staff want to work for us.”
Committee members were also told that the council is exploring ways to strengthen its audit team and reduce future delays. When asked how by independent member Andrew North, Mr Dearnly said officers had been developing new workforce models and had already recruited an apprentice to support the team.
“We have an apprentice to help relieve the audit staff so they can carry out their work,” he said. “We just need to keep looking out in the marketplace… Outsourcing comes with significantly higher costs.”
Council officers said recruitment efforts would continue as they seek to fill vacancies and ensure audits are completed on time.
Updated by Yashvi Jain
