Equal pay claims affect council's audit report

Outstanding equal pay claims are among the reasons why auditors said they were unable to fully sign off Coventry City Council's accounts.

A report from external auditors said that because there was an early date for the publication of the accounts other aspects were also unfinished, causing it to issue a 'disclaimer of opinion'.

In his report, Grant Thornton partner Andrew Smith explained there was insufficient evidence to say that the statements to the end of March 2025 were 'free from material misstatement".

Local Government Association data suggests such disclaimers are not uncommon, with more than 300 issued to local authorities between 2022 and 2024.

Smith told the committee that because of fresh equal pay claims under the Equality Act 2010, and the early deadline, auditors had not had any assessment from the council's management on the likelihood of claims being successful or what the financial implications might be.

"We have concluded that the possible effects on the financial statements of undetected misstatements arising from these matters could be both material and pervasive. We have therefore issued a disclaimer of opinion on the financial statements."

Conservative councillor John Blundell told the audit and procurement committee: "I know we went through equal pay claims several years ago and it is obviously disappointing that it has come back."

Barry Hastie, the director of finance and resources, replied that work was going into defending the claims that were lodged around two years ago.

"We have seen very little increase since the first batch and the vast majority, if not all, have come through trade unions."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.