The Comptroller and Auditor General Gareth Davies, as head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has disclaimed his audit opinion on the College of Policing 2023-24 financial statements. He says he was unable to obtain sufficient, and appropriate evidence upon which to form an opinion.
The lack of evidence was due to the College failing to properly manage a transition to new accounting and payroll systems, making the College vulnerable to the risk of unauthorised transactions, data breaches and misuse of sensitive information.
About the College of Policing
As the professional body for policing in England and Wales, its core purpose is to promote policing excellence, and it plays a central role in setting standards of professional practice, developing leadership, and promoting ethical behaviour across the police service.
In October 2023, the College transferred its accounting records to the Oracle-based Metis system as used by the Home Office and outsourced most of its payroll functions to Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) – a contractor used by other government departments and public bodies. The NAO’s audit found the College went live with the new systems despite known problems being unresolved and without a line-by-line reconciliation of the data.
Poor financial management made worse by inaccurate information in the College’s financial systems led to an overspend of £1.3m against the College’s delegated budget from the Home Office for 2023-24. The College could not provide adequate evidence to support many transactions reflected in its accounting systems. When audit fieldwork was concluded in February this year the College had been unable to provide the NAO with evidence required to substantiate 56% of the audit sample.
The NAO adds that the College has added to its finance team and brought VAT reconciliations and returns up to date and has shared with the NAO a detailed recovery plan to ensure it is able to fully substantiate its 2024-25 financial statements.
CEO comment
Sir Andy Marsh, College of Policing CEO, said: “In 2023 the College implemented a replacement public sector finance and HR system which presented a range of challenges for us to accurately migrate data and introduce new procedures and processes while the change-over was happening. Regrettably it resulted in late accounts being filed and an overspend in budget.
“I take our responsibility for public money very seriously. The College of Policing has not faced an issue of this kind with auditors since its inception, and to prevent this happening again I have overseen significant changes to our finance operation, including the strengthening of my executive team. An additional non-executive director, who is a former audit partner at KPMG, has been co-opted to join the College Board.
“The new financial system has now been fully implemented and is working well. I am grateful to the National Audit Office and Home Office for their support and can reassure the public that our next accounts will be filed correctly.”
