Middlesbrough Council may have broken procurement law when it awarded four contracts worth more than £4m, an external audit has found.
More broadly, the report by Ernst and Young on the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 found the authority had a ‘well-established informal and undocumented practice’ when it came to applying exceptions to procurement rules.
Between 2020 and 2022, Middlesbrough directly awarded four social work contracts, which were later extended, for a total of £4.3m.
Auditors said the sum ‘significantly’ exceeded the thresholds under which direct awards are permitted and concluded that in their view, the council had failed to comply with procurement law.
The report adds that the authority's failure to properly record the contracts meant it could not show that the issue was an isolated occurrence.
Auditors said that in their view, Middlesbrough's non-adherence to its own procedure rules was ‘pervasive’ over the two years, describing the issue as a ‘significant weakness’ in the council’s arrangements to secure value for money.
A council spokesperson said the timescale of the report meant it did not ‘reflect the impact of significant work undertaken to improve Middlesbrough Council’s governance, culture and financial sustainability since March last year’.
Check out: Weakening financial sustainability arrangements.
