Guilford Borough Council is at ‘serious risk’ of failing to deliver Best Value after overspending by millions on a housing contract, reviews have found.
The Surrey authority commissioned the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace) to review both its housing governance and Best Value governance after issues emerged in 2022 and 2023, including potential fraud in its housing landlord function.
According to the Solace report, after Guildford agreed to spend £24.5m improving its housing stock in February 2022, a three-year £2.4m contract, compliant with procurement process, was awarded for testing and inspection.
But in June last year, Guildford’s newly appointed monitoring officer was told £18.9m had been spent on the contract.
By this time, a second contract had been awarded – despite whistleblowing concerns – worth £3m a year, so Solace has put the total overspend at £13.5m.
Its report has uncovered a series of risks, including a housing software system that had not had the recommended updates for eight years, making budget monitoring ‘difficult’, and a lack of permanent housing surveyors.
Two council employees were suspended and five agency workers had their contracts terminated in September.
A police investigation and separate employment investigation are ongoing.
In its Best Value governance review, Solace found Guildford was ‘at serious risk of failing in its statutory duty to deliver Best Value’.
The review also found there was no coherent improvement plan and a ‘debilitating and serious absence’ of several important strategies, plans and systems.
Guildford has committed to all Solace's recommendations, including appointing an independent assurance panel and developing an improvement plan.
Council leader Julia McShane said: ‘The people of Guildford deserve better from their council and for that we give a heartfelt apology and a commitment to put right the long-standing issues which we have uncovered.’
Solace also recommended that Waverley Council, which shares some corporate management with Guildford, can ‘assure itself that similar risks issues are not present in that authority’.
