REDDITCH Council has said that it is expecting to receive a clean bill of health on its accounts from external auditors, as its end of year results show it has achieved a total of £2.2m worth of savings in 2014/15, but not everyone is convinced.

The council said that it has been another tough year with continued reductions in funding, and problems implementing a new computer system leading to a late submission of the accounts.

So a plan of action to improve processes for the impending budget and next year’s final accounts, is being implemented to address specific concerns flagged up by auditors Grant Thornton.

The action plan will be monitored through the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee.

However, councillor David Thain, chairman of the committee, said the council's finances are in "disarray" and that the savings figure is skewed because it was only possible after a transfer from reserves.

Executive director for finance Jayne Pickering said: “The auditors accepted our reasons for the delay and the subsequent issues around the production of the accounts which included the loss of technical accountants, who we had difficulties in replacing, coupled with problems we had installing new systems.

“However this action plan, which sees me working with the auditors and other councils to share best practice, will see a robust framework in place imminently.

“Indeed our balances are now £1.2m over the recommended level which will provide the council some stability with the uncertainties around the Comprehensive Spending Review later this year.”

The council said that accounts for 2014/15 show an additional saving over those budgeted of £819k which has been transferred to balances to increase them to £1.985m.

These savings have come about following contracts renegotiations, additional income from services and managing vacancies to give opportunities to those staff under redeployment.

Councillor John Fisher, responsible for finance, said: “Our prudent approach to budgeting has meant that in a time when most councils are axing frontline services to cut costs, we are making savings so we can keep doing the work that Redditch residents care about.

“We have increased charges in some services, but they still remain among the lowest in Worcestershire."

Coun Thain said that the auditor's report did not make for comfortable reading.

He said: "The council's finances are in disarray - the auditor's report is peppered with comments that indicate a level of incompetence with the council's financial department that is worrying - 'staff were frequently unavailable to explain figures', 'staff did not always return calls' and 'figures had to be returned for clarification'.

"The final profit figure was completely skewed because it was only possible after a transfer from the reserves - and even then the council have no idea how they got to this figure."