Council audit of Covid welfare support services provides 'full assurance' opinion
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A Highland Council review of its own Covid welfare support services has provided the audit opinion of ‘full assurance’ of the work that was carried out in supporting those in most need during the pandemic.
Chair of the audit and scrutiny committee, Councillor Trish Robertson said: “This is an excellent result mainly for the people who received Covid welfare support but also for the staff in Highland Council’s Service Delivery Team who provided an exemplary service during the pandemic response getting urgent financial assistance to those in our communities across the region that needed it most.
“I would like to once again thank the council’s service delivery team for the excellent service that they provided under extremely difficult circumstances and congratulate them on this accolade for a highly professional service that has been officially recognised by the auditors.”
A report by the internal auditors assured that there was a sound system of control designed to achieve the Covid welfare support services system objectives and its controls were consistently applied during 2021/22.
In total, £9.937 million Covid support was provided through the scheme paid by the council using effective systems and procedures.
The funding was comprised of:
- £882,000 free school meals holidays
- £1,128,000 fuel poverty
- £2,774,000 fuel support fund
- £2,612,000 family pandemic payments
- £2,541,000 low income pandemic payments
The report concluded that the council has effective systems and procedures for providing Covid Support and the audit did not identify any recommendations needed to make improvements to the existing processes.
