The Joint Audit Findings for Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire and Chief Constable for South Yorkshire Year ended 31 March 2020 November 2020 © 2020 Grant Thornton UK LLP | Audit Findings Report for South Yorkshire PCC and South Yorkshire Chief Constable | 2019/20 Contents Section Page 1. Headlines 3 2. Financial statements 6 3. Value for money 22 4. Independence and ethics 31 Your key Grant Thornton Appendices team members are: A. Action plan Paul Grady B. Follow up of prior year recommendations Key Audit Partner C. Audit adjustments T: 020 7728 2439 E: [email protected] D. Fees Stuart Armstrong Engagement Manager T: 0161 953 6900 E: [email protected] The contents of this report relate only to those matters which came to our attention during the conduct of our normal audit procedures which are designed for the purpose of expressing Corinne Braund our opinion on the financial statements. Our audit is not designed to test all internal controls or identify all areas of control weakness. However, where, as part of our testing, we identify In-charge auditor control weaknesses, we will report these to you. In consequence, our work cannot be relied upon to disclose all defalcations or other irregularities, or to include all possible improvements in internal control that a more extensive special examination might identify. This report has been prepared solely for your benefit and should not be quoted in whole or in part without our E: [email protected] prior written consent. We do not accept any responsibility for any loss occasioned to any third party acting, or refraining from acting on the basis of the content of this report, as this report was not prepared for, nor intended for, any other purpose. Grant Thornton UK LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales: No.OC307742. Registered office: 30 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AG. A list of members is available from our registered office. Grant Thornton UK LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Grant Thornton UK LLP is a member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another’s acts or omissions. © 2020 Grant Thornton UK LLP | Audit Findings Report for South Yorkshire PCC and South Yorkshire Chief Constable | 2019/20 2 Headlines This table summarises the key findings and other matters arising from the statutory audits of South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (‘the PCC’) and South Yorkshire Chief Constable and the preparation of the PCC’s and Chief Constable's financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2020 for the PCC and Chief Constable. Covid-19 The outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has had a We updated our audit risk assessment to consider the impact of the pandemic on our audit and issued an audit plan significant impact on the normal operations of the PCC and the addendum on 6 May 2020. In that addendum we reported an additional financial statement risk in respect of Covid -19 CC. As a police body you are at the forefront of efforts to support and highlighted the impact on our VfM approach. Further detail is set out on page 8. local people and clearly your focus will be directed to supporting Restrictions for non-essential travel have meant the PCC, Force and audit staff have had to adapt to remote working local communities as best you can in these exceptionally difficult arrangements. Your finance team were well set up for remote working and there were no changes in key financial circumstances. processes that impacted on our approach to your audit. Your finance team was able to produce their accounts in line Authorities are still required to prepare financial statements in with their original timeline. Both teams have had to be flexible in approaches to sharing information. We agreed to use accordance with the relevant accounting standards and the Code video calling to watch your finance team run the required reports to gain assurance over completeness and accuracy of of Audit Practice, however given the unprecedented challenge on information produced by you. We have made more use of conference calls and emails to resolve audit queries. authorities an amendment was made to the Accounts and Audit Inevitably in these circumstances resolving audit queries has taken longer than face to face discussion. Regular Regulations 2015 to an extended deadline for the preparation of meetings were held with finance staff to highlight key outstanding issues and findings to date. We have used a query the financial statements up to 31 August 2020 and the date for log to track and resolve outstanding items, ensuring that the process was as smooth as possible. audited financials statements to 30 November 2020. The audit has progressed to plan and subject to completion of outstanding items set out on page 5 we aim to be in a position to issue opinions significantly in advance of the statutory deadline of 30 November 2020. Financial Under International Standards of Audit (UK) (ISAs) and the We received your final signed unaudited accounts in June and our audit work has been carried out remotely during Statements National Audit Office (NAO) Code of Audit Practice ('the Code'), August to October. Our findings are summarised on the following pages. we are required to report whether, in our opinion, the entity’s (and At the date of writing we have not identified any unadjusted misstatements to the financial statements which impact the where relevant, the group’s) financial statements: reported financial position. Audit adjustments are detailed in Appendix C. • give a true and fair view of the financial position of the entity and the entity’s income and expenditure for the year; and We have also raised recommendations for management as a result of our audit work in Appendix A. Our follow up of • have been properly prepared in accordance with the recommendations from the prior year’s audit are detailed in Appendix B. CIPFA/LASAAC code of practice on local authority accounting The financial statements and supporting working papers were of a high quality. This is evidenced by the low number of and prepared in accordance with the Local Audit and disclosure adjustments identified. The finance team and wider organisation were responsive to audit queries and we Accountability Act 2014. enjoyed constructive and effective partnership working arrangements and relationships in the delivery of the audit. We are also required to report whether other information published together with the audited financial statements (including Our work is nearing completion and, subject to the outstanding matters detailed on page 5, there are no matters of the Annual Governance Statement (AGS), and Narrative Report), which we are aware that would require qualification of our audit opinion for the Chief Constable’s financial statements. is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our Similarly, our anticipated audit report for the PCC’s financial statements, including the group financial statements, will knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be be unqualified. materially misstated. Our opinions will include Emphasis of Matter paragraphs highlighting the material uncertainty disclosed by management in respect of your property valuations (PCC and Group financial statements) and the material valuation uncertainties in your Local Government Pension Scheme Asset valuations as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic (Chief Constable accounts and Group financial statements). We have concluded that the other information to be published with the financial statements is consistent with our knowledge of both organisations. © 2020 Grant Thornton UK LLP | Audit Findings Report for South Yorkshire PCC and South Yorkshire Chief Constable | 2019/20 3 Headlines This table summarises the key findings and other matters arising from the statutory audits of South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (‘the PCC’) and South Yorkshire Chief Constable and the preparation of the PCC’s and Chief Constable's financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2020 for the PCC and Chief Constable. Value for Money Under the National Audit Office (NAO) Code of Audit Practice We have completed our risk based reviews of the PCC’s and Chief Constable’s value for money arrangements ('the Code'), we are required to report if, in our opinion, both arrangements. We have concluded that both South Yorkshire PCC and South Yorkshire Chief entities have made proper arrangements to secure economy, Constable have proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in their use of efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources ('the value resources. for money (VFM) conclusion’). We have updated our VfM risk assessment to document our understanding of your arrangements to ensure critical business continuity in the current environment. We have not identified any new VfM risks in relation to Covid-19. We therefore anticipate issuing unqualified value for money conclusions for the PCC and the Chief Constable. Statutory duties The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (‘the Act’) also We have not exercised any of our additional statutory powers or duties for either entity. requires us to: We have completed the majority of work under the Code and expect to be able to certify the • report to you if we have applied any of the additional completion of the audits when we give our audit opinion, subject to any residual requirements in powers and duties ascribed to us under the Act; and respect of the Whole of Government Accounts. • To certify the closure of the audits.