Grant Thornton’s annual audit report for 2025/26, considered by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council’s Audit Committee on 28 September 2026, found no significant weaknesses in the council’s arrangements but called for stronger member reporting on capital project finances and scenario analysis.
External auditors Grant Thornton UK LLP found no significant weaknesses in Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council’s arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources for the year ending 31 March 2026, but made three recommendations for improvement.
The three recommendations
The first recommendation, relating to financial sustainability, said management should strengthen member reporting on the funding, affordability and borrowing implications of major capital projects. This should include a project funding strategy with regular updates on borrowing requirements, affordability metrics, sensitivity analysis and the impact on the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) should costs increase or external funding reduce. Officers said a comprehensive business case would be presented to members in October 2026, setting out full project costs, proposed funding arrangements, affordability implications and the impact on service fee income. The responsible officers are listed as Robert Styles and Paul Worden.
The second recommendation, also relating to financial sustainability, said management should enhance member reporting by presenting formal quantified scenario analysis for key financial assumptions, showing the financial impact under best-case, central-case and worst-case scenarios. Officers said successive iterations of the MTFS would be presented to members over coming months as part of the development of the 2027/28 budget, and that sensitivity analysis relating to key financial assumptions had already been introduced. The due date for this action is February 2027, with Paul Worden listed as responsible officer.
The third recommendation, relating to governance, said management should continue to enhance its Annual Governance Statement to align more fully with the 2025 CIPFA/SOLACE Addendum, including clearer reporting of key assurance outcomes, governance improvement actions and oversight arrangements. Officers said Internal Audit would work with officers in an advisory capacity to further develop the statement. The due date is March 2027, with Donna Riley and Paul Worden listed as responsible officers.
Previous recommendations closed
The papers noted that all three improvement recommendations made in the previous year’s annual audit report — for the financial year 2024/25 — had been implemented and closed.
The committee was asked to consider and approve the auditor’s annual report, note and endorse the management responses, and make any specific recommendations to Cabinet and/or Full Council it considered appropriate. The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.
Sources
- Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council — Audit Committee, 28 September 2026 (agenda and papers)
- Annual Audit Report 2025/26 — report to Audit Committee (Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council)
- Grant Thornton Auditor’s Annual Report year ending 31 March 2026 — Annex 1 (Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council)
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