MIDDLEWICH Town Council has called an ‘extraordinary’ public meeting after an accountancy firm deemed its practices ‘inadequate’ and ‘ineffective’.

Accountants, JDH Business Services, has published the findings of its Annual Internal Audit into how the council conducted its business in financial year 2023/2024.

The document’s 49-page Action Plan includes a list of problems, covering a wide range of business practices, including: improper budgeting; missing internal audits; inadequate administration of public meetings; missing minutes; and lost financial records, including festival bar takings receipts.

Other issues include: improper procurement procedures; out-of-date risk assessments; inadequate safeguards against potential fraud; and poor administration of requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Action Plan contains a full list of measures which should be ‘implemented promptly’, all of which will be followed up by the auditors.

The extraordinary general meeting, which the public can attend, will take place at 4pm on Monday, August 12, in the Victoria Hall on Lewin Street.

The audit report concluded: “On the basis of the internal audit work carried out, in our view, the council’s system of internal controls is NOT in place, adequate for the purpose intended and effective, and the recommendations reported in the action plan overleaf should be implemented promptly.

“The action plan issues and recommendations are to assist the council with action planning for improvement going forward.

“As part of the internal audit work for the next financial year, we will follow up all recommendations included in the action plan.”

Middlewich Town Council recently appoint a new interim town clerk, Safia Kauser, who will be responsible for implementing the necessary changes to policies and procedures.

The position has been vacant since Safia's predecessor, Nicola Antoney, left her role in April 2024.