Lambeth Council's accounts were so incomplete auditors refused to sign off on them, and it left its own housing-company fix unimplemented for years.
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External auditor Forvis Mazars told Lambeth Council in November 2025 it intends to issue a 'disclaimed' opinion — the most severe judgement possible — on the council's 2024/25 accounts, after the council's June 30, 2025 submission was missing the entire Annual Governance Statement and Pension Fund accounts, and a revised July 2025 version still contained casting errors. Mazars also found the council does not have proper arrangements to secure value for money: its overspend more than doubled from a forecast £30-35m to £60.5m, temporary-accommodation costs came in at £65m against a £30m budget, and usable reserves collapsed from £312m to £187m in two years. The report additionally found the council's own 2021 Kerslake Review recommendation to reabsorb its troubled housing company, Homes for Lambeth, into the council 'has still not been implemented, even though Cabinet agreed to it.'
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- Brixton Buzz
Overspend spiralled from a forecast £30-35m to £60.5m
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