Full Assurance For Council's Covid Welfare Support Scheme

1st December 2022

A review of COVID Welfare Support Services by The Highland Council's Internal Audit Section has provided the audit opinion of ‘full assurance' of the work that was carried out by the Council 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. The team 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 comprised:

£882K Free School Meals Holidays;
£1.128M Fuel Poverty;
£2.774M Fuel Support Fund;
£2.612M Family Pandemic Payments; and
2.541M 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.