KPMG will issue a disclaimer of opinion on Haringey's 2025/26 accounts and has found four weaknesses. It may add more once the housing and CQC reports land.
Haringey Council’s external auditor has found four significant weaknesses in how the council secures value for money. It also says it will not give an opinion on the council’s 2025/26 accounts.
The findings are in KPMG’s draft Auditor’s Annual Report for 2025/26. It went to the council’s Audit Committee on 3 November (Haringey Council). The final version is due at the committee in January 2027 (cover report).
No opinion on the accounts
KPMG says it “will issue a disclaimer of opinion” on the council’s financial statements by 29 January 2027. Its reason: “we have been unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence over the financial statements.” It says more detail will follow in the final report.
A disclaimer means the auditor is not saying the accounts are right or wrong. It is saying it could not check them well enough to say either. The report notes that the council’s General Fund reserve figures are “unaudited balances” because audit reports have been disclaimed since 2020/21.
The Haringey Pension Fund is audited separately. KPMG expects to give it a clean, “unmodified” opinion, subject to work still outstanding.
The four weaknesses
KPMG found weaknesses in two of the three areas it checks. It found none in governance, meaning how the council makes decisions and manages risk. The four are:
- Setting costs and budgets, which affects whether the council can stay financially sustainable
- Finding and tracking savings, the same area
- Procurement: KPMG says the council’s buying arrangements in 2025/26 “were not sufficient to ensure that value for money was achieved”
- Commercial property: the council’s oversight of its leases is “limited due to insufficient record keeping and a lack of digitisation”, and debt owed to it is rising
All four were raised in earlier years too, the report says.
Housing and adult social care could be added
KPMG says the list may grow. The report notes “imminent Housing Regulator & CQC reports” and says the firm reserves the right to raise more weaknesses linked to them.
On housing, the report says the council was inspected by the Regulator of Social Housing in August 2026. “Given our discussions with management to date, we believe that these findings may represent a significant risk to achieving value for money,” it says. The regulator has since published its judgement, giving the council a C4 grade, its lowest (our report).
On adult social care, the Care Quality Commission carried out a follow-up inspection in September 2026. KPMG says it has “not yet determined” whether there is a weakness there.
The money
The report sets out how the council’s finances moved over 2025/26 and into this year.
Savings. The council delivered £19.1m of a £29.3m savings target in 2025/26, or 65%. That left a £10.2m shortfall. It managed 63% of a £20.4m target the year before and 77% of £17.5m the year before that. KPMG says the £29.3m plan was not “sufficiently realistic”.
Overspending. At the end of the first quarter of 2025/26 the council forecast a £34.1m overspend, more than 10% of its budget. By the year end that had fallen to £3.6m.
Borrowing support. The council drew £40.6m of Exceptional Financial Support from the government in 2025/26. That was £3.6m more than the £37m planned in the budget. To get there it also made an unplanned £10.1m draw on its earmarked reserves. Its unearmarked General Fund reserve stayed at £15.2m, which KPMG notes is less than 5% of the annual budget.
This year. The 2026/27 budget relies on up to £84.3m of Exceptional Financial Support. At the end of the first quarter the council forecast a further £21.7m overspend on top of that. KPMG puts the combined shortfall, without the support, at £106.0m.
Exceptional Financial Support is permission to borrow or sell assets to cover day-to-day costs, and it is not free. KPMG says each £1m used adds about £83,000 a year to the council’s running costs, for 20 years. If the £106.0m shortfall is accurate, that is £8.8m a year.
What the council has done
The auditor made a formal statutory recommendation to the council on 18 May 2026, about approving a budget without enough planned savings. Full Council accepted it on 20 July and set up a cross-party Member Finance Recovery Board, chaired by the chief executive.
A separate paper to the same committee gave the first progress update on that recommendation (Haringey Council). It says the 2027/28 budget work aims to close an estimated gap of £37.7m and cut reliance on the support.
The draft report also records progress:
- Children’s services were rated Outstanding by Ofsted in March 2026
- 84% of council homes met the Decent Homes Standard at the end of 2025/26, up from 68% in January 2023
- the council collected 99.0% of rent and service charges due on general needs and supported housing, against a 98.0% target
- the backlog of financial assessments in adult social care has fallen by 80% since June 2024
What it means for you
- Council tax and services. The 2027/28 budget proposals, published for Cabinet on 10 November, include cuts and new charges. Our report covers what they mean for Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Highgate (our report).
- You can have your say. The budget consultation closes on 4 January 2027.
- Watch for the final report. KPMG’s final Auditor’s Annual Report, with its findings on the accounts, goes to the Audit Committee in January 2027.
For your band and what you pay, see Crouch End council tax bands.
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