About the Finance and Resources department

The department is made up of eight divisions:

1. Audit and Anti-Fraud
2. Corporate Finance
3. Corporate Procurement
4. Revenues and Benefits
5. Performance and Business Development 
6. Customer services
7. Legal and Democratic Services
8. Technology

• What we do
• How we do it
• Our achievements
• Our awards

What we do

Finance and Resources makes sure that the money that the council receives is spent and looked after wisely. It helps departments to plan their spending by setting standards of financial management and then monitors performance across the council to ensure these standards are met and budgets are kept to. It is also responsible for the development of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, which sets out how the council is going to plan its finances in the years ahead.

The department also provides what is in effect an accountancy service for the council and puts together its Annual Accounts at the end of the financial year. It also acts as a financial advice service for the council particularly in relation to major projects. Finance and Resources delivers some key frontline services such as customer services, council tax and benefits as well as supporting service delivery through operational support and good legal and financial management across the council.

Where does the council's money come from?

• From the Council Tax. This is a local taxation charged on every domestic property in the borough and is payable by homeowners or occupiers;
• Income from some services it provides such as rent on council houses, entry fees for leisure facilities and charges for burials and cremations etc;
• Investing some money wisely in the financial markets;
• The Revenue Support Grant which comes from central government. This 'tops-up' the council's total income. The amount it receives is calculated by the government depending on what it determines council spending should be on services and how much money is raised by other means;
• Business rates, which are set by the government. Local business people pay to the council what is called the National Non-Domestic Business Rate (NNDR). All the money collected goes to the government who divide it up between local authorities and send each council their share;
• There are a number of other specific grants such as Student Awards, government funding for Housing Benefit payments and European grants for a variety of purposes.

What does the council spend your money on?

Providing services such as education, rubbish collection and social care. This requires a great amount of money which is spent on:

• Staff - Delivering services in the borough requires a lot of staff. Lambeth employs over 5000 staff and so are a major part of our costs;
• Running costs - including premises such as schools, transport, for example street cleaning vehicles, supplies and third party services etc;
• Capital financing - the cost of borrowing, interest and repayment for long term projects such as building new schools and leisure facilities.

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How we do it

Managing finances in an organisation as large as Lambeth is a huge undertaking. As it involves public funds we have a responsibility to residents and businesses in the borough to ensure that council finances are properly managed.

Our key priorities

• Enhance services to our customers and access to them;
• Improve the skills and abilities of staff;
• Maintain and improve managerial control;
• Optimise resources and improve value for money;
• Advise the Senior Leadership Board and members;
• Support and improve reputation management.

Finance and Resources strategic objectives

1. To exceed the expectations of all our customers, consistently delivering excellent and cost-effective public services;
2. enable transformation by driving forward and supporting affordable service improvements that benefit those who live, work in and visit Lambeth;
3. protect the council against fraud and error by strengthening financial governance, and promotion of robust internal controls, risk management and compliance;
4. to act as stewards of the council’s resources, delivering services on budget and promoting a culture of efficiency, effectiveness and economy;
5. create a work environment in which staff feel valued, supported and informed, to enable them to work together to deliver excellent, honest services;
6. continually improve the rating in the 'use of resources' category of the CPA inspection.

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Our achievements

The finance department has led the council’s transition from recovery to improvement. Our reputation with government departments has been significantly enhanced as a result.

• Submission of the accounts for 2007/08 in accordance with the statutory deadline;
• Unqualified accounts for the last 4 years (the accounts have been qualified for decades prior to this);
• Embedded budgeting process;
• Council tax collection rate reached the highest it has ever been;
• Internal Audit, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police has introduced a highly successful police secondment, which has resulted in the detection of fraudulent activity and resulting action to recover council resources;
• The Corporate Procurement team have strengthened the commissioning and procurement process, supporting and challenging new contracts for the council resulting in savings of over £2m in 2007/08;
• Lambeth Finance and Resources carried out the largest budget consultation programme of its kind in the UK, incorporating the findings into the 2007/08 budget.
• Lambeth Finance and Resources leads the local government risk management joint benchmarking group and risk management has won and been commended in a number of national awards;
• Innovative Finance Training Curriculum for staff across the council whether technicians, managers or support staff;
• Fourteen CIPFA graduate trainees are currently working in the Finance community, the largest number of any London borough, and a further five have taken on permanent jobs within the council;
• Improvement in the control environment of key financial systems;
• The election of a Youth Mayor has helped ensure that a major section of our community now has an even stronger voice within the borough and through representation on the UK Youth Parliament;
• The new social services Legal team have delivered over £150k of savings during 2007/08;
• Lambeth Service Centre and Customer Centres were awarded the Chartermark for excellent customer service;
• Lambeth Finance & Resources supported the establishment of the Waterloo Quarter Business Alliance, Lambeth’s only Business Improvement District (which commissions extra services to improve the environment in Waterloo).

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Our awards

Finance and Resources have been recognised externally as a leader in local authority finance:

• Mike Suarez won the Public Sector Finance Director of the Year at the Accountancy Age awards 2008;
• Revenues & Benefits Service won the Local Government Chronicle's (LGC) Quality of Service and Innovation award 2008;
• Revenues & Benefits won the Association of Public Service Excellence award for Best Public/Public Partnership Working Initiative 2008; 
• Highly commended in the Legal category at the 2008 LGC awards;
• Won the Mainstream Buyer of the Year category at the Black Women in Business Awards 2007;
• Runner up in the Quality of Financial Information to Residents category of the Local Government Chronicle Finance Awards 2006 and 2007;
• Shortlisted for Finance Director and Finance Team at the Accountancy Age 2007 Awards;
• Runner up in the Quality of Service category of the 2007 Local Government Chronicle Finance Awards for revenue and benefit services;

For further information on the department or its work please contact Paul Morris, Communications Manager at pmorris1@lambeth.gov.uk or on 020 7926 9930.