THURROCK Council’s former chief finance officer has been barred from ever working in local authority finance again reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Sean Clark, a former chief finance officer who left the council in 2023 with the burden of a £1.5billion debt, has been “severely reprimanded” by the Executive Counsel of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) after he admitted misconduct.
In an unprecedented ruling, the FRC also excluded Mr Clark as a Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for five years. As a result, he will no longer be eligible to serve as CFO of a local authority.
Under Mr Clark’s watch, Thurrock Council formally approved an investment strategy, borrowing on a short-term basis, primarily from other local authorities, and using the funds to make longer-term commercial investments which eventually exceeded £1 billion, more than six times the council’s annual budget.
After many of the investments, primarily in solar energy companies, lost more than a quarter of their worth the Secretary of State appointed commissioners to run the Council.
In December 2022 the council gave notice that its expenditure was likely to exceed its resources in that financial year, and extraordinary financial support of £343 million was received from central Government. In addition the council has needed to make significant increases to council tax bills as well as cutting services. Its long-term financial position is now uncertain.
The FRC said Mr Clark had “recklessly provided misleading information to council members, and therefore to the public”. The former finance officer is said to have admitted his “conduct fell significantly short of the standards reasonably to be expected of a member of the ACCA”.
Claudia Mortimore, Deputy Executive Counsel, said: “The role of a local authority Chief Financial Officer is integral in ensuring prudent management of public funds. Mr Clark held a fiduciary responsibility towards local taxpayers and it was incumbent on him to make sure that the risks arising from Thurrock Council’s financial strategy were identified, managed and reported to the Council’s leadership and members.
“He fell significantly short of the required standards in a number of respects leading to his exclusion from the profession and the imposition of a Severe Reprimand.”
John Kent, Leader of Thurrock Council, said: “Thurrock residents rightly expect answers about the financial failures of the past, and so we welcome this report from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which identifies a number of failures by a former member of staff linked to the failed investments, which they say amounted to misconduct.
“We have worked hard to put things right at the council under Government intervention, but where individuals were at fault, it is also right and proper that they are held to account.”
