Merton Council is facing calls to improve its transition planning for young adults with Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans, particularly as they move from children's to adult services. The issue was highlighted in the Internal Audit Annual Report presented at the Governance, Standards and Audit Committee meeting on 3 July 2025.
The report, which reviewed the effectiveness of the council's internal controls, risk management, and governance arrangements, identified weaknesses in the transition planning process. Internal Audit made a total of 202 recommended improvement actions, including 15 priority 1 actions, with 12 outstanding.
Specifically, the audit found that in a sample of nine young people, it was not always possible to see meaningful transition planning steps in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans from Year 9. This was flagged as a significant weakness. The report noted that leaders and managers are aware of this issue and are planning to reintroduce dedicated Transition Plans in 2025.
The Annual Governance Statement, also reviewed by the committee, reinforced the need for improvement in this area. The statement reports on the robustness of the council's governance arrangements and describes the council's governance framework and how it complies with the principles of the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework Delivering Good Governance in Local Government.
The Governance, Standards and Audit Committee Annual Report for 2024-25, which was reviewed and approved at the meeting, highlighted the committee's role in providing an independent and high-level focus on the risk management framework and internal control environment.
The committee agreed to recommend that the Council note the Annual Report and agree to its publication and distribution to relevant stakeholders. The committee met six times during the year and provided an independent and high-level focus on the risk management framework, internal control environment, and the integrity of the financial reporting and annual governance processes. The report concluded that the audit work of the committee complied with the CIPFA position statement.