The Financial Reporting Council launched a probe into former Woking Borough Council’s highest-ranking officials, Ray Morgan and Leigh Clarke, following a declaration that the council was insolvent with an overhang of more than £2 billion because of cataclysmic investment decisions.
The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has opened an investigation into two of Woking Borough Council’s previous senior officers following the council’s de facto bankruptcy in 2023. They are Ray Morgan, the council Chief Executive from 2006 until he retired in 2021, and Leigh Clarke, Finance Director between 2014 and 2023.
Woking Borough Council, one of the relatively smaller Surrey local authorities, owed more than £2 billion in debt through an expensive policy of skyscraper investments, a four-star hotel, and other enormous undertakings. These undertakings were to stimulate re-development in towns and economic growth but, in fact, resulted in severe financial upset.
The FRC investigation seeks to determine the level at which Morgan and Clarke are responsible for the mismanagement of finances within the council. Preliminary reports indicate that Morgan was at the forefront in spearheading the council’s pursuit of investments, whereas Clarke has been accused of making insufficient efforts towards ensuring proper management of finances.
This is one of the more high-profile attempts in a bid to deal with local government financial maladministration in England. Over recent years, councils such as Birmingham, Nottingham, Thurrock, and Slough have technically become insolvent, as a general rule due to investment bets and austerity pressures.
The findings of the FRC’s investigation can have far-reaching consequences for the governance and finances of local governments, and they may result in tighter regulatory supervision and more cautious financial management measures.
