Guidance

Responding to findings and queries in the Compliance Audit System

Updated 18 October 2021

Applies to England

Access the Compliance Audit system in the Investment Management System

1. Providers can monitor their Independent Auditor progress

Independent Auditor findings will not be made available to the provider until the Independent Auditor has submitted the audit. However, the provider can check the progress the Independent Auditor’s progress by looking at the “progress donuts” in the scheme list screen.

2. How providers respond to Independent Auditor findings and the deadlines for doing so

Following the submission of the audit by the Independent Auditor, the provider has 10 working days to respond to the Independent Auditor’s findings. It is important that providers use this window as an opportunity to review all findings, even where the Independent Auditor has submitted a ‘yes’ response, and comment if there is any additional information to raise. If information is not submitted at this stage it cannot be taken into consideration when the Homes England Lead Auditor reviews findings.

After this 10 working day period has passed, the Provider will still be able to submit responses, but it will be at Homes England’s discretion whether or not to include these in awarding a grading.

2.1 Responding to Independent Auditor findings

Once the Independent Auditor has completed the audit and submitted their findings, the provider’s Compliance Audit Lead will receive a system notification and the Independent Auditor responses will become visible. Until then, the boxes will remain blank.

1. Once the Independent Auditor has submitted their findings, the “Scheme List” screen will display the submission date.
2. Select a scheme on this screen to see its checklist summary, on which the Independent Auditor findings are shown against each question.
3. Select any question to see the Independent Auditor’s more detailed response, which may include an explanation for their finding and any supporting documents.

Providers may, if they wish, provide a response to the finding in the relevant box on each question screen, as shown above. They may also choose to upload supporting documents using the “Upload supporting document” button.

You should ensure that:

• all supporting documents are in PDF format
• you select the “Save” button before leaving this screen
• responses for all schemes being audited are submitted in a single action
• providers should not submit the responses until they have reviewed the whole audit

3. How providers submit responses

Once a provider has reviewed all of the responses for the audit and added any comments and supporting documents, the provider can then submit the responses. This should be done within 10 working days of the Independent Auditor submitting the audit.

1. The responses can be submitted using the link on the scheme list screen or the “Submit Responses” link on the Dashboard.
2. This takes users to the “Submit responses to audit findings” screen, where they must read and accept the conditions, before pressing Submit.
3. To generate a PDF of the Independent Auditor findings for a scheme, go to the checklist summary for that scheme and click on the “Generate submissions extract” link on the right of the screen.

The PDF can then be saved and/or printed as preferred. However, users should note that it would be accurate only on the date of downloading and may not include queries that are raised and responses that are submitted later.

3.1 Compliance Audit system training video: how to respond to audit findings and generate a PDF of the findings

how to respond to audit findings

4. How providers and Independent Auditors respond to Homes England queries and deadlines

Following the submission of the audit by the Independent Auditor, Homes England Lead Auditors may choose to raise queries regarding the Independent Auditor findings and/or provider responses. A query does not inform the provider whether non-compliance has been identified or not. These queries will be raised through the Compliance Audit system and notified to users via automated email in the following ways:

• Queries to the Independent Auditor - these are sent to both the Independent Auditor and the provider, and both are able to respond
• Queries to the provider - these are sent to the provider only

In both cases there is a 5 working day response period.

4.1 Responding to queries

The process for responding to queries is the same for both Independent Auditors and providers.

1. From the system dashboard menu select the “Query Summary” option.
2. Any query from the summary list can be selected to view and respond to. Click on any heading in the summary list to sort the list by that heading.
3. Each query should be responded to separately by clicking on the relevant query.
4. Fill in the relevant response box, add any supporting PDF documents using the “Upload supporting documents” button and click on “Submit Response”.

4.2  Compliance Audit System training video: How providers and Independent Auditors respond to queries

Independent Auditors responding to queries