NI Water forensic audit to examine procurement, contracts and conflicts of interest

October 3, 2026 The Belfast Desk 0 Comments

NI Water forensic audit: Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has published the terms of reference for a forensic audit into governance systems at Northern Ireland Water.

NI Water forensic audit by NICS Internal Audit Services — NICS Internal Audit Services is carrying out the forensic audit into governance systems at Northern Ireland Water. Credit: NICS Internal Audit Services

The investigation will examine a range of areas including risk management, governance, internal controls, procurement and contract management practices, as well as the handling of actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

The audit is being carried out by Northern Ireland Civil Service Internal Audit Services and is now under way.

Governance and financial controls to be examined

The terms of reference set out a wide-ranging examination of NI Water’s governance arrangements.

Auditors will assess the organisation’s risk management, governance and internal control arrangements and consider whether they are operating effectively.

The work will also examine compliance with Managing Public Money NI, including arrangements relating to delegations.

Procurement and contract management practices will form part of the investigation, alongside the way NI Water manages actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

NI Water Forensic Audit prompted following concerns

Kimmins originally announced the forensic audit on 4 September.

At the time, she said a number of ongoing issues within NI Water had already been subject to investigations and action plans.

She said the scale, volume and severity of concerns, combined with the length of time taken to complete investigations and other compliance matters, had led her to seek further assurance that the organisation’s systems and processes were robust, effective and fit for purpose.

NI Water receives approximately half a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money from the Department for Infrastructure each year.

The Minister subsequently told the Northern Ireland Assembly that concerns included insufficient assurance, several raising-a-concern investigations, issues surrounding confidentiality agreements, procurement and contract management practices and observations made by the Department’s representative on the NI Water board.

Kimmins has previously indicated that she expects the audit to take around two to three months.

Alliance calls for findings to be published

Alliance Infrastructure spokesperson Andrew McMurray said the publication of the terms of reference raised significant questions about governance and the management of public money within NI Water.

Responding to the publication, he said the scope of the audit demonstrated the seriousness of the issues being examined.

McMurray said NI Water receives around £500 million in public funding each year and argued that taxpayers were entitled to confidence that the organisation was being properly governed and that appropriate safeguards were in place.

He said Alliance would scrutinise the audit process and called for its eventual findings to be made public.

Audit now under way

NICS Internal Audit Services has begun the investigation.

The Department for Infrastructure said the published terms of reference establish the areas the audit will examine but has not announced a specific date for its completion.

Kimmins has previously said she intends to update Assembly members once the work is complete.