diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1eda61b6a2..b03c6d97d8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ Adding a new version? You'll need three changes:
   [#3125](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/3125)
 - Warning events are recorded when annotations in services backing a single route do not match. 
   [#3130](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/3130)
+- Warning events are recorded when a service's referred client-cert does not exist. 
+  [#3137](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/3137)
 - CRDs' validations improvements: `UDPIngressRule.Port`, `IngressRule.Port` and `IngressBackend.ServiceName`
   instead of being validated in the Parser, are validated by the Kubernetes API now.
   [#3136](https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/pull/3136)
diff --git a/internal/dataplane/parser/ingressrules.go b/internal/dataplane/parser/ingressrules.go
index 8b46f2a4cb..bcc1e677c9 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/parser/ingressrules.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/parser/ingressrules.go
@@ -73,21 +73,21 @@ func (ir *ingressRules) populateServices(log logrus.FieldLogger, s store.Storer,
 			// extract client certificates intended for use by the service
 			secretName := annotations.ExtractClientCertificate(k8sService.Annotations)
 			if secretName != "" {
-				secret, err := s.GetSecret(k8sService.Namespace, secretName)
 				secretKey := k8sService.Namespace + "/" + secretName
+				secret, err := s.GetSecret(k8sService.Namespace, secretName)
+				if err != nil {
+					failuresCollector.PushTranslationFailure(
+						fmt.Sprintf("failed to fetch secret '%s': %v", secretKey, err), k8sService,
+					)
+					continue
+				}
+
 				// ensure that the cert is loaded into Kong
 				if _, ok := ir.SecretNameToSNIs[secretKey]; !ok {
 					ir.SecretNameToSNIs[secretKey] = []string{}
 				}
-				if err == nil {
-					service.ClientCertificate = &kong.Certificate{
-						ID: kong.String(string(secret.UID)),
-					}
-				} else {
-					log.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
-						"secret_name":      secretName,
-						"secret_namespace": k8sService.Namespace,
-					}).Errorf("failed to fetch secret: %v", err)
+				service.ClientCertificate = &kong.Certificate{
+					ID: kong.String(string(secret.UID)),
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/internal/dataplane/parser/parser_test.go b/internal/dataplane/parser/parser_test.go
index 8c46108d4e..d8f7daf6b6 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/parser/parser_test.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/parser/parser_test.go
@@ -1142,7 +1142,7 @@ func TestServiceClientCertificate(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Nil(err)
 		p := mustNewParser(t, store)
 		state, translationFailures := p.Build()
-		require.Empty(t, translationFailures)
+		require.Len(t, translationFailures, 1)
 		assert.NotNil(state)
 		assert.Equal(0, len(state.Certificates),
 			"expected no certificates to be rendered")
@@ -2856,7 +2856,7 @@ func TestDefaultBackend(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Nil(err)
 		p := mustNewParser(t, store)
 		state, translationFailures := p.Build()
-		require.Empty(t, translationFailures)
+		require.Len(t, translationFailures, 1)
 		assert.NotNil(state)
 		assert.Equal(0, len(state.Certificates),
 			"expected no certificates to be rendered")
diff --git a/test/integration/translation_failures_test.go b/test/integration/translation_failures_test.go
index a7fd223512..15f9f9e58c 100644
--- a/test/integration/translation_failures_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/translation_failures_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	netv1 "k8s.io/api/networking/v1"
 	v1 "k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
@@ -115,6 +116,37 @@ func TestTranslationFailures(t *testing.T) {
 				return []client.Object{service2}
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "missing client-cert for service",
+			translationFailureTrigger: func(t *testing.T, cleaner *clusters.Cleaner, ns string) []client.Object {
+				service := &corev1.Service{
+					ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+						Name: testutils.RandomName(testTranslationFailuresObjectsPrefix),
+						Annotations: map[string]string{
+							"konghq.com/client-cert": "not-existing-secret",
+						},
+					},
+					Spec: corev1.ServiceSpec{
+						Ports: []corev1.ServicePort{
+							{
+								Port: 80,
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				}
+				service, err := env.Cluster().Client().CoreV1().Services(ns).Create(ctx, service, metav1.CreateOptions{})
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+
+				_, err = env.Cluster().Client().NetworkingV1().Ingresses(ns).Create(
+					ctx,
+					ingressWithPathBackedByService(service),
+					metav1.CreateOptions{},
+				)
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+
+				return []client.Object{service}
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range testCases {
@@ -265,3 +297,39 @@ func httpRouteWithBackends(gatewayName string, services ...*corev1.Service) *gat
 		},
 	}
 }
+
+func ingressWithPathBackedByService(service *corev1.Service) *netv1.Ingress {
+	pathType := netv1.PathTypePrefix
+	return &netv1.Ingress{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Name: testutils.RandomName(testTranslationFailuresObjectsPrefix),
+			Annotations: map[string]string{
+				annotations.IngressClassKey: ingressClass,
+			},
+		},
+		Spec: netv1.IngressSpec{
+			Rules: []netv1.IngressRule{
+				{
+					IngressRuleValue: netv1.IngressRuleValue{
+						HTTP: &netv1.HTTPIngressRuleValue{
+							Paths: []netv1.HTTPIngressPath{
+								{
+									Path:     "/",
+									PathType: &pathType,
+									Backend: netv1.IngressBackend{
+										Service: &netv1.IngressServiceBackend{
+											Name: service.Name,
+											Port: netv1.ServiceBackendPort{
+												Number: 80,
+											},
+										},
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+}