Statement: Publication of accounts to meet the government's backstop deadline

Issued by Richard Bates, Joint Strategic Director, Finance (Section 151 officer)

In recent years there has been a national problem with a growing backlog of unaudited accounts. This largely arose due to a shortage of auditors, so central government took the decision in 2024 to set a statutory backstop to clear the backlog. This meant that if local authorities and other local bodies were not audited by the stated deadline, the government allowed those audits to lapse.

All our accounts from 2010-11 up to 2023-24 are now published on our website. Two of these years are unaudited. They initially missed the publication deadline of 31 October 2024. The latest 2023-24 accounts have been through the audit process and were published by the backstop deadline of 28 February 2025.

Due to a lack of capacity, our auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP were unable to complete audits for 2021/22 and 2022/23, so those accounts have not been audited. Therefore, the starting point for the 2023-24 audit process was judged against unaudited accounts. Our auditors issued a disclaimer of opinion in respect of the 2023-24 accounts. Issues highlighted for providing no opinion included opening balances being disclaimed, misstatements and an inability to conclude all substantive testing.

Staff turnover within the finance team over the past 18 months has led to lack of continuity of knowledge and information. We've been strengthening our financial team and have made significant progress toward our priority of being a resilient and well-managed council.

Having completed a rigorous internal audit, we have confidence in our opening balance figures. We are putting a plan in place to achieve a future unqualified opinion that our financial statements contain no material misstatement. We are actioning the 11 recommendations within the external auditor's Audit Findings Report and have a robust timetable for closing down our 2024/25 accounts.

More information

When the backstop was introduced the then Department for Levelling-Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) stated that:

"Local bodies should not be unfairly judged based on disclaimed or modified opinions, caused by the introduction of backstop dates that are largely beyond their control. Auditors will be expected to provide clear reasons for the issuing of such opinions to mitigate the potential reputational risk that local bodies may face."

Published on: 7 March 2025