The Government must take urgent action to remedy the ongoing problems with local audit and improve accountability at the local level, MPs say.
A new report by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee warns that the ‘large and growing’ backlog of accounts whose audits have not been completed is undermining trust.
Clive Betts, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, said: ‘Local audit is in crisis and the Government must act to fix it. Serious delays in local audits mean that many councils are not fully sighted to problems while they make major financial and service decisions, with audit delays also leaving local taxpayers in the dark.
‘The growing backlog of audit opinions seriously undermines efforts to hold councils to account for their financial management. The Government now needs to set out urgently what it will do to clear the backlog, re-establish trust in local audit, and accelerate its efforts to establish a local audit system leader.’
The report urges the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to clear the audit backlog quickly and recommends backstop dates for publishing audits.
The DLUHC has been contacted for comment.
