UK Public Sector Auditors to Help Clear Local Authority Backlog

The UK government will use public sector auditors to help clear the chronic backlog of financial reviews for local authorities.

Public auditors will be phased in, with private sector firms also continuing to audit local authorities’ accounts, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said by email Thursday. It’s part of a bid for local councils to catch up with producing audited accounts, after only 1% of them managed to do so on time in fiscal year 2022-2023.

“We inherited a broken local audit system, not fit for purpose, inefficient, fragmented and with a massive backlog,” Minister of State ...