Minister for Local Government and Homelessness (): When this government took
office in July 2024, one of its top priorities was to fix the
broken local audit system it inherited, which was failing both
local bodies and taxpayers alike. Determined to fix the
foundations, restore confidence and put the system back on a
stable footing, we took decisive action to introduce a series of
statutory audit opinion backstop dates in autumn 2024. The
backstops have successfully cleared the backlog of unaudited
local body accounts and are now restoring a system of timely
reporting and assurance. This progress provides a strong platform
for rebuilding assurance and delivering wider reforms of the
local audit system.
27 February 2026 backstop – financial year
2024/25
Unless exempt, all local bodies in England were required to
publish their statement of accounts, including the audit opinion,
for 2024/25 by 27 February 2026. The system has taken another
significant step forward in returning to timely publication, with
over 91% of opinions published by this date. This demonstrates a
consistent improvement in timely publication since the
introduction of the backstops – up from 84% at the first backstop
and 87% at the second backstop. As of 9 March 2026, the
publication figure for 2024/25 had subsequently increased to 93%.
Progress on rebuilding assurance
Due to the time constraints of the backstops and in line with
expectations, approximately 45% of bodies received a disclaimed
opinion at this backstop. 9% of published opinions have moved
from a disclaimed opinion to a qualified opinion. Almost 3% of
published opinions demonstrate fully restored assurance by moving
to an unqualified opinion. Approximately 44% of bodies received
an unmodified opinion, with only a very small number receiving a
disclaimed opinion for the first time. This represents
encouraging progress – despite the ongoing challenges to
re-building assurance that I set out in my statement on 2 December
2025(opens in a new tab).
Non-compliance
In total, 33 non-exempt bodies failed to publish their opinions
by the backstop. A list of these bodies has been published on
GOV.UK, including where opinions were published shortly after the
backstop.
Publication of prior year opinions
In December 2025, I also provided an update on the status of the
publication of audit opinions up to and including 2023/24. Since
this update, further outstanding opinions for these years
continue to be published as factors preventing the issuance of
opinions are resolved. Over 99% of opinions have now been
published for financial years outstanding, and 97% for financial
years up to 2023/24. The non-compliance lists for the two
previous backstops have also been updated.
The department continues to engage with bodies with outstanding
opinions to ensure that they are published as soon as
practicable, and it will not hesitate to take further action with
bodies demonstrating a pattern of continued non-compliance.
Looking ahead to the 31 January 2026 backstop for 2025/26
accounts
The deadline for publication of audited accounts for the
financial year 2025/26 is 31 January 2027. In line with
amendments made to the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015,
bodies are required to publish their draft accounts for this
financial year by 30 June 2026.
My department will continue to work proactively and cooperatively
with local bodies and audit firms to support a return to timely
account publication and to drive the system-wide rebuilding of
assurance.
