The UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) has refused to sign off the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for a third consecutive year, again citing the lack of audit assurance over English local authority accounts.
The WGA brings together the assets and liabilities of the entire public sector, covering more than 10,000 departments, agencies and other public bodies.
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The 2024–25 WGA has been published as changes to the local audit regime are under way. It is the earliest release of the accounts since 2017–18.
In a statement, the NAO said a higher number of councils had submitted accounts than in recent years, leading to less missing information in the latest WGA.
However, it said a significant share of those submissions were either unaudited or had received a disclaimed audit opinion from external auditors, leaving the reliability of the figures unconfirmed.
According to the watchdog, 280 submissions from English local authorities in 2024–25 were either unaudited or disclaimed.
The government has passed legislation to create a new Local Audit Office (LAO) as part of wider efforts to return local government financial reporting to normal levels of assurance.
NAO head Gareth Davies said: “Recent measures to begin to restore normal audit assurance for English local authorities are welcome.
“This work must be progressed with vigour to ensure timely and high-quality financial reporting for every local body, supporting their accountability to local people and providing more reliable whole of government accounts.”
