17-07-2025
Council failures blamed as watchdog refuses to sign off government accounts
Britain's spending watchdog has refused to sign off the Government's accounts for the second year in a row, blaming local councils for submitting poor-quality data on their finances.
Late and inadequate filing by English councils has been blamed by the National Audit Office (NAO) for leaving it unable to vet government accounts for 2023 to 2024.
Only 4pc of the 407 cash-strapped local councils submitted audited data to the watchdog. Meanwhile, 55pc shared figures based on unaudited accounts and 41pc sent no data at all.
It marks an even worse track record than the previous year, when 10pc of English councils shared numbers that were up to the watchdog's standards.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the MP who chairs the public accounts committee, branded the situation 'wholly unsatisfactory' and said it posed a threat to the Government's finances.
He warned: 'Yet again, failures in local authority audit have led to unacceptable levels of missing and unaudited data. This lack of transparency and ability to hold councils to account will only deepen the current precarious state of local government finances.'
