This edition of our quarterly e-bulletin includes planning for change, an update on local audit reform including recruitment for the Local Audit Office Chair, the publication of our 2025/26 audit fee scale, and a summary of local audit news from elsewhere.
We hope you continue to find this useful, and we welcome your thoughts on future topics that you would like us to cover (contact the team).
Content:
- Planning for change
- Update on local audit reform
- The fee scale for 2025/26 audits
- Contract Monitoring Data Pack: Quarter 2 for 2025/26
- Client survey for 2024/25 audits
- Audit opinion data
- Latest Annual Report and Accounts published
- Local audit news from elsewhere
Planning for change
We will use these e-bulletins to keep you updated as much as we can as we transition towards the proposed Local Audit Office (LAO), the new body for overseeing local audit.
In December 2024 the Government announced an overhaul of local audit, including establishing the LAO, which is expected to have a wide-ranging role. This includes taking on PSAA’s relevant appointing person responsibilities from 2027.
We are very supportive of this change and are planning for a smooth transition to the LAO and a successful closedown of PSAA, alongside fulfilling our appointing person role.
Update on local audit reform
On 21 January MHCLG advertised the role of Chair for the LAO. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 18 February. Further details are available at: Local Audit Office appointments – Chair.
MHCLG’s local audit team presented at the LGA’s finance conference on 8 January. All the conference slides can be viewed on the LGA’s website.
On 2 December MHCLG issued a Written Ministerial Statement outlining its intention to speed up the process of rebuilding assurance at local bodies, as part of its wider local audit reform strategy. It wrote to all audit firms and local bodies underlining the need for everyone to work together to accelerate progress. MHCLG also published its Local Audit Transition Plan, setting out details on the timeline for implementing the new local audit system and how the transition will be managed.
In early December MHCLG published an updated non-compliance list of bodies yet to publish all audited accounts as of 31 October 2025, for financial years up to and including 2023/24.
The fee scale for 2025/26 audits
We published the 2025/26 audit fee scale on 26 November 2025, following our consultation in September and October. We emailed all opted-in bodies and other stakeholders to confirm the final fee scale and to share the outcome of the consultation.
Contract Monitoring Data Pack: Quarter 2 for 2025/26
We have published our Contract Monitoring Data Pack: Quarter 2 for 2025/26. The data pack covers audit opinions, approved fee variations and the number of electors’ objections up to 30 September 2025.
We will publish the Quarter 3 2025/26 data pack in March, and it will be available on our website alongside data packs from previous quarters.
Client survey for 2024/25 audits
Our client survey seeks to obtain your views on the delivery of your audit. Your feedback is important as it informs our discussions with the firms, as well as with other stakeholders. The LGA’s Research and Information Team administers the survey for us including analysing and reporting, as this ensures independence and transparency.
For the 2024/25 audits the LGA will issue the survey shortly after your auditor has given their opinion. If you received your audit opinion in December or January, you will receive an invitation to complete the survey in February. We encourage you to provide open and frank feedback; all responses are treated confidentially unless you give us your permission to share them with your auditor.
Further details can be found on our website or please email our team with any queries.
Audit opinion data
We have published the number of audit opinions delivered up to 31 December 2025, which is 439 out of 460 for 2023/24, and 512 out of 534 when pension fund audits are included. A reminder that we publish data on audit opinion delivery each month, covering audits from 2018/19 onwards.
Latest Annual Report and Accounts published
We have issued our Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25, covering our tenth full year of operation.
Local audit news from elsewhere
On 17 December Grant Thornton published its report After the backstop, following the significant milestone of backstop legislation in September 2024.
The NAO issued Supplementary Guidance Note (SGN) 05 on 15 December. It provides additional guidance to support external auditors when considering the impact of limited or no assurance on the classification between usable and unusable reserves in local authority financial statements.
A Public Accounts Committee meeting was held on the Whole of Government Accounts for 2023/24 on 11 December, following the NAO issuing a disclaimer due to the lack of assurance from local government. This included evidence from HM Treasury and MHCLG.
CIPFA’s Better Reporting Group published a new discussion paper on materiality in October, exploring how the concept shapes what users see and how auditors focus their work.
In October the ICAEW and CIPFA shared more details on their proposed merger, including their rationale and vision for the future.