Nottingham City Council could be publicly listed by the government for failing to publish its financial accounts on time. The Labour-run council has struggled with a backlog since 2019, a common issue facing local authorities nationwide. A legal deadline of December 13th for publishing accounts up to the 2022/23 financial year has been set by the government. Councils missing this deadline risk being named and shamed publicly.
Nottingham City Council could be named and shamed on a government list if four years of accounts are not ready by a crucial deadline. The Labour-run council has not published a complete set of accounts since 2019 amid a backlog crisis for local authorities across the country.
Glenn Hammons, from the city council's finance team, writes in a report being presented to an audit committee meeting on Friday (September 27: "The council has skilled permanent and temporary staff preparing the outstanding accounts. These are staff with highly specialised skill sets and there is a shortage of these skill sets in the market.
Overall, five years of accounts should already have been published with the full opinion of an auditor. These run from the financial year beginning in April 2019 to the one ending in March 2024. To meet the December deadline, the government says that auditors will not have to issue a full opinion for every year of accounts. Instead, the government says hundreds of 'disclaimed' or 'modified' opinions are likely to be issued, adding: "Local bodies should not be unfairly judged based on disclaimed or modified opinions, caused by the breakdown in the system and the introduction of backstop dates that are largely beyond their control.
Nottingham City Council Financial Accounts Government Deadline Backlog Crisis Naming And Shaming
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