Local government audit has faced more than its fair share of problems over the past few years, as catalogued by Sir Tony Redmond in his widely discussed report that was issued last September.
The Government clearly recognises the urgency of the challenges and has responded to Sir Tony’s report via two significant announcements by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in December and May.
Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) is very pleased to be confirmed in its role as Appointing Person in the latter statement. This will include leading the next major procurement of audit services for the period 2023-2028.
We will carry out the procurement itself in 2022, and this autumn local authorities will have the opportunity to opt in to PSAA’s national scheme for 2023-28. Currently more than 98 per cent of eligible bodies are members of our scheme.
We hope to continue to attract strong participation for the benefit of all parties. In particular, we believe that in the current challenging market, large contracts will offer better value and greater certainty to the sector than multiple individual local appointments, as well as avoiding unnecessary costs and inconvenience for both bodies and auditors.
We will issue formal invitations to opt in later in the year. Ahead of that we have launched an important consultation outlining our current thinking on key procurement options and giving local government bodies the opportunity to help shape the national scheme for the next period.
Our draft prospectus is available at bit.ly/3vq9g33. It sets out our early thinking about how we can tackle the challenges ahead, alongside playing our part in helping to develop a more robust and sustainable local audit system.
The consultation will close on 8 July.
Ensuring an effective audit system for the future really matters for the reputation and standing of individual authorities and the sector as a whole. So please do encourage your authority to take part in our consultation and let us have the benefit of your views.