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Statement Accounts 2023/24
pdf 2023/24 Statement of Accounts (6.02 MB)
pdf Independent Auditor's Report (149 KB) pdf (149 KB)
Statement of Accounts 2022/23
The Statement of Accounts 2022/23 presents the financial position of the Council for the year ending 31 March 2023. It has been widely acknowledged by parties across the local authority audit system in England that there is backlog of unaudited accounts. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) estimated that the backlog was as high as 900 outstanding audits across English councils as at September 2024. This backlog has arisen due to a variety of factors including capacity in audit firms.
To address the backlog, MHCLG implemented a ‘backstop date’ of 13 December 2024, by which all audits for the years up to and including 2022/23 must have an opinion issued. Where audit firms are unable to complete the usual work required to give an unqualified opinion by this deadline, they are required to issue a qualified or disclaimer opinion. This means that they have been unable to gain enough assurance on the accounts. If this is limited to a certain area of the accounts a qualified opinion may be given, however if they have not been able to complete the work on a variety of areas then a disclaimer opinion would be given. MHCLG expects there to be hundreds of disclaimer opinions issued to English local authorities by the 13 December as part of their plan to ‘reset’ the audit system.
Wychavon District Council is one of the councils affected by this, and as such has received a disclaimer opinion from its auditors, Ernst and Young LLP, for the 2022/23 financial statements. This opinion was issued on the 12 December 2024. As part of their opinion Ernst and Young stated the following:
“We did not have the required resources available to complete the detailed audit procedures that would be needed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to issue an unmodified audit report on the 2022/23 financial statements before the 13 December 2024 backstop date.”
Jim McMahon, Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local also stated as part of his letter to Chief Executives on 30 July 2024 – “local bodies should not be unfairly judged based on disclaimed or modified opinions caused by the introduction of backstop dates that are largely beyond their control”
Whilst a disclaimer opinion was issued for the statement of accounts, Ernst and Young completed the Value for Money assessment as usual and has given an unqualified opinion identifying no risk of significant weakness in the Council’s arrangements for securing value for money.
MHCLG and the National Audit Office have also highlighted as part of the Local Audit Reset and Recovery Implementation Guidance that it is expected that the majority of councils where a disclaimer opinion has been issued for 2022/23 will continue to received modified (disclaimer or qualified) opinions for the years 2023/24, 2024/25 and potentially 2025/26. There is still ongoing discussion amongst the sector leads as to the exact means to get back to unqualified audit opinions without creating another backlog.
In accordance with Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (Regulation 16 (1)) and the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (Section 25) electors may inspect and may request copies of the accounts and other documents such as the local auditor’s opinion on the statement of accounts. The email address to make requests to inspect the accounts and related documents is
pdf 2023 Statement of Accounts (5.05 MB)
pdf Disclaimed Opinion (1.51 MB)
The law requires that our statement of accounts is signed as approved by certain members and officers of the council and that the audit report is signed by the council's external auditor. To avoid any fraudulent use of signatures on the internet, the signatures of members and officers in our accounts have been removed.
Jayne Pickering
Deputy Chief Executive
Wychavon District Council
Civic Offices
Queen Elizabeth Drive
Pershore
WR10 1PT
Statement of Accounts 2021/22
pdf 2022 Statement of Accounts (4.58 MB)
pdf Disclaimed Opinion (1.52 MB)
Statement of Accounts 2020/21
pdf 2020/21 Statement of Accounts (5.65 MB)
pdf Disclaimed Opinion (1.38 MB)
Statement of Accounts 2019/20
pdf 2019/20 Statement of Accounts (8.91 MB)
2024-2025 Budget book
pdf View Budget Book (3.90 MB)
Other information
- pdf Read latest Financial Regulations (703 KB)
- document Read Capital Strategy (71 KB)
- document Read Treasury Management Strategy (118 KB)
- Creditors Payments (Over £500)
- pdf View Corporate Risk Register (236 KB)
For further information on Financial Services please contact:
Alice Mason
Head of Financial Services
Wychavon District Council
Telephone: 01386 565501
Email:
Civic Centre,
Queen Elizabeth Drive,
Pershore
Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Tel: 01386 565000
Fax: 01386 561092
