Council accounts not published after nine months

Cumberland Council said it had inherited a backlog of accounts from the now defunct Copeland Borough Council

Accountants have been unable to audit a council's financial statements because the local authority's accounts have still not been published - nine months after the deadline to do so.

Cumberland Council, in Cumbria, was expected to publish its 2023-24 accounts by 30 September last year but missed that and a second deadline at the end of February 2025, known as the backstop.

External auditors Grant Thornton said the delay meant it was not possible for the firm to "undertake sufficient work to support an audit opinion".

Cumberland Council, which was formed in April 2023, said the delay was caused by a "backlog of accounts" inherited from the now defunct Copeland Borough Council.

Cumberland Council oversees the area previously covered by the former Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland councils.

On top of inheriting several years of older accounts, a spokesperson for Cumberland Council said it had also suffered from staffing issues in its finance team.

"The first two years of operation has nonetheless seen Cumberland Council achieve the closure of seven outstanding legacy accounts, a significant reduction in operating costs, an improvement in services and the recruitment of additional posts within the finance team," they said.

What is a backstop?

Grant Thornton said as the council had failed to publish the unaudited accounts in mid-January, the auditors had not been given enough time to inspect the documents, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"As the accounts did not meet this deadline, they have not complied with the statutory backstop date," the firm said.

Statutory backstops were introduced by the government in an attempt to clear a backlog of unaudited council and public body accounts.

Organisations which fail to publish their accounts by the deadline must publish an explanation and send a copy to the secretary of state.

The government also publishes a list of all of the bodies which have missed the deadline.

Cumberland Council said it was working to ensure all its outstanding accounts were published by the next backstop in February 2026.