Spending and performance

Statement of accounts

At the end of each financial year, we are required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 to publish a Statement of Accounts setting out the financial position of the council and the transactions that have been made during the year.

You have the right to inspect these accounts, and the associated documents, in accordance with the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

Public inspection of the draft accounts

After being approved by the council’s responsible financial officer as a true and fair view, draft accounts for the year are published on this page, along with the council’s annual governance statement.

For 2023/24, the statutory deadline for publication of draft accounts was 31st May 2024. The council was unable to meet this statutory deadline as the draft statement of accounts was not ready for publication at that point. They are now published below.

The accounts are then made available for public inspection, along with the supporting accounting records and associated documents, for 30 working days. For the 2023/24 accounts, the public inspection period is 1st October 2024 to 11th November 2024.

During the inspection period, local electors can ask the external auditors questions about the draft accounts, or raise objections to them.

Find out more about your right to inspect the council’s accounts on the National Audit Office’s website

Publication of the final audited accounts

Each year our external auditors conduct a full and detailed examination of the draft accounts and report their findings to the council’s Audit Committee, which then approves the audited accounts. The final audited accounts are then published on this page, along with the audit opinion.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 have been revised in 2024 to set the following deadlines for publication of audited accounts and related audit opinions:

  • 2023/24 accounts - 28th February 2025
  • 2022/23 accounts - 13th December 2024

The financial statements published below are the original unaudited versions published on:

  • 2022/23 accounts - 25th September 2023
  • 2023/24 accounts - 30th September 2024

When the audit opinion is issued, the audited and approved accounts will be published on this page as soon as practicable.

The auditors issue a final certificate of completion of the audit separately which is published online when available, together with a public notice explaining the rights of local electors to inspect the accounts and audit opinion/certificate.

The audits for the financial statements relating to financial years 2015-16 to 2021-22 have not yet been formally concluded by the external auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP, so the final audit certificates for these years are not yet available. The audit opinions issued for these accounts are included within the financial statements published below.

Statement of accounts library 

The accounts for the most recent financial year and final audited accounts for the previous five years are published below.