Councils’ accounts
your rights:
England Local government Briefing

Councils exist to serve the public. Most have helplines and
helpdesks to help local people sort out problems they may
have with services, benefits, and local taxes and charges.
But, even in the best councils, things can go wrong. This
booklet summarises your rights to inspect, question and
object to councils’ accounts. It starts with a short outline
and then gives you more details if you want to know more.
If you think something has gone wrong at your council, what
you should do is:
• phone the council;
• write to the chief executive – in local councils (see note
below) this is the clerk; or
• contact your local councillor.
Most councils have their own effective complaints system.
Nearly all complaints are sorted out, either in writing or over
the phone, so that everyone involved is satisfied.
But occasionally there are problems that someone else needs
to deal with.
• If you think that your council has done something wrong,
and you are not satisfied with how the council has dealt
with your complaint, you should contact a Local
Government Ombudsman. They will send you some
information about how you can take your complaint further.
Their names and addresses are at the end of this booklet.
The Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about local
councils (see note below).
• If you suspect fraud or improper use of the council’s money,
you should write to or phone the council’s chief internal
auditor. Your council will give you their name and address.
• For all councils, if you think that a council member’s
behaviour has fallen below the high standards that public
servants are expected to meet, you should contact the
Local Government Standards Board for England. Their
names and addresses are at the end of this booklet.
• If you want to question or challenge your council’s
accounts, the council’s external auditor may be able to help
you. The Audit Commission appoints the external auditor.
Note: ‘Local councils’ includes parish councils, town councils, joint
committees of these bodies and parish meetings.
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By law, your rights and the external auditor’s powers are
limited. If you are thinking about going to the auditor, it is
important that you understand your rights and the auditor’s
powers. This booklet should help you.
You can find out who the appropriate auditor is, and where to
write or phone, by:
• phoning your council;
• phoning the Audit Commission on 020 7828 1212; or
• e-mailing enquiries@audit-commission.gov.uk.
Your rights: a summary
The basic position
You have a right to inspect your council’s accounts. Electors
may also ask questions about, or challenge, the accounts.
The right to inspect the accounts
• When your council has finalised its accounts for the
previous financial year, usually towards the end of June, it
must advertise that they are available for people to look at.
You then have 20 working days to look through the
accounts and supporting documents.
• You can get copies of the accounts and relevant
documents from your council. You may not inspect
documents that are not relevant to the accounts or are
otherwise legally protected.
You may have to pay a copying charge.
The right to ask the auditor questions about the
accounts
• You can only ask the auditor questions about the accounts
for the year that they are auditing.
• The auditor does not have to answer questions about the
council’s policies, finances, procedures or anything else
that is not relevant to the accounts.
The auditor does not have to say, at this stage, whether
they think something the council has done, or an item in its
accounts, is unlawful.
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The right to object to the accounts
• If you think that the council has spent money unlawfully,
you can object to the auditor by sending them a formal
‘notice of objection’, which must be in writing. You must tell
the auditor why you are objecting.
The auditor must reach a decision on your objection and
provide a statement of reasons if you ask them to. If you
are not happy with that decision, you can appeal to the
courts.
• You may also object if you think that there is something in
the accounts that the auditor should tell the public about in a
‘public interest report’. Again, you must give your reasons.
In this case, the auditor must decide whether to take any
action. The auditor will normally, but does not have to, give
reasons for their decision and you cannot appeal to the
courts.
You may not, however, use this ‘right to object’ to make a
personal complaint or claim against your council. You
should take personal complaints to your local Citizens’
Advice Bureau, local Law Centre or to your solicitor.
What else you can do
At any time, you can give the auditor information that is
relevant to their responsibilities. For example, you can simply
tell the auditor if you think that something is wrong with the
accounts or about waste and inefficiency in the way the
council runs its services. You do not have to follow any set
time limits or procedures.
This is also the situation for NHS organisations, where you do
not have the right to ask the auditor questions about, or object
to, the accounts.
The auditor does not have to give you a detailed report of any
investigation into the issues you have raised, but they will
usually tell you the general outcome.
A final word
Councils, and so local taxpayers, must meet the costs of
dealing with questions and objections. Auditors will take valid
objections but will consider a range of factors in deciding how
to deal with them. They must take into account the costs that
will be involved. They will only continue with the objection if it
is in the public interest to do so. If you appeal to the courts,
you might have to pay for the action yourself.
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Your rights in more detail
These notes provide some more information in relation to your
rights to inspect, question and object to a council’s accounts
in more detail, but still in general terms. If you need more
specific detail, you should refer directly to the acts, regulations
and other documents that are mentioned in the text, or get
legal advice.
Please remember that you do not have the same rights in
relation to the accounts of NHS organisations, even though the
Audit Commission also appoints their auditors.
Your legal position
Your rights are set out in sections 14, 15 and 16 of the Audit
Commission Act 1998 as amended (the ACA 1998). The
detailed regulations that set out how you can use these rights
are contained in the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003.
Your right to inspect the accounts
The ACA 1998 – section 15(1)
At each audit under this Act, other than an audit of
accounts of a health service body, any persons
interested may:
(a) inspect the accounts to be audited and all books,
deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating
to them, and
(b) make copies of all or any part of the accounts and
those other documents.
By the end of June each year, many larger councils finish
preparing their accounts for the financial year which ended on
31 March of that year. Local councils have until 30 September
to approve their accounts.
Larger councils must then tell the public, by advertising in at
least one local newspaper, that their accounts and the other
documents mentioned in section 15(1) of the ACA 1998 are
available for people to inspect for 20 full working days. Town
councils, parish councils, parish meetings, community councils
and the Council of the Isles of Scilly can announce this by
putting up a notice in a public place, instead of putting an
advert in a newspaper.
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The advert or notice must also give the dates, times and
places where the public can see and copy the documents. Any
person who is interested has the right to inspect and copy the
accounts and any ‘public interest reports’ by an auditor, or ask
for copies to be delivered to them. There may be a reasonable
charge (please see sections 13(2) and 14(1) of the ACA 1998).
It is an offence for anyone to try and stop you from inspecting
and copying documents, although you are expected to make a
mutually convenient appointment to do so. If there is any
disagreement about what your rights are, you should contact
your council direct or go through the courts. The auditor
cannot get involved.
You cannot inspect and copy documents that contain personal
information about a member of staff (please see section 15(3)
of the ACA 1998). This means, for example, that details of
payments or other benefits that an employee receives will be
confidential. The council and an auditor cannot give you
personal information about anyone when they answer your
questions.
Asking the auditor questions
The ACA 1998 – section 15(2)
At the request of a local government elector for any area
to which the accounts relate, the auditor shall give the
elector, or any representative of his, an opportunity to
question the auditor about the accounts.
The advert or notice that says the accounts are available for
people to inspect will also tell you when you can ask the
auditor questions and object to the accounts.
Your right to ask the auditor questions is limited. You have a
right to ask questions about the accounts, but you cannot ask
questions about a council’s policies, finances or procedures
that are not about the accounts.
Before you ask the auditor any questions, you should inspect
the accounts so that you know what they contain.
You may then ask the auditor to explain certain points in the
accounts before deciding whether or not you want to ‘object’
(this right is explained later).
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If you do ask questions that are not about the accounts, the
auditor may suggest that you ask the council for the
information you want. But, in general, the auditor cannot act
as a ‘postbox’ for questions to, and replies from, your council.
Your questions should be about facts, not opinions. So you
should not ask an auditor if they think something a council
has done, or an item in its accounts, is lawful or reasonable.
An auditor must work independently so you cannot ask
them questions about how they are carrying out, or have
carried out, their work.
Objecting to the accounts
The ACA 1998 – section 16:
(1) At each audit of accounts under this Act, other than an
audit of accounts of a health service body, a local
government elector for an area to which the accounts
relate, or any representative of his, may attend before the
auditor and (in accordance with subsection (2)) make
objections –
(a) as to any matter in respect of which the auditor
could take action under section 17; or
(b) as to any other matter in respect of which the
auditor could make a report under section 8.
(2) No objection may be made under subsection (1) unless
the auditor has received written notice of the proposed
objection and of the grounds on which it is to be made.
(3) An elector sending a notice to an auditor for the
purposes of subsection (2) shall at the same time send a
copy of the notice to the body whose accounts are being
audited.
You, or your representative, can object if you think that an
auditor should:
• apply to the High Court, under section 17(1) of the ACA
1998, to confirm that an item in the accounts breaks the
law; or
• make a report, under section 8 of the ACA 1998, on a
matter that they think the council should consider or tell the
public about (a ‘public interest report’).
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Items in the accounts that break the law
An item in the accounts breaks the law if it records spending
or income that:
• the council had no right to spend or receive;
• was spent or received without authority;
• was taken from, or added to, the wrong fund or account; or
• was spent on a lawful purpose but was so high that it was
unlawful.
If an auditor considers an item to be unlawful, he or she may
apply to the High Court to confirm that an item in the accounts
is unlawful. If the court agrees, it may order that the accounts
are put right. In reaching a decision whether to apply to the
courts, the auditor will take account of a number of factors,
including cost.
Report in the public interest
If you are not satisfied with a council’s decision or action but
your objection does not involve anything unlawful or a failure
to account for spending or income, your objection can only
result in a public interest report by the auditor.
Making an objection
If you want to object to a council’s accounts, you must give
formal notice of your objection, in writing, to the auditor. The
formal notice must include:
• why you are objecting;
• the details of any item in the accounts that you think is
unlawful; and
• the details of any matter that you think the auditor should
make a public interest report about.
You must also send the council a copy of your objection. The
Local Government Act 1972 explains how to serve notices on
councils. Section 231(1) of the Act says that the notice:
...shall be given or served by addressing it to the local
authority and leaving it at, or sending it by post to, the
principal office of the authority or any other office of the
authority specified by them as one at which they will accept
documents of the same description as that document.
When you are thinking about whether to object, you must
appreciate that councils have the power to decide what they
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think is the best way to do things. The fact that you may
strongly disagree with something the council has done does
not mean that you can challenge that action.
An auditor and a court cannot question a council’s policy or
decisions unless these are unlawful.
If you do decide to make an objection, and if your objection
contains personal or sensitive information, you should mark it
appropriately to avoid the risk of the information being seen by
an inappropriate person. You may show this by marking the
objection and the envelope containing it, ‘Private and
confidential – for the attention of the Chief Executive (or Clerk)’.
You cannot use the objection process to make a personal
complaint or claim against a council. If you think that your
council has done something wrong, the Commission for Local
Administration (Local Government Ombudsman) will
investigate the matter. If you think that a council member’s
behaviour has fallen below the standards that public servants
are expected to meet, the Local Government Standards Board
for England will investigate the matter. If you think you have a
claim against a council, you can get advice from your local
Citizens’ Advice Bureau, local Law Centre or your solicitor.
Decisions about your objection
When an auditor issues their decision about an objection, they
will usually explain their reasons for the decision.
If the auditor does not give any reason, you have six weeks
from the time you are told what the decision is to ask the
auditor for a ‘statement of reasons’ in writing.
If you are not happy about an auditor’s decision you have the
right to appeal. You must register your appeal in the Crown
Office at the High Court within 28 days of receiving the
auditor’s statement of reasons for their decision.
However, an auditor’s decision on objections that ask him or
her to make a ‘public interest report’ is final. The auditor will
tell you what their decision is but you cannot ask for a
statement of reasons or appeal.
Cost
Councils must meet the cost of dealing with questions and
objections. However, you may have to pay the costs of
appealing to the courts against an auditor’s decision.
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Useful addresses
Audit Commission
1st Floor Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4HQ
Phone: 020 7828 1212
E-mail: enquiries@audit-commission.gov.uk
Fax: 020 7976 6187
Website: www.audit-commission.gov.uk
Local Government Ombudsman
Website: www.lgo.org.uk
Greater London
Local Government Ombudsman
21 Queen Anne’s Gate
London
SW1H 9BU
Phone: 020 7915 3210
Fax: 020 7233 0396
Birmingham, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire,
Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the North of
England
Local Government Ombudsman
Beverley House
17 Shipton Road
York
YO30 5FZ
Phone: 01904 663200
Fax: 01904 663269
The rest of England, including all of Southern England
(except London), East Anglia, the Southwest and most of
Central England
Local Government Ombudsman
The Oaks No 2
Westwood Way
Westwood Business Park
Coventry
CV4 8JB
Phone: 024 7669 5999
Fax: 024 7669 5902
Councils’ accounts | Your rights 10

Local Government Standards Board for England
The Standards Board for England
1st Floor, Cottons Centre
Cottons Lane
London
SE1 2QG
Enquiries: 0845 078 8181
Complaints: 0800 107 2001
E-mail: enquiries@standardsboard.co.uk
Fax: 020 7378 5001
Website: www.standardsboard.co.uk
Councils’ accounts | Your rights 11

Stock code: LCM1687
Audit Commission, 1st Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4HQ
Telephone: 020 7828 1212 Fax: 020 7976 6187
Textphone (minicom): 020 7630 0421 Website: www.audit-commission.gov.uk
Email: enquiries@audit-commission.gov.uk