Protecting the public purse

Skip to content

Audit Commission

Audit Commission > About us > Contact us > Querying council accounts

Querying council accounts

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.

Councils’ accounts: Your rights summarises your rights to inspect, question and challenge councils accounts. It starts with a short outline and then gives you more details if you want to know more. We have produced this section to help you, but it is only a guide.

Further information on how you can inspect, ask the auditor questions about, or object to your councils accounts.

However, you may want to raise other issues about how the council is run. This section aims to help you find the right person to deal with your query.

Have you contacted the council about this matter?

If you think something has gone wrong at your council, you should:

  • phone the council
  • write to the chief executive- in local councils this is the clerk
  • contact your local councillor

Most councils have their own complaints system which is usually effective. 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 the Local Government Ombudsman (external link). There are three local government ombudsmen. If you need more information or want to make a complaint, call the Adviceline on 0845 602 1983 or visit their website. They will send you some information about how you can take your complaint further. The Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about local councils, including parish councils, town councils, joint committees of these organisations and parish meetings.

  • If you suspect fraud or improper use of the councils money, you should write to or phone the councils chief internal auditor. Your council will give you their name and address. If you have evidence of fraud, you may want to consider contacting the police.
  • If you have a personal complaint or claim against the council, you should get advice from your local citizens advice bureau (external link), local law centre or your solicitor. Your auditor has no powers in these circumstances.
  • At any time, you can give the auditor information that is relevant to their responsibilities. For example, you can tell the auditor if you think that something is wrong with the accounts or tell them about waste and inefficiency in the way the council runs its services. The auditor does not have to give you a detailed report of any investigation but will usually tell you the general outcome. You do not have to be a local voter of the council to do this.
  • If you want to inspect your councils accounts, your council will make arrangements for you to do so. The auditor cannot help you with this.
  • If, after inspecting the accounts, you want to ask questions or challenge your councils accounts, the councils external auditor may be able to help you. The Audit Commission appoints the external auditor.

By law, your rights and the external auditors powers are limited. If you are thinking about going to the auditor, it is important that you understand your rights and the auditors powers. This booklet should help you. You can find out who the appropriate auditor is, and where to write or phone, by:

  • telephoning your council
  • telephoning the Audit Commission on 0303 444 8330

Do you have the right to vote at the councils local elections?

If your answer is no then:

You may have a right to inspect the councils accounts.

  • The council must let you know the date its accounts 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.

If your answer is yes then:

In addition to your right to inspect the accounts (see above) you also have the right to ask questions about, or make a challenge to (known as objecting), the councils accounts. Please bear the following in mind:

  • You can only ask the auditor questions about the accounts for the year which he or she is auditing.
  • The auditor will not answer questions about the councils policies, finances, procedures or anything else that is not relevant to the accounts.
  • The auditor does not have to say, at this stage, whether he or she thinks something the council has done, or an item in its accounts, is lawful.

Challenging the accounts

If you want to challenge the accounts, you must tell the auditor what you want him or her to do. You can take either or both of these options:

Option 1

  • If you think the council has spent money unlawfully, you can object to the accounts by sending the appointed auditor a formal notice of objection, which must be in writing and be as detailed as possible.
    • You should fill in the notification of an objection form (PDF, 80Kb) and send it to the appointed auditor.
    • Alternatively, you can send the form to us at the freepost address below and we will send it to the appointed auditor on your behalf: Business Reply Service – Licence No. SE 4120 Audit Commission, 3rd Floor, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
    • You must also send a copy of the completed form to the council.
  • The auditor must reach a decision on your objection. If you do not agree with that decision you may ask for an explanation (called a statement of reasons). If you are not happy with the auditors decision, you can appeal to the courts.

Option 2

  • If you think that there is something in the accounts that the auditor should tell the public about in a public interest report, you must set your reasons out in writing in as much detail as possible.
    • You should fill in the notification of an objection form (PDF, 80Kb) and send it to the appointed auditor.
    • Alternatively, you can send the form to us at the freepost address below and we will send it to the appointed auditor on your behalf:
      Business Reply Service – Licence No. SE 4120
      Audit Commission
      3rd Floor, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.
    • You must also send a copy of the completed form to the council.
  • The auditor must first decide whether to take any action. In this case, the auditor does not have to provide an explanation (called a statement of reasons) for their decision and you cannot appeal to the courts.