About us

The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.

Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies.

As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.

Our role

We employ nearly 2,000 people working across England. Our work spans four main areas:

• Audit: we are the primary auditor of local public services. We appoint auditors to provide assurance and promote value for taxpayers' money across local government, health, housing, community safety, fire and rescue and other public services. Some of these auditors work for private audit firms, but the majority work for our own audit practice.
• Assessment: we carry out performance assessments in local government and housing associations. Since our system of Comprehensive Performance Assessment was introduced in 2002, councils have improved significantly. We are now leading a team of seven inspectorates to develop a new way of assessing public services that focuses on how they work together to deliver better outcomes for local people.
• Research: we carry out research and provide independent, authoritative analysis to give insights into complex social problems and best practice in tackling them. We make practical recommendations for policymakers and for people delivering public services.
• Data-matching: we help public bodies detect fraud and error by comparing sets of data, such as payroll or benefits records. Our National Fraud Initiative has identified around £450 million of fraud and overpayments since it was established.

Our values

Created in 1983, as the world around us evolves, so do we. As most public services continue to improve, we have pioneered ways of targeting our work at public bodies most in need. Working with other regulators, we will continue to reduce the burden of regulation on local public services. However, our primary focus will always be safeguarding the interests of taxpayers and promoting better outcomes for everyone using public services.

• Economy, efficiency and effectiveness - Promoting and providing high quality and excellent value-for-money public services - recognising that public money, which is provided involuntarily by taxpayers, is special.
• Integrity and independence - Upholding the highest professional standards, guarding the Commission's independence and basing our judgements on evidence.
• Collaboration - Sharing knowledge, connecting with colleagues, partners and clients and working together.
• Investment in people - Developing the skills and abilities of our people and supporting their well-being.
• Equality and diversity - Treating each other with dignity and respect, and valuing people for their unique contribution.
• Accountability - Being fair and transparent in the way we operate, communicating openly and honestly and providing redress when things go wrong.
• Professionalism - Continually seeking to improve, managing our performance and accepting responsibility.
• Sustainability - Taking responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of the way we work at the Commission.

Our strategic objectives

We pursue our aims through five strategic objectives:

• to raise standards of financial management and financial reporting.
• to challenge public bodies to deliver better value for money.
• to encourage continual improvement in public services so they meet the changing needs of diverse communities and provide fair access for all.
• to promote high standards of governance and accountability.
• to stimulate significant improvement in the quality of data and the use of information by decision makers.