Cumberland Council's accounts still unpublished after nine months
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.
Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Rangers need to see this money being spent smartly'
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire appeared on the BBC's Reporting Scotland programme to discuss Rangers' new the best of what he had to say:On how far £20m of investment will go for Rangers: "It will certainly help. Rangers have sizeable debts. Its wage bill is parallel to that of Celtic."The amount invested in players in terms of the total cost of the squad is the same, but the revenue generated by Rangers is around about £35 million less than that of Celtic, and that means that Rangers have been losing money. " I think the previous board, they felt that they had reached the point where they couldn't continue to inject that money. "So, now we've got Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Investments coming in, taking control, and that could potentially give the club greater direction. And of course, putting money in, which from the pronouncements that we've seen, is certainly going to help the playing budget."On how Rangers go about bridging financial gap between themselves and Celtic: "Celtic are in a very strong position financially. They've got over £70 million in the bank compared to Rangers having less than two, and this was before the announcement. "So they do have a very strong position, Celtic, there's no doubt about it. "I would say that they've been relatively cautious in terms of their investment in the squad over the past few years, and this has allowed Rangers to certainly catch up in terms of the amount of money being invested. "I think what we really need to see at Rangers is money being spent smartly rather than large signings coming in. "We've seen that be successful elsewhere, and we've also seen those clubs that have just spent the cash because they've got a new owner, they've got a new injection - that doesn't necessarily translate to ultimately what Rangers fans want, where being second in Glasgow is being nowhere."On what re-registering as a private limited company, instead of being publicly listed, means for Rangers: "Yeah, it won't affect fans at all. "Instead of having the additional compliance costs of being a public listed company, and the shares weren't being traded on a standard market, it simply means that Rangers will revert to individual transactions between shareholders going through on a private basis. So it's nothing for fans to get worked up about."
The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Sheffield Wednesday players ask EFL to send them money for their wages with Owls facing mass exodus
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY'S players will ask the EFL to send them money for their wages. The squad are due to be paid tomorrow but many will go without a salary for the second month running. 1 That opens the door for some to leave — but those who stay are planning talks with the PFA. They want the EFL to divert the monthly 'TV money' to them and not owner Dejphon Chansiri. The Owls supremo is counting on the EFL funds to pay the bills — unless he gets a £5million loan from a takeover bidder or compensation for boss Danny Rohl. Wednesday face a walkout by backroom staff next week. Rohl's future is already in doubt but some of his team may move on after contracts run out. Failure to pay wages for the second month in a row would also lead to charges and points penalties. The club have already been hit with transfer restrictions for the next three windows. Wednesday are currently banned from completing signings or loans that involve a fee until 2027. And they currently cannot sign any players, even free transfers, until the outstanding wages have been paid. Wednesday are set to appeal the ruling. Chansiri has been in charge at Hillsborough for the last ten years. Meanwhile, Rohl has been linked with a switch to Leicester after they axed Ruud van Nistelrooy two days ago following their relegation to the Championship.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Welfare reforms U-turn means we're in 'better position'
Major concessions have put the government in a "better position" to pass welfare reforms, the health secretary said, as he admitted Labour's leadership mishandled the rollout of its flagship Streeting said Labour MPs had raised "substantial" concerns about planned welfare cuts, and the government strengthen its plans as a week, the prime minister was forced into a dramatic U-turn to avoid a House of Commons defeat after more than 120 Labour backbenchers threatened to vote down his plans."We are in a much better position this week than last week," Streeting told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, and promised that the government would "learn" from the narrowly avoided rebellion. Streeting said the government had shifted "not just the package but also the approach" following criticism that the original proposals risked undermining support for disabled week, the government faced a growing rebellion from Labour MPs who warned the planned welfare cuts, aimed at saving £5bn annually, were rushed and would hurt vulnerable government's initial plans, aimed at bringing down the welfare bill, would have made it harder for people to claim personal independence payment (Pip), a benefit paid to 3.7 million people with long-term physical or mental health backlash culminated in a late-night announcement of major concessions to the rebel MPs - including limiting Pip cuts to only new reversed its plans to freeze the health-related component of universal credit, and the payment will now rise in line with inflation for existing government also announced plans for a review of the Pip assessment to be led by disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms and "co-produced" with disabled Haigh, one of the leading rebel MPs, told the BBC she now planned to support the bill following the government's changes. Speaking on the same programme, Haigh, the Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley, said her fellow rebel MPs are "really pleased that the government has now listened to those concerns and they've made a significant number of concessions".Subject to seeing the final detail of the changes, she said: "I will be supporting the government on Tuesday in recognition that they have made significant progress and that they have protected the incomes of nearly 400,000 disabled people across the country."Rebels have told the BBC their colleagues are happy with the concessions - meaning the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill will not be blocked in a vote on Tuesday, although some Labour MPs have said they will still vote against the episode has raised questions about the prime minister's political strategy and ability to manage internal the weekend, Sir Keir Starmer gave an interview with the Sunday Times to defend his handling of the row, pointing out he was abroad attending a Nato conference during the height of the Sunday, Streeting defended the government's intentions, saying the reforms were necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the welfare system. "No one will thank us if we carry on with the status quo," he said. "Unless you reform this system, I genuinely fear it will not be there for anyone in the future."Streeting did not rule out future changes to welfare following the Timms review. Asked if there could be further concessions on personal independence payments, he said "we have got to listen".His comments came after Sir Keir claimed "fixing" the welfare system is a "moral imperative".The prime minister told the Welsh Labour Party conference in Llandudno on Saturday that the government would not take away the welfare "safety net that vulnerable people rely on".But he said he could not let benefits "become a snare for those who can and want to work". Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
