Recommendation 14

The delays to the accounts were the combined result of issues with the accounts of a key arm’s-length body (UKHSA) and delays in completion of local NHS audits. The accounts for UKHSA, NHS England and the Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts all need to be complete before the Department’s group accounts can be finalised. NHS England and the Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts in turn rely on the individual audits of 148 NHS commissioners and 212 NHS providers, which are incorporated into their own group accounts. The Department set a deadline of 30 June 2023 for the completion of the financial audits of NHS providers and NHS commissioners. Almost a quarter (23%) of NHS providers and more than a fifth (21%) of NHS commissioners missed the 30 June 2023 deadline. A significant number of NHS provider (4.2%) and NHS commissioner (9.5%) audits were not complete at 31 October 2023.21 This was the latest practical date that NHS commissioners’ and NHS providers’ audits had to be completed to enable the Department to publish its accounts by 30 November 2023; the date the Department originally committed to Parliament that its 2022–23 accounts would be published. This prevented the certification of the Consolidated NHS Provider Accounts, the NHS England group accounts, and delayed the finalisation of the Department’s accounts.22