Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
69th Report - Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1243
Published 4 March 2026
Recommendations
23
We pressed the Treasury on whether the Government should be exploring alternative ways of paying...
Recommendation
We pressed the Treasury on whether the Government should be exploring alternative ways of paying for or funding public service pension liabilities. The Treasury responded that public service pensions remain unfunded, pay-as-you-go schemes as this is consistent with Government’s overall …
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HM Treasury
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Conclusions (28)
2
Conclusion
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) has received a disclaimed audit opinion for two consecutive years, with no clear indication that this position will improve in the near future. The Committee remains concerned that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is failing to exert sufficient pressure on …
3
Conclusion
The timing and delivery of local government reforms remain unclear. The local government audit crisis stems from long-standing issues, including fragmented system ownership, limited audit and finance capacity, rising regulatory demands, overly complex accounts and financial reporting requirements, and the low profitability of local audit work. To address delays and …
4
Conclusion
The Treasury has improved long-term liability disclosures, but further work is needed to clearly convey their insights and relevance to readers. The WGA includes several large and complex liabilities, which the Committee has previously noted are difficult for readers to understand and whose values change significantly due to changes in …
5
Conclusion
The non-coterminous reporting date of the Academies sector risks undermining comparability and weakening accountability for billions of pounds of public money. The WGA consolidation process faces persistent challenges due to the misalignment of financial reporting periods between academies and central government. Academies operate on a financial year ending 31 August, …
6
Conclusion
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) is not sufficiently transparent on devolved spending. The WGA is designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the UK’s public sector finances and support more effective management of fiscal risks. By consolidating financial information across government, the WGA aims to improve transparency and enable …
1
Conclusion
On the basis of the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for the year ended 31 March 2024, we took evidence from HM Treasury (the Treasury) and from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).1
7
Conclusion
WGA has the ability to illuminate long-term risks and structural pressures on public finances, offering Parliament a more strategic lens for oversight. We questioned the Treasury on how it was going to make the WGA a more integrated part of people’s financial awareness and financial thinking. The Treasury replied that …
8
Conclusion
We asked the Treasury how many staff it allocated to consolidating this account, and officials explained that the core team responsible for preparing the WGA consists of six to seven dedicated staff, supported at key stages by colleagues across the wider Government Finance Function.13 WGA disclaimed opinion
9
Conclusion
The requirement to produce WGA is set out in the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 (GRAA).14 The Treasury publish annual submission guidance outlining that all entities are required to submit Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 submissions by respective deadlines. Cycle 1 is a draft data submission based on the …
10
Conclusion
We challenged Treasury on the acceptability of the WGA disclaimed opinion due to missing or unaudited data from local authorities and the Treasury acknowledged that the situation is unsatisfactory. It reported, however, that it expects the number of missing entities to fall from 201 in 2023–24 to approximately 145 in …
11
Conclusion
When a local authority’s accounts are disclaimed, the appointed local authority auditor is subsequently required to undertake substantial additional work over multiple years to restore the level of assurance necessary to issue a non-disclaimed opinion. Re-establishing this assurance is inherently complex and resource-intensive, and MHCLG reported that the volume of …
12
Conclusion
In December 2024, the Government published its strategy for overhauling the local audit system in England. It identified three systemic challenges in the existing system: capacity (a severe lack of auditors operating in the sector), co-ordination (fragmented roles with no clear ownership) and complexity (financial reporting and audit requirements disproportionately …
13
Conclusion
We challenged MHCLG on progress in addressing the local audit backlog.22 MHCLG explained that the statutory backstop is operating as intended and that rising audit fees are bringing more money into the system – fees are up 150% on the last procurement that the public sector audit authority has done.23 …
14
Conclusion
In November 2025, MHCLG published its Transition Plan for moving to a new system of oversight for local audit. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, laid in Parliament on 10 July 2025, includes the proposed legislation needed to implement this strategy. The establishment of a new single body, the …
15
Conclusion
We asked MHCLG if it anticipated any issues with the programme of local government reform. It replied that it is pursuing an ambitious programme of reform and change and considers the current pace to be as fast as parliamentary time allows.26 MHCLG also reiterated its aspiration from the PAC session …
16
Conclusion
We questioned the Treasury on the use of the terms “aspiration” and “ambition” in relation to local audit reform measures.29 The Treasury stated that it has implemented all relevant legislation within its remit, but that it cannot undertake the responsibilities of local government on their behalf.30 MHCLG also clarified that …
17
Conclusion
We also challenged MHCLG on how reorganisation in local government will affect WGA.32 The Local Government Reorganisation ambition is to simplify local government by ending the two-tier system and establishing new single-tier unitary councils.33 MHCLG confirmed that accounts for areas currently operating under the two-tier system will continue to be …
18
Conclusion
The WGA includes several large and complex long-term liabilities that the previous Committee identified as difficult for readers to interpret owing to their significant sensitivity to movements in the discount rate.36
19
Conclusion
The three largest liabilities are: the nuclear decommissioning provision which fell by £19.1 billion, from £126.0 billion at 31 March 2023 to £106.9 billion at 31 March 2024; the clinical negligence provision which decreased from £69.3 billion at 31 March 2023 to £58.2 billion at 31 March 2024; and net …
20
Conclusion
Under IFRS, the Treasury uses a real (inflation-adjusted) discount rate to value long-term obligations such as provisions and pensions. While appropriate under accounting rules, this means annual movements in liabilities can reflect economic shifts rather than changes in policy or risk. To aid transparency and comparability between years, we have …
21
Conclusion
We asked the Treasury to explain why undiscounted information had not been provided for all major liabilities in the WGA 2023–24 despite being asked to. The Treasury stated that it is considering extending this approach to pensions and clinical negligence however noted that the methodology is more complex, particularly for …
22
Conclusion
We questioned how 2023–24 pension disclosures appeared to show a reduction in public sector pension liabilities and raised that this was counter intuitive. We raised concern that this disclosure created presents a false picture of the underlying fiscal reality when the number of scheme members continues to risk and life …
24
Conclusion
The academies sector prepares a separate sector account (the Sector Annual Report and Accounts, or SARA), aligned to the academic cycle year end of 31 August.45 The Department for Education and WGA report to 31 March.46 The consolidation of SARA data within WGA creates a non- coterminous year end misalignment …
25
Conclusion
The reporting framework for academy trusts was established on a temporary basis through agreement between ministers of the Department for Education (DfE) and the Treasury.48 This arrangement reflected the significant practical challenges and financial costs associated with collecting timely and accurate data on the financial performance of more than 9,000 …
26
Conclusion
The Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) is intended to present an integrated assessment of the United Kingdom’s public sector finances, enabling clearer oversight of fiscal exposures and long-term financial commitments. By drawing together financial information from across the UK it should allow Parliament to evaluate the financial consequences of devolution …
27
Conclusion
We challenged the Treasury on how the WGA presents the spending of devolved nations and the lack of clarity regarding how devolved budgets are allocated and managed.53 The Treasury responded that it will not separate the financial statements by devolved administration but will consider adding greater transparency in future performance …
28
Conclusion
We also expressed concern on the lack of data from Scottish entities which poses a serious impediment to scrutinise all parts of the UK public sector to provide value for money.55 Of the 34 Scottish Central Government entities, 19 (56%) submitted audited data, 10 (29%) submitted unaudited data and 5 …
29
Conclusion
The Treasury highlighted that Scottish entities do not have a legal requirement to submit a WGA return.58 Under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 HM Treasury may designate a body for inclusion in WGA unless its activities relate entirely to Scotland.59 Therefore, Scottish entities are not included in the …