All four public bodies chaired currently or until recently by Tees Valley Mayor, Lord Ben Houchen, have failed to meet the latest audit deadline set by the government. This is an extremely serious failure for Tees Valley in view of the warning it was given by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) of the consequences of not dealing with its audit problems.
Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) was told by the MHCLG earlier this year that it could not expect to progress any further down its devolution path until it dealt with its audit problems, as reported by North East Bylines on 9 May. Consequences could include an extension of the best value notice under which it has been placed and restrictions on its funding.
TVCA and South Tees, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool development corporations are among 16 bodies nationally that failed to publish audited accounts for 2023/24 by the updated deadline of 31 October 2025, according to an MHCLG non-compliance list.
No other North East councils or other public bodies such as combined authorities, fire, police, transport and waste authorities and national parks are named on the latest 2023/24 non-compliance list published by the MHCLG as having failed to meet the 31 October deadline.
Meanwhile, judging by its most recent public documents, TVCA appears to have moved its attention on to the 2024/25 accounts, leaving the eventual completion of the 2023/24 accounts as something of a mystery – at least to this author. The subject will be further explored in future.
Backlog
The government has been struggling to reduce a backlog of unaudited accounts since coming to office in July 2024 when, it says, it inherited a broken local audit system in England, evidenced by a significant backlog of outstanding unaudited accounts. For financial year 2022/23, just one percent of local bodies had published audited accounts by the original deadline.
In July 2024 the government stated its intention to set a series of statutory backstop dates to clear the backlog and enable the system to recover. By 13 December 2024, 84% of bodies had published their audited accounts for 2022/23, including all in the North East and Tees Valley, and this figure has subsequently grown to 99%. By the backstop date for 2023/24 accounts of 28 February 2025, 87% had published audited accounts and this has now grown to 94%.
The MCHLG said: “Bodies may appear on this list for various reasons, such as not yet publishing unaudited draft accounts; their statutory 30 working day inspection period not yet having concluded; or material issues affecting the production or sign-off of accounts.”
It also said that effective external audit of the close to 500 bodies in these categories ensures transparency and accountability for public money and builds public confidence. It added: “The government continues to engage with those listed with outstanding audited accounts to try and ensure that they are published as soon as practicable.”
Tees Valley Combined Authority has been approached for a response.
Comment
Houchen was forced out as chair of Tees Valley’s three mayoral development corporations in Spring this year and the TVCA also has new top officials- a chief executive, interim corporate director of finance and resources and interim chief monitoring officer. With these changes at the top, and in view of what appeared to be the more realistic tone of TVCA’s governance statement for 2024/25, this author took the view that the Authority might at last be getting a grip on its problems. It now seems that that optimism was premature and might even have been complacent. The government’s next audit deadline is 27 February 2026 for the 2024/25 accounts. That will be another day of reckoning for Houchen and his Tees Valley empire.
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