Public Sector

Latest news

Image for overseas students scam student loan system

Finance | Overseas students scam student loan system

Fraudulent student loan applications could be costing the taxpayer ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ as a surge in the number of Romanian students is questioned

24 Mar 2025

Finance

Corporate Governance

Public Sector

Image for civil servant credit cards slashed after ps600m spend

Finance | Civil servant credit cards slashed after £600m spend

The government plans to halve the total of 20,000 credit cards given to civil servants to clamp down on ‘wasteful spending’ and told senior staff to take disciplinary action

18 Mar 2025

Finance

Public Sector

Image for starmer plans save ps45bn using ai

Finance | Starmer plans to save £45bn using AI

Civil service jobs are at risk as PM Sir Keir Starmer urges staff to use artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and shuts down NHS England

13 Mar 2025

Finance

Public Sector

Work

Image for civil servants ordered cut back credit card spending

Finance | Civil servants ordered to cut back on credit card spending

The head of the Cabinet Office, Cat Little, has written a letter to permanent secretaries at government departments telling them to cut back on spending that is ‘difficult to justify’

26 Feb 2025

Finance

Public Sector

Image for local audit oversight reverts government control

Finance | Local audit oversight reverts to government control

The government has taken back oversight of local audit from the Financial Reporting Council with director of local audit taking external advisor role at MHCLG

17 Feb 2025

Business | Civil servants already have ‘behind-the-scenes’ AI chatbot

MPs questioned officials on the use of AI in government departments where it was revealed that some staff are already using AI chatbots to assist members of the public

30 Jan 2025

Finance | 77 local council audits still not signed off by deadline

Despite attempts to railroad through audit sign-offs, a total of 77 local council audits still remain outstanding a week after they should have been filed

23 Dec 2024

Finance

Auditing

Public Sector

Image for local audit overhaul gets green light

Finance | Local audit overhaul gets green light

A major overhaul of local audit has kicked off with the launch of a consultation on government plans for a powerful new statutory regulator, compulsory audit committees and tougher oversight after years of chaotic performance and backlogs

19 Dec 2024

Finance

Audit Consultations

Public Sector

Image for plan fix broken local audit and create regulator

Finance | Plan to ‘fix broken local audit’ and create regulator

As part of the devolution plan, the government has prioritised dealing with failing local audit market, setting up a new audit body and merging councils

17 Dec 2024

Finance

Auditing

Public Sector

Image for psaa increases local audit fees 95

Finance | PSAA increases local audit fees by 9.5%

Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) has set the fee scale for 2024/25 local audits applicable to local authorities, public sector bodies and the NHS with an inflation busting increase

2 Dec 2024

Finance | FRC approves CIPFA Diploma in Local Audit

In a first for the audit regulator, the CIPFA Diploma in Local Audit is the first qualification to meet the criteria under the new pre-approved training system

22 Nov 2024

Finance | Local audit backlog hampers FRC inspections

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) only inspected eight local audits in the last year, flagging issues with arithmetical errors, materiality and impairment calculations

19 Nov 2024

Finance | Excessive expenses claims at Scottish water regulator

Investigators reveal weak financial management and abuse of business expense claims at Water Industry Commission for Scotland as board failed to stop behaviour

11 Nov 2024

Finance | Woking Council finances show ‘potential unlawful’ lending

Former senior management and finance team at Woking Council accused of ‘potential unlawful’ lending for over a decade

7 Nov 2024

Finance | Cladding removal fund defrauded of £575k

The National Audit Office (NAO) has identified abuse of the government’s fund to help developers pay for the removal of dangerous cladding across the UK

5 Nov 2024