Update on the External Audit of the 2019/20 Statement of Accounts

The external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP, due to an outstanding matter in relation to the Police Pension Scheme IAS19 valuations.

This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, as amended by the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 No. 404. (See – The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, No 234, Part 3, Regulation 10 and The Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, No 404, Regulation 2

Therefore, this notice explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2019/20 final statement of accounts in line with the deadline of 30th November 2020, as per paragraph (1). The Joint Audit Committee considered the results of the 2019/20 audit at its meeting on 27 November 2020, and the PCC / CC will proceed to approving the financial statements as soon as possible following the resolution of the outstanding matter, after which we will publish the final audited accounts.