Auditors have reported issuing 361 disclaimed opinions due to the backstop as of 13 December 2024 for the years up to 2022/23. The 40 non-standard opinions in the table below include 8 disclaimed opinions that auditors have not attributed to the backstop.
There are a further 77 opinions that remain outstanding for the years 2018/19 – 2022/23.
| Audit Opinion | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | Total |
| Not yet delivered | 1 | 8 | 16 | 22 | 30 | 77* |
| Delivered by the original publishing date | 280 | 214 | 45 | 58 | 5 | 602 |
| Unmodified after the original publishing date | 199 | 240 | 370 | 274 | 210 | 1293 |
| Disclaimed (backstop) | 3 | 10 | 33 | 110 | 205 | 361 |
| Non-standard after the original publishing date | 4 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 40** |
| Total | 487 | 478 | 474 | 467 | 467 | 2373 |
*The opinion is also outstanding at a single body for the years 2015/16 – 2017/18, and five of the outstanding opinions are for two bodies that do not have an appointed auditor
**This covers modifications and additional disclosures in the auditor’s report (Definitions of audit opinions)
The table below provides the data in % form for each audit year.
| Audit Opinion | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
| Not yet delivered | 0.2% | 1.7% | 3.4% | 4.7% | 6.4% |
| Delivered by the original publishing date | 57.5% | 44.8% | 9.5% | 12.4% | 1.1% |
| Unmodified after the original publishing date | 40.9% | 50.2% | 78.1% | 58.7% | 45.0% |
| Disclaimed (backstop) | 0.6% | 2.1% | 7.0% | 23.6% | 43.9% |
| Non-standard after the original publishing date | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2.1% | 0.6% | 3.6% |
PSAA Chief Executive, Tony Crawley, said;
‘The unprecedented number of disclaimed opinions illustrates the scale of the challenges facing the sector and local audit. Earlier this week we welcomed MHCLG’s strategy to reform local audit including financial reporting. The strategy highlighted that there is much to do to address the challenges, and we reiterated our commitment to contribute all we can to work with partners to help deliver an effective audit regime that is in the public interest.’