Legislation – The Local Government (Accounts and Audit) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020

The Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”) make provision with respect to the accounts and audit of local government bodies whose accounts are required to be audited in accordance with Part II (local government audit) of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 2005.

In anticipation of the potential disruption to relevant authorities caused by the spread of coronavirus, these Regulations amend the 2015 Regulations to extend the deadlines for relevant authorities to certify and publish their annual accounts and supporting documents in relation to the financial year beginning on 1st April 2019.

Regulation 1 deals with the citation and commencement of these Regulations.

Regulation 2 introduces amendments to the 2015 Regulations.

Regulations 3 and 4 amends regulations 8 (larger local government bodies) and 10 (smaller local government bodies) of the 2015 Regulations, respectively.

For the financial year beginning 1st April 2019, these amendments extend the deadline for relevant authorities:

• to sign, date and certify their statement of accounts and supporting documents (together with any certificate or opinion of the local auditor), from 30th June to 31st August; and

• to publish these documents, from 30th September to 31st December.