Audit Commission (United Kingdom)

Audit Commission

Logo of the Audit Commission
Agency overview
Formed	1 April 1983
Dissolved	31 March 2015
Headquarters	1st Floor Millbank Tower Millbank London SW1P 4HQ
Motto	Protecting the public purse
Employees	180
Annual budget	£213m (2009-10)
Website	www.audit-commission.gov.uk

The Audit Commission was a statutory corporation in the United Kingdom. The Commission’s primary objective was to appoint auditors to a range of local public bodies in England, set the standards for auditors and oversee their work.

On 13 August 2010, it was leaked to the media, ahead of an official announcement, that the Commission was to be scrapped, with its functions being transferred to the voluntary, not-for-profit or private sector. In 2009-10 the Commission cost the central government £28m to run, with the remainder of its income coming from audit fees charged to local public bodies. The Commission closed on 31 March 2015.

The Audit Commission was established under the Local Government Finance Act 1982, to appoint auditors to all local authorities in England and Wales and it became operational on 1 April 1983. The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 extended the remit of the Commission to cover health service bodies. Legislation covering the Commission’s activities was consolidated into the Audit Commission Act 1998. In 1985-86 the commission led the investigation of the rate-capping rebellion which resulted in 32 Lambeth councillors and 47 Liverpool councillors being surcharged and banned from office.

The Commission gained responsibility for auditing the National Health Service in 1990, and fire and rescue services in 2004. In 1996 the Commission began joint reviews of social services (with the Social Services Inspectorate of the Department of Health), and in 1997, reviews of local education authorities (LEAs) jointly with OFSTED.

On 1 April 2005 the Commission's remit in Wales transferred to the Auditor General for Wales.

The gerrymandering scandal at Westminster Council was uncovered by the Audit Commission's District Auditor, John Magill, who found that between 1987 and 1989, council houses were sold at below market value to families likely to vote Conservative.

Mr Magill found the former leader of the council, Dame Shirley Porter and five other council officials 'jointly and severally' liable for repaying £36.1 million to the council. Mr Magill's verdict was upheld in the House of Lords in 2001. Dame Shirley Porter eventually settled in 2004, paying £12.3 million to Westminster Council.