The external auditor is unable to certify that they have completed the audit of the financial statements of South Yorkshire Pensions Authority for the year ended 31 March 2024 in accordance with the requirements of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the NAO Code of Audit Practice for the following reasons:

• At the date of issuing the independent auditor’s report, the external auditor has not yet completed their work in respect of Whole of Government Accounts consolidation for the Authority for the year ended 31 March 2024.

• Under Auditor Guidance Note 07 – Auditor Reporting, issued by the NAO in November 2024, the external auditor is required to give an opinion on the consistency of the financial statements of the Pension Fund included in the Authority’s Pension Fund Annual Report with the Pension Fund financial statements included in the Authority’s Statement of Accounts. The Pension Fund Annual Report is not yet complete, so the auditor has not yet been able to do this work. It is expected that this will be completed before the required publication date for Pension Fund Annual Reports of 1 December 2024.

Once both outstanding points above have been completed and the audit certificate has been received, we will publish the audit certificate and the Notice of Audit Conclusion required by Regulation 16 of the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 and the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2024.

The audited statement of accounts have now been published on the Authority’s website at: Our Accounts

Gillian Taberner
Assistant Director – Resources & Chief Finance Officer
22 November 2024