Scores of councils have been left in the lurch after failing to find an auditor to carry out their housing benefit assurance process.

Following the abolition of the Audit Commission, the statutory functions for the certification of Department for Work and Pensions housing benefit subsidy claims were delegated to Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA), but these transitional arrangements expired in March 2018, leaving local authorities to appoint their own external accountant to provide assurance.