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The Public Inspection of Accounts allows residents to scrutinise council finances and ask questions, but Hillingdon’s late publication of its accounts and failure to answer valid inspection questions raise concerns about how effectively this legal right works in practice.
What is the Public Inspection of Accounts?
Each year, councils are required by law to prepare and publish their annual Statement of Accounts and to make them available for public inspection. This process, known as the Public Inspection of Accounts, exists so that residents can see how public money has been spent and can ask questions about the figures and supporting documents.
For the 2024/25 financial year, the Council was legally required to publish its draft accounts by 30 June 2025, a month later than in previous years. Hillingdon did not publish its accounts until 22 September 2025, almost three months after the statutory deadline, and was the last of all London boroughs to publish its draft accounts.
Following publication, a 30-working-day public inspection period must be provided. For Hillingdon’s 2024/25 accounts, the inspection period ran from 23 September to 3 November 2025. During this period, any local government elector has the statutory right to inspect the accounts and related records and to ask questions about them. There is no legal requirement for residents to give notice that they intend to attend: the inspection period itself is the notice. Councils may request advance contact as a practical courtesy, but this does not limit the right to inspect or to ask questions within the published hours.