Our external auditors, EY LLP, have not yet completed their audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020 due to resource pressures. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, as amended by the Accounts and Audit (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 No. 404.

This notification explains, as per Regulation 10 paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2019/20 final statement of accounts in line with the publication date of 30 November 2020, as per paragraph (1). The audit committee considered the results of the 2019/20 audit at its meeting on 22 September 2020, but audit work was still ongoing. If there are no material changes to the accounts, the chair of the committee has delegated approval to sign the accounts and the audited accounts will be published shortly after. However, if there are material changes, the audit committee will consider the revised report at its meeting on 19 January 2021. The final audited accounts will then be published after this.