18.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the relevant specified person must appoint a local auditor to conduct the audit of the accounts of each opted-in authority for the appropriate period.
(2) The appropriate period is—
(a)for an authority which is an opted in authority by virtue of regulation 11, the compulsory appointing period;
(b)for an authority which is an opted in authority by virtue of regulation 14 or 15, the remainder of the current compulsory appointing period beginning with the day on which the authority became an opted in authority.
(3) Before appointing a local auditor to an opted in authority, a specified person must consult the authority about the proposed appointment.
(4) In the case of an exempt authority, and subject to paragraph (6), a relevant specified person is only required to appoint a local auditor to audit its accounts after receipt from a local government elector of—
(a)a request for an opportunity to question the auditor about the authority’s accounting records under section 26(2); or
(b)an objection under section 27(1).
(5) Where a request or objection is received in accordance with paragraph (4), the specified person must appoint an auditor as soon as practicable and in any event within the period of four weeks beginning with the date that the request or objection is received.
(6) The local auditor must only be appointed for the financial year to which the request or objection relates.
(7) Where the specified person appointed a local auditor because the authority ceased to be an exempt authority in accordance with regulation 9(4), that auditor may remain in office if the authority becomes an exempt authority again in accordance with regulation 9(5), but the auditor’s term of appointment must be amended if necessary to meet the requirement in paragraph (6).
(8) Paragraph (7) does not prevent the specified person from re-appointing a local auditor.
19.—(1) This paragraph applies where a specified person has appointed a local auditor to audit the accounts of an authority which the specified person reasonably believed to be an opted in authority for which the specified person was the relevant specified person, but at the time of the appointment of the auditor the authority—
(a)was a full audit authority;
(b)was not a smaller authority; or
(c)did not fall within the class of authorities for which the specified person is the relevant specified person.
(2) This paragraph applies where a specified person has appointed a local auditor to audit the accounts of an opted in authority for which the specified person was, at the time of the appointment, the relevant specified person, but subsequently the authority—
(a)has become a full audit authority;
(b)has ceased to be a smaller authority; or
(c)no longer falls within the class of authorities for which the specified person is the relevant specified person.
(3) Where the specified person has appointed a local auditor to an authority and paragraph (1) or (2) applies, the auditor may remain in office for the relevant financial year subject to agreement between the authority and the auditor.
(4) In paragraph (3) “relevant financial year” means the financial year in which the circumstances first fall within paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c) or paragraph (2)(a), (b) or (c)
20.—(1) The Local Audit (Auditor Resignation and Removal) Regulations 2014(1) are—
(a)in relation to opted in authorities, disapplied;
(b)in relation to smaller authorities which are not opted in authorities, modified as follows—
(i)omit the definition of “supervisory body” in regulation 1(2);
(ii)omit the words in regulation 7(5)(a) after the words “auditor panel” to the end of sub-paragraph (a); and
(iii)omit regulation 8.
(2) A specified person may remove a local auditor which it appointed from office before the expiry of the term of that office.
(3) Subject to paragraph (5), when a local auditor appointed by a relevant specified person to an opted in authority leaves office, whether through—
(a)resignation by the auditor from office, or
(b)removal by the specified person of the auditor from office,
the relevant specified person must appoint a new local auditor to that opted in authority as soon as practicable after the auditor leaves office.
(4) Paragraph (5) applies where a local auditor appointed to an opted in authority, which is an exempt authority, leaves office, whether through—
(a)resignation by the auditor from office, or
(b)removal by the specified person of the auditor from office.
(5) Regulation 18(3) and (4) apply in relation to a local auditor to an authority, so long as it remains an exempt authority, where the relevant specified person has not received in the financial year for which the auditor was appointed—
(a)a request for an opportunity to question the auditor about the authority’s accounting records under section 26(2); or
(b)an objection under section 27(1).
(6) Before appointing an auditor under paragraph (3), the specified person must consult the authority about the proposed appointment.
(7) An opted in authority which is not an exempt authority must, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which an appointment under paragraph (3) is notified to the authority by the relevant specified person, publish a notice that—
(a)states that the relevant specified person has made the appointment,
(b)identifies the local auditor that has been appointed, and
(c)specifies the period for which the local auditor has been appointed.
(8) The notice must be published—
(a)if the authority has a website, on its website;
(b)otherwise, in such manner as the authority thinks is likely to bring the notice to the attention of persons who live in its area.
(9) The authority must exclude from the notice information whose disclosure would prejudice commercial confidentiality, unless there is an overriding public interest in favour of its disclosure.