Consultation on the Future of the IFRS 9 Statutory Override

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the Department) has policy responsibility for local authority accounting. In practice, under the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003 (the Regulations) authorities must comply with the accounting practices set out in the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting (the Code) prepared by the CIPFA LASAAC Local Authority Accounting Code Board (the Board). The Code is reviewed continuously and is issued annually. The government can also set accounting practices to be followed by local authorities by making provisions in the Regulations, under powers provided by the Local Government Act 2003 section 21. Where the practices set out in Regulations differ from those in the Code, authorities must follow the Regulations. Such provisions are referred to as ‘statutory overrides’, and are normally only introduced by the government in strictly limited circumstanc