Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) 2025/26
Every smaller authority in England where the higher of gross income or gross expenditure was £25,000 or less must, after the end of each financial year, complete Form 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return in accordance with Proper Practices.
Smaller authorities where the higher of gross annual income or gross annual expenditure does not exceed £25,000 and that meet the qualifying criteria as set out in the Certificate of Exemption are able to declare themselves exempt from sending the completed Annual Governance and Accountability Return to the external auditor for a limited assurance review provided the authority completes;
a) The Certificate of Exemption, page 3 and returns a copy of it to the external auditor n0 later than 30 June 2026.
b) The Annual Governance and Accountability Return (Form 2) which is made up of:
c) Annual Internal Audit Report (page 4) must be completed by the authority’s internal auditor
d) Section 1 – Annual Governance Statement (page 5) must be completed and approved by the authority.
e) Section 2 – Accounting Statements (page 6) must be completed and approved by the authority.
The authority must approve Section 1 Annual Governance Statement before approving Section 2 Accounting Statements and both must be approved and published on the authority website before 1 July 2026.
Smaller authorities must publish various documents on a publicly available website as required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Local Audit (Smaller Authorities) Regulations 2015 and the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities. These documents are published below:
Certificate of Exemption – AGAR 2025-26 Form 2
Annual Internal Audit Report 2025-26
AGAR Section 1 – Annual Governance Statement 2025-26
AGAR Section 2 – Accounting Statements 2025-26
Explanation-of-Variances-2025-26
Bank-reconciliation-2025-26Explanation-of-Variances-2025-26
Notice-of-public-rights-2025-26-exempt-authorities
Annual Governance Statement 2025-26 Narrative
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