Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd. (PSAA) is a UK company limited by guarantee established by the Local Government Association in August 2014.
[1] The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has delegated statutory functions (from the Audit Commission Act 1998) to the PSAA on a transitional basis by way of a letter of delegation issued under powers contained in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
[2] Under these transitional arrangements, the company is responsible for appointing auditors to local government, police, and local NHS bodies, setting audit fees, and making arrangements for the certification of housing benefit subsidy claims.
These transitional arrangements ended for local NHS bodies and smaller authorities from 2017/18, and PSAA will no longer be responsible for appointing their auditors, but the arrangements have been extended by one year for local government and police bodies, so PSAA will continue to be responsible for appointing their auditors for the audits of their accounts for the year 2017/18.
[4] This means that PSAA can make auditor appointments for audits of the accounts of principal authorities from 2018/19 onwards where they choose to opt into its arrangements.