We’re here to Assure, Explain and Inspire.
The Auditor General is the statutory external auditor of most of the Welsh public sector.
Our key strength is our wide range of skills and knowledge that has arisen from our position as the the statutory external auditor
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This section sets out how you may request information from us and provides some direct links to information of wider public interest.
Governance and oversight at Audit Wales
Our accounts are audited by an independent firm appointed by the Welsh Parliament.
Our Executive Leadership Team is responsible for directing the organisation
The Auditor General is responsible for auditing most of the public money spent in Wales.
See our work around the COVID-19 pandemic
Audit Services has a reach of over 800 public bodies across Wales covering financial and performance audit
Our programme of shared learning events focusses on topics that are common across public services
Having a strategic, dynamic and high quality audit programme is a key focus of our strategy
The NFI matches data across organisations and systems to help public bodies identify fraud and overpayments.
We work with others from across the Welsh public sector and beyond
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Find out the latest news
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Access our data tools and useful data sources
View our videos on our YouTube channel
Our events bring together individuals from across the Welsh public sector
Access all the resources from our shared learning events
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Our report looks at how Direct Payments are helping people to live independently.
Direct Payments are an alternative to local-authority-arranged care or support and can help meet an individual’s or a carer’s need. They aim to give people more choice, greater flexibility and more control over the support they get.
Our report looked at how Direct Payments help sustain people’s wellbeing and whether they are improving quality of life. We also looked at how local authorities manage and encourage take up of Direct Payments and whether these services present value for money.
We found that Direct Payments are highly valued, with the people we surveyed acknowledging that they help them remain independent.
"Direct Payments allows me to have control and more importantly to have the care I need to be able to get the most out of life."
Look at our summary of the views of Direct Payments recipients and carers [opens in new window].
But we also found that managing and supporting people to use Direct Payments varies widely resulting in service users and carers receiving different standards of service.
Despite some significant challenges, local authorities ensured service users and carers were mostly supported during the pandemic, but a significant number of service users and carers we surveyed experienced difficulties.
Our report makes 10 recommendations to Welsh Government and local authorities to address the management and value for money of Direct Payments.