Moody’s Ratings announced it has withdrawn Warrington Borough Council’s ba1 Baseline Credit Assessment as well as its Baa1 senior unsecured and long-term issuer ratings “due to lack of sufficient information.”

Last month, the UK Government ordered a “best value” inspection into Warrington Borough Council amid its huge level of debt. The government said that as of March 2023, relative to size, Warrington had the second highest level of debt for a unitary authority in England at £1.8 billion.

Moody’s said: “The rating withdrawal is driven by the lack of sufficient, current audited financial information caused by an audit backlog.

“Even though the audit for the fiscal year 2019 has been completed recently, there remains a backlog of five unaudited accounts for Warrington, including that of fiscal year 2024, for which draft accounts are available.

“The limited prospects towards a timely resolution of the audit backlog in England means that Moody’s considers it does not have sufficient information to maintain the ratings.

“Moody’s has decided to withdraw the ratings because it believes it has insufficient or otherwise inadequate information to support the maintenance of the ratings.”