The Parish Council is responsible for its own financial management, overseen by the Finance Sub-Committee. The Council raises the majority of its income via the Precept and discloses its expenditure according to the requirements of The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 .
This Act set out an audit framework for local public authorities which were previously covered by the Audit Commission regime. Under the new audit framework smaller authorities, including parish councils, with an annual turnover not exceeding £25,000 may be exempt from routine external audit. In place of routine audit, these smaller authorities will be subject to the new transparency requirements laid out in this Code. The Parish Council has opted to be exempt from routine external audit.
In accordance with this code, the Parish Council is therefore required to publish:
Code Requirement | How We Comply |
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All items of expenditure above £100 | Details of all expenditure per financial year are available here 1. |
End of year accounts | See Section 2 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return. Returns since 2011-12 are available here 2. |
Annual governance statement | See Section 1 of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return. Returns since 2011-12 are available here. |
Internal audit report | This is contained within the Annual Governance and Accountability Return. Returns since 2011-12 are available here. |
List of councillor responsibilities | Details of all Councillors and their internal and external responsibilities are available here. |
The details of public land and building assets | Details of all the Parish Council assets and their valuation are available here. |
Minutes, agendas and meeting papers of formal meetings | The next meeting agenda is available here. The last meeting minutes are available here. Agenda and minutes of previous meetings are available here. |
1 Bills, invoices , receipts and related documents may be viewed on request. | |
2 The bank reconcilliation follows the end of year accounts. |
The Annual Governance Statement (AGS) contains a number of assertions in section 1. In addition to the Transparency Code requirements listed above, the AGS requires the Parish Council to:
Requirement | How We Comply |
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Prepare and approve a budget in a timely manner | The Finance Sub Committee prepares a budget for the next financial year and a forecast for a further two years for approval by full Council at the November meeting. The current budget and forecast is available here 1. |
Make arrangements such that any amounts surplus to requirements are invested appropriately | The Council operates a reserve bank account which earns interest on deposits. The value of reserves are shown in section 2 of the AGS here. |
Have in place standing orders and financial regulations governing how it operates. | The Council has adopted these codes of practice. Both documents are available here 2. |
Identify and assess risks associated with actions and decisions it has taken or considered taking during the year that could have financial or reputational consequences | The Council undertakes an annual risk assessment exercise. The risk assessment document is available here 2. |
Appoint an officer to be responsible for the financial administration of the Authority in accordance with section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 | The Clerk to the Council undertakes the role of Responsible Financial Officer (RFO). |
1 The following year precept is derived from the budget. | |
2 Select the Policies, Codes & Orders category to see the documents. |
The Financial Regulations of the Parish Council may be viewed in the Document Library. These are the rules under which all financial business is conducted.
At the start of the 2019-20 financial year, the Parish Council modified the way it managed its payments and receipts, integrating them into a custom module of this website. This module enables financial information to be analysed and presented in many ways and has enabled an automated summary to be available of the financial position throughout the year. All of the tables on our financial pages are generated in real-time by this module.