So where does the Parish Council get its money from and what does it spend it on?

Each year the Parish Council requires a sum of money from the Local Authority, called a ‘Precept’, (a mandatory demand), which is collected through the local tax system. The total precept amount is shared across all households in the parish.

Parish Councillors must decide, usually towards the end of the calendar year, what they would like to do in the next financial year, which starts in April.  The Clerk costs this, identifies potential sources of funding and produces a draft budget. The gap between anticipated expenditure and likely income is the figure at which the precept demand is identified.

In Elwick our money comes from the Precept, Concurrent payments, (monies paid to us by the local authority for undertaking work on their behalf, such as cutting the grass), Grants and Wayleaves. (See the item on Wayleave on The Village Green page for further information).

The Clerk produces a draft budget in late autumn, which includes the costs of administering the Parish Council's affairs as well as those activities Councillors wish to undertake in the following year. Some of these are regular features, such as cutting the grass around the village and emptying the bins on the Playing Field; others may be irregular occurrences, such as buying a defibrillator or new equipment. The draft budget identifies the likely costs of each item, (based on research), grouped under relevant headings, and allows for inflation/cost of living increases. Councillors then discuss the draft budget in detail, confirming or amending figures, and sometimes even removing hoped for projects as being too expensive, before finalising the Precept Demand.

The Parish Council has a duty to manage its finances with care - after all, this is public money!

We have adopted Financial Regulations and other relevant policies to ensure the effective management of our financial resources.

All payments over £10 are made either by cheque or bank transfer and must be authorised by 2 signatories. (The Clerk writes the cheques but has chosen NOT to be a signatory). There is a Petty Cash system for dealing with items such as the purchase of postage stamps. 

Ensuring that the management of the Parish Council's limited finances is done as transparently as possible, the Parish Council receives from the Clerk/RFO, monthly reports on all transactions which have occurred since the previous meeting, as well as an update against the annual budget. Copies of these may be seen here.

Financial Transactions Reports

Actual against Budget Reports

 

At the end of the financial year, the annual ‘Receipts and Payments Account’ and ‘Bank Reconciliation’ (see ‘Annual Accounts’ page) are audited by an independent Internal Auditor to check all the information provided is accurate, and adds up correctly!  The Internal Auditor inspects all invoices and receipts, grants, petty cash, bank statements, current cheque book and stubs, financial reports presented to the Parish Council as well as the minutes of meetings. This allows him to check that all transactions have been undertaken lawfully and that every transaction has been properly recorded. He completes and signs the relevant page of the Annual Return.

His report is submitted to the Parish Council before the Annual Return is signed off by the Chairman, and forms part of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR).

This is then submitted to External Auditors appointed by the government, together with an explanation of any differences of more than 10% between this year and last year for any heading.

Under the Transparency Code, if a parish council has a turnover of less than £25,000, the AGAR is simply posted on its web-site. The External Auditor will sample a number of smaller council AGARs and may require them to have a full audit, for which they have to pay. Elwick has been subject to an External Audit every year since the current Clerk has been in post!

Members of the public have a right to inspect the accounts during a period of 30 days usually during a period between early July and late August. The exact dates and times when these may be inspected are published on our notice boards and on this website. The Public Right to Inspect notice may be found here.