Finances

Financial policies

The Council’s financial policies can be found in the ‘Policies’ section of the
website, including its financial regulations and risk assessment, and policy on reserves.

Asset summary

The Parish Council owns a number of fixed assets. Some of these are recorded by convention at a nominal value only, the balance at insurance value. Moveable assets such as furniture and tools are not included.

Summary of assets

Income and Expenditure

The Council gets its income from two sources. The first is the ‘precept’, which forms a small part (±5%) of the annual Council Tax payable by residents. The amount of the precept is calculated by the Parish Council based on its forward budget, it is collected by the District Council as part of the Council Tax and paid over to the Parish Council in two instalments over the financial year.

The second source is ‘operational income’ which the Parish Council gets from charging for its services, for example, room & market stall hire, burial and cemetery fees and the cost of meals provided by ‘Gages’ lunch facility.

By law, a Council is not allowed to trade for profit, but neither is it allowed to become insolvent. It has to run on a ‘balanced budget’ from year to year, any operating surplus (or deficit) being added to or deducted from the financial reserves held by the Council against contingencies or specific projects.

Audit

The Parish Council has two forms of audit. It has a visit several times a year
from an independent accountant (the ‘internal auditor’) who verifies the financial procedures, checks the accounting records and reports back to the Council. At the end of the financial year the accounting records are completed, signed off by the Council, and a summary known as the ‘Annual Return’ is sent to a firm of accountants appointed on behalf of the Government who conduct an ‘external audit’.

During the period of the external audit, the Parish Council’s books of account are available for inspection by the public and notice is published to that effect. Once the external audit is approved, the Annual Return is posted on the website as the final record of the Council’s finances for the year.

Audited Annual Return for 2020-2021

Internal Audit Report 2021-2022

Grants

The council has a lump sum available each year to make grants to local groups and charities. The grant-making policy will be found in the ‘Policies’ subsection of the website. The application form can be found here in downloadable format.