Finance & transparency
In order to meet its statutory requirements the Parish Council is required to publish details of its assets and financial records.
Find the below information concerning how the Parish Council is funded, and the annual accounts.
Financing the Parish Council
Parish Council Funding – the Precept
The Precept is a tax, included within the local Council Tax, which enables the Parish Council to perform its functions.
Parish Councils can apply for other funding such as grants and funding awards, generally for specific projects, but they do not receive funds directly from central Government.
How is the Precept calculated?
The Parish Council is required (in law) to agree a budget before it can set its Precept and both must be agreed by the full Parish Council.
Once the Parish Council has forecast its budget requirements for the following financial year, it requests this funding from its ‘local billing authority’ – in our case, Cherwell District Council (CDC) – in the form of the Precept.
CDC then converts the Precept into an amount per Council Tax payer that is added to the Council Tax bill (according to the property band) for all the dwellings within the Parish area.
A Precept Calculator is published on the Parish Council website in the papers for the January meeting each year so that the Council is able to make an informed decision on various scenarios.
The Tax Base
The Tax Base is produced from the Council Tax system at CDC which gives a listing of all the properties in each town or parish in the District. It then adjusts this to take into account any discounts that are given, for example, single occupancy, second homes or homes that are empty or exempt.
The properties are then translated in to Band D equivalents using the following ratios:
Band A 6/9
Band B 7/9
Band C 8/9
Band D 9/9 (base line)
Band E 11/9
Band F 13/9
Band G 15/9
Band H 18/9
For example Band A is six-ninths of Band D and Band H is twice Band D.
Finally, the estimated number of Band D equivalents to be built in the year are added to the list. This then gives the total number of Band D equivalent properties to use for the Tax Base.
The Tax Base is used to calculate the Band D charge for each town or parish which is done by dividing the total Precept requirement by the Tax Base. This figure will be compared with the previous year’s Band D charge and supplied to the Parish.
For instance, for the 2022/23 financial year for Launton, the Tax Base was 566.4, but the estimated Tax Base for 2023/24 is 615.7.
There are a number of reasons why the Tax Base changes and it can go up if more homes are created, but it can go down due to more properties in the parish claiming for discounts – most commonly an increase in the number of properties claiming the single occupancy discount.
Other factors will include homes being demolished, becoming empty, becoming second homes, boundary changes or even a change in collection date.
Accounts 2024-25
Accounts 2024-25
Budget
The 2024-25 Budget was agreed at the January 2024 Parish Council meeting and revised following the Year End at the 4 April 2024 meeting.
Budget Monitoring Report to end June 2024
Budget Monitoring Report to end September 2024
Budget Monitoring Report to end December 2024
Budget Monitoring Report to end March 2025
Other Documents
While the Parish Council income is above the £25,000 threshold, the Council still tries to comply with the DCLG’s Transparency Code for Smaller Councils and will publish the following information after 31 March 2025 :
– List of Councillors and Member responsibilities
– Details of public land and building assets
– Details of Reserves
– Statement of Accounts
– All items of expenditure above £100
The following information will be available in due course:
Internal Auditor’s Report 2024-5
Risk Assessment 2024-25
In order to comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations, it is stipulated that the Parish Council must provide a scanned version of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR). Unfortunately, this is inaccessible to screen readers, so this Council has chosen to publish the full, but unsigned, AGAR in a slightly more accessible format.
The documents required to be published as part of the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) 2024/25 will be:
Full AGAR – completed but unsigned version
Annual Governance Statement – redacted version
Accounting Statements – redacted version
Internal Auditor Report – redacted version
Variance Analysis and Bank Reconciliation
The un-redacted copies of the above documents will be available to view in person under the Exercise of Public Rights.
The period for the exercise of public rights under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 will be agreed and publicised in due course.
Documents to be received from the External Auditor by 30 September:
Notice of Conclusion of Audit
External Auditor Certificate
Issues Arising Report
Accounts 2023-24
Accounts 2022-23
Budget: Estimate of Expenditure 2022/23
Parish Renumeration Panel Notice 2022-23 and Report of the Independent and Renumeration Parish Panel on the Review of Parish Members’ Allowances for the 2022/2023 Financial Year
Allocation of funds to 31.3.23
Receipts & Payments Account to 31.3.23
SA Notice of Public Rights 2023
Accounts 2021-22
Budget: Estimate of expenditure 2021-22
Parish Renumeration Panel Notice 2021-22 and Report of the Independent and Renumeration Parish Panel on the Review of Parish Members’ Allowances for the 2021/2022 Financial Year
Allocation of funds to 31.3.22
Receipts & Payments Account to 31.3.22
Accounts 2020-21
Accounts 2019-20
Accounts 2018-19
