Financial Reports and Compliance with the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities

There are regulations setting out specific information that a council must publish. If its income or expenditure exceeds £25,000 during the year it must submit its annual report and accounts to the government appointed external auditor. This was the case for the year ended 31 March 2022.

In earlier years Council’s income and expenditure was below £25,000, and slightly different rules applied. Whilst there is no need for an external audit, The Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities issued in December 2014 makes it mandatory for councils with an annual turnover of less than £25,000 to publish certain information. A detailed statement of how the Town Council complies with its obligations under the Transparency Directive is available in the document entitled ‘Council Transparency Document.

The financial year 2017-18 was the first year that the Town Council had elected to be a smaller authority, and the most recent year this applied was 2020-21. This information includes the following:

1. Statements of all expenditure over £100
2. End of Year Accounts in the agreed format
3. List of Councillors (see the Members page on this website)
4. Details of public land and building assets
5. Minutes, agendas and Papers of formal meetings. These are displayed under ‘Documents’ on this website and current agendas are shown on the two notice boards in the town, one outside the Key Centre and the other in the main square.
6. The Annual Return

Regardless of whether the £25,000 threshold applies, The public have rights to inspect the draft accounts and a copy of the notice setting out your rights to do this is included in the documents below. Smaller Council accounts are in a prescribed format known as the ‘Annual Governance and Accountability Return’ or AGAR for short. This includes a statement of income and expenditure, a governance statement by Councillors and a review by Council’s internal auditor.