Financial reporting

For all matters relating to the Parish Council’s finances, click on the links below

As well as being our Clerk, Helen Tinson is also our Responsible Financial Officer and any queries regarding the finance of the Parish Council should be directed to her at clerk@fownhopeparishcouncil.gov.uk

Audit

The External Audit for 2023/24 has begun and unaudited documents can be found below. The dates of the Period for the Exercise of Public Rights are from Monday 10th June to Friday 19th July 2024. Any local government elector of the area of Fownhope Parish can apply to inspect the accounts upon application to the Clerk during the Period for the Exercise of Public Rights, which runs for 30 working days through the audit period. Please refer to this page and the noticeboard outside the West End Stores for confirmation of 2023/24 audit information.

The appointed auditor is: PKF Littlejohn LLP (Ref: SBA Team), 5 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4HD. sba@pkf-littlejohn.com

Budget:

Draft Budget Report:

It is proposed that the precept is nominally increased by £2000 for 2025/26 to allow for increased costs as a result of inflation.  However, the proposed increase for the Churchyard Grass Cutting budget is higher and this is because of increased grass cutting costs (anticipated in the region of £3,800 this year) and because the budget has not previously been raised in line with inflation.
 
Using last year’s Band D equivalent property figures (whilst we are waiting for the release of the 25/26 figures from Herefordshire Council), the precept will increase from £86.15 to £90.69, which is an increase of £4.54 per property per year.  As there are additional houses being constructed, it is likely that this will increase the number of properties in the parish and therefore reduce the cost per property. This will be further reported when the Parish Tax Bases for 25/26 are published. 
 
The introduction of a £2,000 Community Participatory Budget is also being proposed which shall be financed from reserves, together with a further Community Participatory Budget from the existing Habitat and Youth Support grants and reserves.  The proposed increase in precept is not to support the Community Participatory Budget, as all of this budget will be allocated from funds held in reserves. The £2,000 budget will be focused around a theme and this will be reported in more detail in due course, but in the meantime, we would invite you to start to consider if there are any projects that you would like to see progressed in the village.
 
Please feedback any comments to the Clerk before the end of November.  The draft budget will be presented to the Parish Council at the meeting on 4th December for approval, after which the precept request will be submitted to Herefordshire Council.



Financial Regulations

Financial Regulations are required to be considered and approved by a Parish Council and reviewed on an annual basis.  They include detailed arrangements in respect of how the council keeps, for example, its financial records and internal controls, assessment and management of risk and the process of dealing with contracts and tenders.  The Financial Regulations adopted by Fownhope Parish Council can be viewed by downloading the documents below.

Financial Regulations

Financial Regulations Appendix Investment Strategy

Investment Report May 2023

Reserves Policy and Reserves at 17.5.23