Expenditure & Receipts

Question

I do seem to be relying on this site a lot as my Parish Council Chair seems to anything she wants without consultation.

We recently voted to pay for the catering by a local group to provide a Christmas lunch for the elderly.  It was agreed a budget of up to £500. A fellow councillor has asked to see the receipts and the Chair has told him that she isn’t asking for receipts we are just handing over the money.  Is this legal?  We do not hold the Power of Competence but I know we can pay out under S137. As far as we know the meal may have only cost £300, shouldn’t the catering group provide an invoice? Our  Chair seems to hand over Public money as if it is her own personal bank.

Any advice would be welcome as I imagine we will have to agree the accounts at this month’s meeting.  My concern is basically one of transparency if we are asked questions.

Answer 1

Basic good fiscal prudence is always advisable in any payments from public funds. The vote was for a maximum of £500 but regardless the amount spent  it must be accounted for. If they were taken to a local hostelry then the bill should be presented and paid and if locally organised costs incurred should be listed with invoices for purchases made. If the bill was a lot less than £500 I would have thought the council would have grabbed the chance to publicy not only the saving over estimated cost but a great service to the community.Wouldn't you?

Answer 2

The fact that the Council agreed a budget of up to £500 does not remove the requirement for documentation for the actual transaction. Your Council should have adopted financial regulations, preferably the NALC model document, which should contain something along the lines of "All invoices for payment shall be examined, verified and certified by the RFO to confirm that the work, goods or services to which each invoice relates has been received, carried out, examined and represents expenditure previously approved by the council." How is the payment being made and reported to the Council?

Answer 3

All PC expenditure needs to be supported by an invoice.
The service provider also needs to show their own income and expenditure for basic business / HMRC purposes
It is entirely necessary for a basic invoice paper trail.  No exceptions

Answer 4

I think the problem here is the way the agreement was structured.  We also agreed funding towards a local provision of a christmas lunch but it was through an application for grant funding through our grant schemes for local voluntary organisations.  The grant was agreed (coincidentally for £500) but the terms of the grant state that the recipient must provide a statement showing how the funds were used within a specified period and also state that where a project is delivered at "significantly lower cost than originally anticipated" any balance of funds can be reclaimed at the discretion of the council.   We don't ask for receipts as such but would expect to be told how many lunches were provided and the cost of doing so.  If there is any doubt, we reserve the right to request copies of invoices/receipts but don't necessarily ask for them unless there's a reason to do so.
Whenever public money is handed out there needs to be accountability without it being so onerous that the grant recipient is unable to comply.

Comments

We have a new clerk who doesn't like the idea of supporting documents. She has only published the latest bank details but no invoices for her expenses, salary or overtime, no information about reports for the last meeting or the next one which will be held on Thursday, and has only put an agenda on the website and nothing at all about the next meeting or the minutes of the last meeting on any of village noticeboards (three) even though the last clerk did all the above. Her job description, hours of working, place of work, agreed travel and other allowances, etc were all decided upon in a closed meeting (no press or public invited, not advertised on noticeboards and hidden on webiste) and the only minutes for all the agenda items decided upon at that meeting were published as a blanket CONFIDENTIAL,so a complete lack of transparency pervades the council. If I as a resident ask for details I am accused of being vexacious - but I only want to khow how and where and when my tax is being spent by my parish council. Surely ths is a very basic requirement on behalf of the clerk and the council?