Question

Does a council need to adopt its General Powers of Competence every year or only at election time.

Answer 1

Every year.

This is because the clerk may have changed - are they qualified, and the council membership may have changed - how many are co-opted etc.

It is a simple process, but it has be done every year.

Comments

Are there any consequences for not doing adopting GPoC every year?

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Yes, you would fall back to your normal spending powers and doing anything outside of those powers would be unlawful.

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Many thanks somebodyelse.

Answer 2

Sorry, but that is not the case.  You declare GPC at the next meeting of the ordinary council following your election, so every 4 years.  This is covered in the Parish Councils (General Power of Competence) (Prescribed Conditions) Order 2012, section 1 where it states that the 'relevant annual meeting'  means an annual meeting that takes place in the year of ordinary elections of parish councillors. At this meeting you declare that the following conditions are in place at the time of the resolution:

1. 2/3rd of the councillors have been elected rather than co-opted
2. the clerk is qualified
3. the clerk has completed the relevant GPC training (normally included in the CiLCA)

Therefore, if your council falls short of the 2/3rd elected councillors in-between elections, GPC is still maintained.  The same would apply with a change of Clerk.  This is to allow for services that you provide under GPC to be protected and not stopped due to a resignation or two.

The key point is to ensure that you get 2/3rds of councillors elected.  If you don't THEN you lose your GPC and have to wait for 4 years.

Comments

I submitted an answer similar to Mrs Abster's which referred to the legislation but it has not been posted - so just to reiterate that the first response is incorrect.

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