2020/21 Council Finances

The Council’s most recent 2020/21 statement of accounts is provided below. The accounts will be updated monthly:
Summary Accounts to 31 March 2021

The Parish Council is required to publish details of all payments made in excess of £500.00. The document below shows all payments of £500.00 and above (net of VAT). This information will be updated quarterly in July, October, January and April.
Payments exceeding £500 to March 2021

In the interests of transparency the Council also publishes details of all income and expenditure incurred over the last 3 calendar months:
March 2021 cashbook report
Feb 2021 cashbook report
Jan 2021 cashbook report

The Parish Council is required to publish information relating to grants made, land and buildings and procurement in order to comply with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015. This requirement applies to all local councils which have either gross annual income or expenditure exceeding £200,000. This information will be updated quarterly in July, October, January and April.
Land and buildings declaration at March 2021
Tenders and contracts exceeding £5,000 to March 2021

The following grants were made in the year:
– £1,428 to PCC Holy Trinity church towards the repair of the upper green car park:
– £1,500 to Long Melford Cricket Club towards the cost of improved storage barn;
– £2,000 to Long Melford Heritage Centre to support project during Covid-19.

The Parish Council provides an estimated 65 unmarked parking spaces at the Old School which is located on High Street just below The Green. The Parish Council provides free parking on this site as a community service.

Local Councils are required to publish details of employees whose remuneration in the year was at least £50,000. No Long Melford Parish Council employee falls into this category.

Local Councils in England with an annual turnover of £1m or less must complete an Annual Return which summarises its financial activities at the end of the financial year. The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The Annual Return, which summarises the Council’s payments and receipts, is externally audited by PKF Littlejohn. The Council’s basis of accounting is ‘Income and Expenditure’. The Council’s 2020/21 Annual Return documents are published below.
2020_21 Annual Return Governance Statement
2020_21 Annual Accounting Statement*
2020_21 Annual Return Internal Audit Report
2020_21 Annual Return External Auditor statement and certificate
Explanation of 2020_21 variances
2020_21 Notice of conclusion of audit
* The Council has restated the 2019/20 Accounting Statement figures for Staff Costs (Box 4) and All Other Payments (Box 6) following guidance issued to all Councils that staff expenses for both 2019/20 and 2020/21 should be included in Box 6.
Hard copies of the 2020/21 Annual Return can be obtained by downloading the above documents or from the Parish Council office at a cost of 30p.

The public were invited to exercise their right to review the Council’s accounting records between Monday 14 June and Friday 23 July 2021. The following notice and summary of rights advised how this right could be exercised.
Notice of period of public rights
Local Authority Accounts – a summary of your rights

Periodically, the Parish Council receives Community Infrastructure Levy monies from the District Council. The 2020/21 Community Infrastructure Levy report is provided below:
2020_21 CIL Expenditure report