Policies & Procedures

SCOPE

This policy applies to Fillingham Parish Meeting.

POLICIES

Precept income

The annual precept will be increased each year by inflation.

The total precept will be increased annually by the pro rata cost per household; for each new development property in the village.

The income raised by the precept shall only be spent on the Parish & Village Hall; it will not be used to support St Andrews Church or grounds.

Fund raising

Income raised by fund raising shall be primarily spent on maintaining and improving the Village Hall & Parish.

For budgetting purposes, grant income will be assumed to be spent on improvements within the year obtained.

Income raised raised by fund raising may be used to support St Andrews Church grounds but not St Andrews Church.

Contracts, payments & use of cash

Payments should only be made by the RFO. Payments can also be made by the Chair.

Payments shall only be made upon receipt of an approved invoice.

Parish invoices require the approval of the Chair or Maintenance Co ordinator.

Unbudgetted expenditure must have the approval of the relevant committee. This can be obtained via approval at a meeting or by email.

All contracts above £1,000 shall require a minimum of two and ideally 3 written quotations. If this requirement cannot be met e.g. specialist insurance, it shall be minuted at the appropriate meeting. It shall require authorisation of the Chair, RFO & at least one other committeee member.

Financial reserve (Parish & Village Hall)

A minimum financial reserve shall be maintained of £10,000. This shall only be used in emergencies and replaced as soon as possible.

Accounting & internal audit

An annual set of accounts shall be produced for the Parish. These shall be produced in line with the UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (UK GAAP).

The accounts shall be subject to an annual internal audit.

Asset Register

An asset register shall be maintained & reviewed annually, prior to updating the insurance policy.

BUDGETING

The village annual budget, (including precept) shall be prepared by the RFO by the 1st of October each year. The budget shall be prepared in line with the Village Financial Plan. It shall be submitted to the Parish Meeting for approval by 1st November. Following the meeting, the RFO shall submit an estimate precept to the Council.

The budget shall consider the proposed level of income from fund raising events, together with the planned level of maintenance and grants.

The final annual precept shall be submitted by the RFO to the Council by 1st January.

MONITORING & REPORTING

Quickfile shalll be used to prepare annual accounts. A separate Quickfile account shall be used for the Parish Meeting & Village Hall.

Records of all transactions shall be retained in Quickfiles. Copies of all receipts & invocies shall be held against the appropriate transaction.

A financial summary report shall be prepared from Quickfile in advance of each Parish Meeting.

A copy of the audited Parish Meeting accounts shall be posted on the Parish Meeting Website, as required by the AGAR regulations.

Where costs are split between the Parish & Village Hall they shall be accurately allocated in the accounts as follows:

• Insurance will be allocated 17% Parsh: 83% Village Hall (Zurich breakdown 25/26).
• Landscaping will be allocated 50% Parish: 50% Village Hall.

The appropriate split payment shall come from each account.

QUICKFILE

Individual Quickfile accounts have been established for the Parish & Village Hall. These are free of charge up to 500 transaction per year. Bank feeds are chargeable for each at around £18p.a.

The following additonal non-standard nominal codes shall be used:

Parish:

• 4010 Precept

Bank feed tagging/reconcillaiation shall be conducted at least monthly.

Full accounting records shall be held within the system copies of all invoices, recipts etc shall be linked to the appropriate transactions.

Internal Audit

The RFO shall provide annual accounts for audit, together with the relevant AGAR (Annual Governance & Accountability Return) returns by 30th April and then submit these for internal audit.

The internal audit shall be conducted by a competent Auditor, independent of the RFO.

The internal audit & associated AGAR returns shall be completed by the 31st of May and circulated to the Parish committee.

The internally audited AGAR exemption return shall be signed by the Chair and submitted to the Council appointed external Auditors by 30th June.

BANK ACCOUNTS

The following Lloyds bank accounts are held. Changes to banking accounts shall be require authorisation of the Chair & should be reported at the next Parish Meeting.

Full access is limited to the RFO, Parish Chair. View only access is limited to the Internal Auditor.

Fillingham Parish Meeting community account

The main account for the Parish, into which the precept is paid.

Fillingham Parish Meeting 32 day notice account

Parish savings account used to hold the Trust Fund/Financial reserve and any surplus funds.

ISSUED

June 2026