Qualified Accounts for Cambourne Parish Council

The PKF Littlejohn LLP (the external auditors for Cambourne Parish Council) have reported on the 2016/17 accounts. These accounts are qualified (which is bad) rather than unqualified (which is good).

This is the second time, in its short history, Cambourne Parish Council has had qualified accounts. Previously, the 2013/14 accounts were qualified.

The reason the 2016/17 accounts were qualified was:

The Councillors agreed with the statement below:

The Parish Council has been pulled up on this because they said Yes when CPC didn't prepare the accounts in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations. They should have said No!

How did this happen?

The start was the Council Meeting of 20th July 2017. The Parish Clerk (also Proper Officer and Responsible Finance Officer) requested the Council defer the Annual Return until 4th July 2017. The councillors agreed.

This decision is illegal. The law requires that the Annual Return to be approved and published before, for this year, 3rd July 2017. It is also against The Councils' own standing orders which state the Annual Return must be present to Council by 30th June 2017. This decision also went against the Councils' own Financial Regulations.

The Parish Clerk published on 7th July 2017 the Notice of Public Rights etc dated 30th June 2017. This had the common period of public inspection as starting 3rd July 2017. Not only was this 5 days after it should have been published it was not accompanied by the Annual Return which wasn't agreed until 4th July 2017.

On 10th July 2017 the Parish Clerk tried again. This time publishing the Annual Return. This should have been published before 3rd July 2017.

Having made a hash of this  so far the Parish Clerk tried once again and on 24th July 2017 published the Notice of Public Rights etc. This time he got is right but very late.

Need this have come to pass?

The answer is no. The Council had time to call a Council Meeting to approve the Annual Return before the 3rd July 2017. It was tight but with proper management could be achieved.

The reason they didn't is the Councillors didn't follow the law and their own standing orders and financial regulations. The Councillors agreed to defer the approval to 4th July 2017. The law is the law and can only be changed by or through Parliament. A Council has to act within the law and the powers and duties given to it. The Councillors, who were at the meeting of 20th June 2017, by deferring the approval to 4th July 2017 broke the law as they didn't have the power to do this.

The idea that Councillors didn't know the law is no excuse. They passed their revised standing orders and financial regulations on 17th May 2017. Don't theses Parish Councillors read what they agreed.

This is not good governance.

Cambourne Parish Council keeps breaking the law!

The law says:

Publication of statement of accounts and annual governance statement for Category 2
authorities
13.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), a Category 2 authority must, after the conclusion of the period
for the exercise of public rights but not later than 30th September of the financial year
immediately following the end of the financial year to which the statement relates, publish (which
must include publication on that authority’s website)—
(a) the statement of accounts together with any certificate or opinion entered by the local
auditor in accordance with section 20(2) of the Act; and
(b) the annual governance statement approved in accordance with regulation 6(3).
(2) Where documents are published under paragraph (1), the authority must—
(a) keep copies of those documents for purchase by any person on payment of a reasonable
sum; and
(b) ensure that those documents remain available for public access for a period of not less
than five years beginning with the date on which those documents were first published in
accordance with that paragraph. 

Cambourne Parish Council waited until 20th October 2017, well after it should have done to put these documents on their website.

Cambourne Parish Council just keeps breaking the law.