Community Councils

Every Community Council is awarded an Administration Grant every financial year, on condition that they provide their accounts to the Council. Items for which the grant can be used are described below in the conditions of grant.

Telephone - mainly for calls between office bearers and members regarding Community Council business or to council services.

Postage - relating to the distribution of minutes, agendas, papers for meetings and letters from the secretary, treasurer or chairperson.

Stationery  - envelopes, paper and other office consumables such as cartridges for computer printers.

Travel - public transport costs to attend conferences and meetings (other than own Community Council meetings). Current local authority rates apply.  Advice in this is available from Community Council Liaison Officer.

Printing - production and distribution of newsletters, notices, papers and reports for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and photocopying relevant documents from South Lanarkshire Council.

Office Equipment – storage such as cabinets or boxes, files, folders and computer hardware.

Advertising - payments to newspapers for notices or adverts for meetings, such as the AGM and any Special General Meetings.

Affiliation fees - to appropriate groups or bodies only.  Advice on this is available from Community Council Liaison Officer.

Accommodation - hire charges for hall for meetings and light refreshments such as tea/coffee and biscuits.

Honorarium - for Secretary and Treasurer. The level of honorarium should be agreed at the first meeting after the AGM and noted in the minutes. The level of honoraria should not exceed 10% of the Administration Grant per office bearer and should reflect the extra effort involved in these voluntary positions. The honorarium for the secretary should take into account whether the secretary gets specific support for particular tasks from other members/persons, i.e. Minute Secretary. Expenses incurred by the Secretary or Treasurer should be detailed under the appropriate heading and not included in the ledger sheet along with honoraria.

Audit Fees – There will be an audit of all Community Council accounts after the end of the financial year (31 March).

Administration cost - costs incurred by the Community Council office bearers for assistance, e.g. minute taking.  The cost of these services should not be excessive and should be in proportion to the amount of administration grant received by the Community Council.  If the Community Council uses a considerable amount of its annual administration grant on administration costs, it will be expected that Honoraria for the Secretary and/or Treasurer will be modified downwards to reflect the balance of work done by the administration support. 
This should be detailed in the Administration Grant Ledger.

Insurance - special insurances for events. (The Council has taken out Public Liability Insurance for all Community Councils). Advice in this is available from Community Council Liaison Officer.

Other - guidance on items of expenditure not falling into one of the categories above should be obtained from the Community Council Liaison Officer prior to incurring the expenditure. An example in this category would be local training events for Community Council members.  Any expenditure over £250 must be agreed with the Community Council Liaison Officer before expenditure is incurred.  This should be detailed in the Administration Grant Ledger.

Key Dates - unaudited Accounts, Ledger form and Conditions of Grant form should be sent to the Community Council Liaison Officer no later than 31 July to avoid financial penalties.

The following information is also required:-

• Administration grant ledger
• Income and expenditure sheet
• Conditions of grant
• Bank statements for financial year (of all accounts held by the Community Council)
• Inventory
• Receipts/Cash vouchers for all expenditure (including any funds other than the Administration Grant)

Key Principles - proposed expenditure should be recorded in the minutes prior to incurring expenditure.  The actual expenditure should also be recorded in the minutes.  An inventory of all equipment held by the Community Council should be maintained and copied to the Community Council Liaison Officer.