Nelson Town Council is open and transparent about the way it manages it's finances. The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts and Audit Regulations set out the responsibilities of all local councils in respect of their accounting and auditing procedures but the day to day operations are carried out with guidance from it's own Standing Orders and Financial Regulations which can be found in the Council's Policies and Procedures page. 

The Council’s finances (income and expenditure) are monitored on a day to day basis by the Responsible Financial Officer during the course of the financial year. The RFO is responsible for maintaining the financial records and preparing the annual accounts in accordance with the statutory provisions. 

INTERNAL AUDIT

Local councils are required to appoint an independent and competent internal auditor to review regularly systems of financial control and other controls over the activities of the council to ensure that they are adequate, effective, and in line with current regulations. Internal audit is a key component of the system of internal control. The Internal Auditor is independent of the operations (financial control/management) of the Council and competent in the understanding of the law as applicable to Local Councils, of simple accounting and basic PAYE and VAT requirements.

Nelson Town Council’s internal auditor carries out two visits per year and produces a report for each internal audit visit carried out. The report produced by the internal auditor may contain recommendations in order to strengthen the internal control environment in which case the Council has a duty to ensure that they address the recommendations.

Internal Controls 

Those who are responsible for the conduct of public business and for spending public money are accountable for ensuring that public business is conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards, and that public money is safeguarded, properly accounted for and used economically, efficiently and effectively. In discharging this accountability, the Council (both members and officers) are responsible for putting in place proper arrangements for the governance of their affairs and the stewardship of the resources at their disposal as required by section 2 of the annual return.  

Nelson Town Council has appointed 3 members from the Finance and General Purposes committee to form an ‘internal controls working group’ that is tasked to ensure that the internal control checks are carried out once every six months. A copy of the internal control checklist that is used by the internal controls working group can be found by clicking the link.

The Council produces an annual governance statement and accounting statements which are subject to a review by the external auditor appointed under the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and National Audit Office’s Code of Audit Practice.

The 'Annual Return' includes the findings of the Internal Auditor, together with Governance Statements and Financial Statements. This Annual Return is then submitted to an independent 'external' auditor’ for examination. 

Annual Governance Statement 2022/23 

Accounting Statements 2022/23

Notice of Public Rights 2023

The Council has a duty to publish the unaudited Annual Governance Statement and Accounting Statements once they have been approved by Council. As part of this process, the Council must make arrangements for a set period in which interested persons can inspect the Council's accounts and related documents. If you are a registered local government elector (i.e. you appear on the electoral register for the area covered by the Council) you can also ask questions about the accounts and object to them. Interested parties have the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates to including all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, reciepts and other documents relating to those records.

By the 30th September each year the Council must publish a final copy of the audited Annual Return, once this is received back from the External Auditor after they have completed their examination.

Nelson Town Council - Completion of the limited assurance review for the year ended 31 March 2021

The review of the Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR) for Nelson Town Council for the year ended 31 March 2021 has been completed by the external auditors. Please click on the link below to view the AGAR, the final report and certificate and the interim external audit report (Section 3 of the AGAR Part 3)

 External Auditor Report 2021/22

Internal  Auditor Report 2022/23 

External Audit Report 2022/23 

22/23 Payments List

The Town Council is committed to making our open and transparent, so that everyone can see exactly how we are spending money. As part of that commitment we publish information on all expenditure over £500 excluding VAT.

The payment list indicate the individual payments made to suppliers each month with a net value over £500. Please note these are payments made in the period, and do not necessarily relate to invoices dated or received in the period.

The data is published in a simple table showing:

• date of payment
• to whom the payment was made
• the purpose
• amount paid excluding VAT where applicable

We aim to be as transparent as we can, but in some cases we will need to respect information that could be seen as commercially sensitive. Some information is withheld, for example salaries, as it is personal data.