Finances of Claygate Parish Council

The Numbers at a glance

Detail	2023-24	Source
Financial Year End	31st March	[1]
CIL Revenue
Total Precept	£53,374	[1]
Employees	1
Premises	None
Fixed Assets	£25,697	[1]
Clerk Salary + Pension	£12,889	[2]
Locum Clerk Salary	£12,537	[2]
Election Expenses	£11,282	[2]
Website Costs
Grants out of CIL
Grants out of Precept

Sources

• [1]: 'Accounting Statements 2023/24' in Appendix A of Agenda of Annual Meeting of 18th May 2024
• [2]: 'Listing of Payments for all Cost Centres' in Appendix A of Agenda of Annual Meeting of 18th May 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I find a list of the Parish Council’s assets?

A print-out can be found in Appendix A accompanying the Agenda from the Annual Meeting of 16th May 2024. It’s not easy to read.

2. Where can I see the Annual Accounts?

Again the figures are in Appendix A]. At least the numbers are set out in a much more user-friendly way.

3. How much did the Parish Council spend on interim locum Clerk Ron Spurs in 2023?

£13,018. This is a higher figure than the Parish Council spent on wages for all its employed Clerks in 2023 (£12,394). You can get an idea of the length of his contract by comparing this £12,394 figure to the budget for the year: £16,862. The figures suggest that the Parish Council had salaried clerks for 74% of the year, and thus the locum for 26%. On the assumption that the locum worked no more hours per week than our salaried clerks, you can work out how much higher his weekly wages were. By adding the £13,018 to the £12,394 and subtracting the £16,862, you can also calculate another of the costs of the bullying episode to Claygate — £8,550 — by way of excess clerk costs. (All figures found in the same Appendix A].

4. How much did the Connecting Claygate episode cost residents?

Four of the Connecting Claygate councillors resigned early in 2024, leading to a by-election which is likely to have cost us around £11,000. We won’t see the exact figure for a while. Add in the excess clerk costs of £8,550 and you get a figure of nearly £20,000 which residents would not face in a normal term of office. It is up to you if you want to link this to the ten petitioners who in 2022 insisted there be a by-election — rather than costless co-option — for the one vacancy at the time. That cost residents around £10,000. So we’re seeing a figure of around £30,000 for the political infiltration of Claygate by one group over the past two years. No wonder the Parish Council has had to increase the precept in 2024.