Annual Accountability & Governance Return (AGAR) and the Council's Accounts
The Local Audit & Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2015 set out the responsibilities of all local councils in respect of their accounting and auditing procedures.Each year, the Council's financial accounts and statements are examined by an independent internal auditor appointed by the Council.
The Council is also required to complete an Annual Accountability & Governance Return (AGAR) which includes the findings of the Internal Auditor, together with Governance Statements and Financial Statements. The AGAR is then submitted to another independent external auditor for examination.
For the financial year ending 31st March 2020, the Council's Financial Statements have been produced and the work of both the Internal Auditor has been completed.
The Council's Financial Statements and AGAR were approved at a meeting of the Full Council held on 13th August 2020 and have now been submitted to the Council's External Auditors (Messrs Littlejohn LLC of Canary Wharf, London).
The external auditor is normally required to complete their audit by 30th September each year but, for 2020, this has been extended to 30th November as part of the government's Coronavirus Regulations.
Copies of relevant documentation can be viewed below.
Year Ending 31st March 2020
The Council's Financial Statements and Annual Accountability & Governance Return (AGAR) submission for the year-ending 31st March 2020 were approved by the Full Council at its meeting held on Thursday 13th August 2020.
The completed AGAR, together with the relevant supporting documentation, has been submitted to the external auditor.
The following documents are available to view or download:
Financial Statements 2019-2020
A copy of the Financial Statements for Skipton Town Council for the year ending 31st March 2020 can be viewed or downloaded below:
Financial Statements 2019-20These Financial Statements provide a 'snapshot' of the Council's financial position as at 31st March 2020 and summarise the financial activities of the Council during the financial year.
AGAR Documentation
Copies of the various sections of the Council's Annual Accountability & Governance Return can be viewed or downloaded below.
Annual Governance Statement 2019-2020
This section sets out a number of statements made by the Council itself regarding systems of internal control and arrangements for the preparation of accounting statement for the year ending 31st March 2020. These were approved by the Council at its meeting on 13th August 2020.
Annual Governance StatementAccounting Statements 2019-2020
This section summarises the Council's financial position as at 31st March 2020 in terms of income and expenditure. The figures are drawn from the Council's Financial Statements.
Accounting Statements 2019-20Internal Audit Report
Alongside the Financial Statement, an 'internal' audit is undertaken each year. The findings of the Internal Auditor are summarised into a further section of the AGAR.
Exercise of Electors' Rights
Local electors have a statutory period of time during which they may examine the Council's Financial Statements, AGAR and any relevant background information.
This period runs from 14th August 2020 to 28th September 2020
Electors Rights NoticeThe Council is required to make available any AGAR information for a period of five years from the conclusion of the Audit. You should contact the Council's offices if you wish to review any information from a previous year.
Financial & Transparency Information
Under the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 the Council is obliged to publish certain elements of information including, for example, details of any items of expenditure in excess of 500.00, details of any tenders or contracts exceeding a value of 5,000.00, details of any land or building assets owned by the Council and details of any grant funding given to community groups and voluntary organisations.This legislation came into force in May 2014 and information will be posted to this section of the website on a minimum quarterly basis.
Payments Over 500.00
The following downloads show, on a month by month basis, any individual item of Council expenditure in excess of 500.00 in value (excluding VAT).
Payments over 500.00 January 2017 Payments over 500.00 February 2017Payments over 500.00 March 2017Payments over 500.00 April 2017Payments over 500.00 May 2017Payments over 500.00 June 2017Payments over 500.00 July 2017Payments over 500.00 August 2017Payments over 500.00 September 2017 Payments over 500.00 October 2017Payments over 500.00 November 2017Payments over 500.00 December 2018 until April 2018Payments over 500.00 May 2018Payments over 500.00 June 2018Payments over 500.00 July 2018Payments over 500.00 August 2018Payments over 500.00 September 2018Payments over 500.00 Oct until Dec 2018Payments over 500.00 January & February 2019Payments over 500.00 March 2019Payments over 500.00 April 2019 Payments over 500.00 May 2019Payments over 500.00 June 2019Payments over 500.00 July 2019Payments over 500 August 2019 Payments over 500 September 2019Payments over 500.00 October 2019Payments over 500.00 November 2019Payments over 500.00 December 2019Payments over 500.00 January 2020Payments over 500.00 February 2020Payments over 500.00 March 2020Payments over 500.00 April 2020Payments over 500.00 May 2020Payments over 500.00 June 2020Freedom of Information Requests
If you need any information on lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request or a Subject Access Request (SAR), please contact the Council for assistance.
Government Coronavirus regulations mean that normal timescales regarding FOI and SAR requests may not currently apply.
Complaints Procedure
As with any organisation, from time to time, the Council may get things wrong, or you may feel that the Council hasn't acted in the correct manner.The vast majority of problems or complaints can be resolved quickly and informally - and Skipton Town Council would always prefer to deal with any matter in this manner, rather than take a more formal route. You should contact the office with details of any issue and they will refer your problem to the most appropriate staff member.
If it proves not to be possible to resolve an issue informally, Skipton Town Council does have a formal Complaints Procedure.
Generally, any formal complaint should be addressed, in the first instance, to the Chief Officer of the Council. The Chief Officer will acknowledge your complaint and give an indication as to how long it will take to investigate the matter and respond to you. If you are not satisfied with any subsequent response, you may request that your complaint be escalated up to the Council's 'Complaints Panel' of Councillors or, ultimately, to the Full Council. Details of the procedures for various types of complaint are set out in the 'Complaints Procedure' document which can be viewed below. Copies are also available from the Council's offices.
Please note that the Local Government Ombudsman has no jurisdiction over Town or Parish Councils.
Download a copy of the Council's Complaints Procedure:
Complaints Procedure 2016/17Accessibility Statement
Accessibility StatementThis accessibility statement applies to www.skiptontowncouncil.gov.uk
This website is run by Skipton Town Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
Email admin@skiptontowncouncil.gov.uk
Call 01756 700553
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 3 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: admin@skiptowncouncil.gov.uk
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
Currently, we do not provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Also, our offices do not have audio induction loops. However, if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Find out how to contact us: http://skiptontowncouncil.gov.uk
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Skipton Town Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The ‘non-compliances’ are listed below.
Disproportionate burden
Navigation and accessing information
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.
Interactive tools and transactions
Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.
We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will revisit this assessment in May 2021.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents Some of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 .
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2021, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We are planning to upgrade our whole website by September 2021.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 9th March 2021.
Accessibility Statement
Accessibility Statement March 2021
Skipton Town Council Email: admin@skiptontowncouncil.gov.uk Tel: 01756 700553
Skipton Town Council, Town Hall, High Street, Skipton, BD23 1FD