Parish council threatens legal challenge over its prospective abolition

A parish council has threatened to take its planned abolition by Slough Borough Council to judicial review.

Wexham Court Parish Council was subject to a governance review last year conducted by audit firm RSM for Slough, which found a series of problems.

RSM said it “identified issues where immediate management action is necessary in relation to the pre-signing of cheques and uploading of confidential meeting minutes to the internet”.

It also found shortcomings in the failure to show a clear audit trail of decisions, lack  of policies and procedures to support investment decisions and in the use of purchase orders.

Between May and December 2017 there were 25 blank cheques signed at each meeting to allow for expenditure by the responsible finance officer “without appropriate segregation of duties”, RSM said.

Its report said: “Although cheques required dual signatory, the council had been agreeing to cheques being signed off with one signature at the parish council meetings without the knowledge of what they would be used for, this would then allow payments to be made sooner with only one further signature on each cheque but the parish council would be unaware of the commitment until the next meeting.”

Other problems included a lack of formal contracts of employment for staff and the absence of a scheme of delegation.

The parish council has resisted its intended abolition in April and clerk Surinder Jabble said: “The parish council decided to seek advice from a lawyer [on] the possibility of Judicial Review. I am awaiting their advice.”

A Slough spokesperson said: “The council is confident that the Governance Review was conducted in accordance with statutory guidance and that the reasons for the council’s decision to abolish Wexham Court Parish Council are sound.”

They added: “The audit of the parish council finances and governance arrangements was intended to ensure that the money the parish council received via the precept was being spent in line with delegated authority and to give an assurance that the precept collected for the parish was being used as intended. 

“The auditor’s conclusion was that the control framework in place at the parish required significant improvement and issues were identified where immediate management action was necessary.” 

Mark Smulian