The Council is subject to the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (the Code) introduced by The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 S39.
The following describes the information required by us under the Code and explains how we make this available:
Information Title: Expenditure Exceeding £500
Information which must be published:
Quarterly publication
Publish details of each individual item of expenditure that exceeds £500, including items of expenditure, consistent with Local Government Association guidance, such as:
- individual invoices
- grant payments
- expense payments
- payments for goods and services
- grants
- grant in aid
- rent
- credit notes over £500
- transactions with other public bodies.
For each individual item of expenditure, the following information must be published:
- date the expenditure was incurred
- local authority department which incurred the expenditure
- beneficiary
- summary of the purpose of the expenditure
- amount
- Value Added Tax that cannot be recovered
- merchant category (eg. computers, software etc).
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council’s Spending Disclosure can be found on our Open Data page.
Information Title: Government Procurement Card Transactions
Information which must be published:
Quarterly publication
Publish details of every transaction on a Government Procurement Card. For each transaction, the following details must be published:
- date of the transaction
- local authority department which incurred the expenditure
- beneficiary
- amount
- Value Added Tax that cannot be recovered
- summary of the purpose of the expenditure
- merchant category (eg. computers, software etc).
Rochford District Council Data:
Not applicable to Rochford District Council as we do not have a Government Procurement Card.
Information Title: Procurement Information
Information which must be published:
Quarterly publication
Publish details of every invitation to tender for contracts to provide goods and/or services with a value that exceeds £5,000. For each invitation, the following details must be published:
- reference number
- title
- description of the goods and/or services sought
- start, end and review dates
- local authority department responsible.
Rochford District Council Data:
Invitations to Tender are advertised on portals called Contracts Finder and Delta E-Sourcing.
Information which must be published:
Quarterly publication
Publish details of any contract, commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000. For each contract, the following details must be published:
- reference number
- title of agreement
- local authority department responsible
- description of the goods and/or services being provided
- supplier name and details
- sum to be paid over the length of the contract or the estimated annual spending or budget for the contract
- Value Added Tax that cannot be recovered
- start, end and review dates
- whether or not the contract was the result of an invitation to quote or a published invitation to tender
- whether or not the supplier is a small or medium sized enterprise and/or a voluntary or community sector organisation and where it is, provide the relevant registration number
Rochford District Council Data:
Contract details are published on the Council’s Contracts Register and Contracts Finder on gov.uk
Information Title: Local Authority Land
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
For each land or building asset, the following information must be published together in one place:
- Unique Property Reference Number
- Unique asset identity
- name of the building/land or both
- street number or numbers - any sets of 2 or more numbers should be separated with the ‘-‘ symbol (eg. 10-15 London Road)
- street name - this is the postal road address
- post town
- United Kingdom postcode
- map reference – local authorities may use either Ordnance Survey or ISO6709 systems to identify the location of an asset
- whether the local authority owns the freehold or a lease for the asset and for whichever category applies, the local authority must list all the characteristics that apply from the options given below:
for freehold assets:
- occupied by the local authority
- ground leasehold
- leasehold
- licence
- vacant (for vacant properties, local authorities should not publish the full address details and should only publish the first part of the postcode)
for leasehold assets:
- occupied by the local authority
- ground leasehold
- sub leasehold
- licence
for other assets:
- free text description eg. rights of way, access etc.
- whether or not the asset is land only (without permanent buildings) or it is land with a permanent building.
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council is pleased to publish The Essex Property Asset Map which not only provides information about Rochford District Council’s assets, but information on other public sector and government owned land and property assets across Essex.
Please use the map to search for assets using the menu options available to filter results. Additional information about individual sites is shown at each location. Rochford District Council assets are highlighted in green.
This information is hosted by Southend-on-Sea Borough council.
Information Title: Grants to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish details of all grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. This can be achieved by either:
- tagging and hence specifically identifying transactions which relate to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations within published data on expenditure over £500 or published procurement information, or
- by publishing a separate list or register.
For each identified grant, the following information must be published as a minimum:
- date the grant was awarded
- time period for which the grant has been given
- local authority department which awarded the grant
- beneficiary
- beneficiary’s registration number
- summary of the purpose of the grant amount
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council’s Voluntary Sector Grant Allocations and UKSPF Grants Awarded are published online.
Information Title: Organisation Chart
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish an organisation chart covering staff in the top three levels of the organisation. The following information must be included for each member of staff included in the chart:
- grade
- job title
- local authority department and team
- whether permanent or temporary staff
- contact details
- salary in £5,000 brackets, consistent with the details published for Senior Salaries
- salary ceiling (the maximum salary for the grade).
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council’s Organisational Structure Chart is available online.
Information Title: Trade Union Facility Time
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
- Publish the following information: total number (absolute number and full time equivalent) of staff who are union representatives (including general, learning and health and safety representatives)
- total number (absolute number and full time equivalent) of union representatives who devote at least 50 per cent of their time to union duties
- names of all trade unions represented in the local authority
- a basic estimate of spending on unions (calculated as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary),
- and a basic estimate of spending on unions as a percentage of the total pay bill (calculated as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary divided by the total pay bill).
Rochford District Council Data:
Not applicable – no local union representatives at Rochford District Council.
Information Title: Parking Account
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish on their website, or place a link on their website to this data published elsewhere:
- a breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority’s parking account. The breakdown of income must include details of revenue collected from on-street parking, off-street parking and Penalty Charge Notices
- a breakdown of how the authority has spent a surplus on its parking account.
Rochford District Council Data:
Off-Street (2023/24 - as at year end March 2024)
Car Park Income
Pay & Display Revenues - 631,746.85
Pay & Display Cash - 683,578.44
Season Ticket/Permits - 105,420.21
PCN Income - 61,968.53
Miscellaneous Income - 7,302.08
Total Income - 1,475,411.95
Car Park Expenditure
Salaries - 125,440.16
Business Rates - 214,244.80
Machine Maintenance - 5,113.00
Maintenance/ Repairs - 54,137.96
Miscellaneous Expenditure - 82,691.89
Total Expenditure - 481,627.81
Surplus/(Deficit) - 993,784.14
On-Street
On-street parking enforcement and on-street parking provision is the responsibility of Essex County Council (ECC), the Highway Authority. ECC have delegated this function to the South Essex Parking Partnership (SEPP) Joint Committee who deliver this function on behalf of ECC via an agency agreement.
SEPP consists of the borough, districts and city councils from Chelmsford, Basildon, Brentwood, Castle Point, Maldon and Rochford. SEPP holds a single parking account which is the responsibility of the Joint Committee. The Joint Committee is responsible for how any surplus or deficit is managed. All surpluses are managed as per Section 55 of the RTRA 1984.
The parking enforcement activity in the Rochford district contributes to the overall SEPP single parking account. Rochford District Council has no direct control of this account.
The SEPP Joint Committee produces an annual report which provides a breakdown of the enforcement activity and financial performance in each of the Partner areas.
Information Title: Parking Spaces
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish the number of marked out controlled on and off-street parking spaces within their area, or an estimate of the number of spaces where controlled parking space is not marked out in individual parking bays or spaces.
Rochford District Council Data:
Information on Car Parks within the Rochford District operated by the Council is available online.
Information Title: Senior Salaries
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Local authorities must place a link on their website to the following data or must place the data itself on their website:
- the number of employees whose remuneration in that year was at least £50,000 in brackets of £5,000
- details of remuneration and job title of certain senior employees whose salary is at least £50,000
- employees whose salaries are £150,000 or more must also be identified by name.
- a list of responsibilities (for example, the services and functions they are responsible for, budget held and number of staff) and details of bonuses and ‘benefits in kind’, for all employees whose salary exceeds £50,000.
Rochford District Council Data:
Remuneration of the Council’s Leadership Team is online.
Further details regarding senior salaries are also included within the Financial Statements.
Information Title: Constitution
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Local authorities must publish their Constitution on their website.
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council’s Constitution is published online.
Information Title: Pay Multiple
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish the pay multiple on their website defined as the ratio between the highest taxable earnings for the given year (including base salary, variable pay, bonuses, allowances and the cash value of any benefits-in-kind) and the median earnings figure of the whole of the authority’s workforce. The measure must:
- cover all elements of remuneration that can be valued (eg. all taxable earnings for the given year, including base salary, variable pay, bonuses, allowances and the cash value of any benefits-in-kind)
- use the median earnings figure as the denominator, which should be that of all employees of the local authority on a fixed date each year, coinciding with reporting at the end of the financial year
- exclude changes in pension benefits, which due to their variety and complexity cannot be accurately included in a pay multiple disclosure.
Rochford District Council Data:
Pay Multiple is included within the Council’s Pay Policy Statement.
Information Title: Fraud
Information which must be published:
Annual publication
Publish the following information:
- number of occasions they use powers under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) (England) Regulations 2014, or similar powers
- total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions of fraud
- total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of professionally accredited counter fraud specialists
- total amount spent by the authority on the investigation and prosecution of fraud
- total number of fraud cases investigated.
Rochford District Council Data:
The Council does not have a corporate fraud team.
Number of occasions we use powers under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) (England) Regulations 2014 or similar powers = 0
Total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions of fraud = 0
Total number (absolute and full time equivalent) of professionally accredited counter fraud specialists = 0
Total number of fraud cases investigated = 0
However, the Revenues & Benefits Department of the Council has a Counter Fraud & Compliance Officer who undertakes fraud prevention and detection work designed to protect and improve the council tax base.
This involves carrying out pro-active reviews of discounts and exemptions and cases where Local Council Tax Support is in payment. It also involves identifying domestic properties not previously subject to Council Tax. As a result of this work, in 2023/24 the total sum of £258,417 was identified as being wrongly claimed or not charged. These sums were recharged to the tax payers. In addition, penalties (of £70) were imposed on residents who failed to provide information or who had provided false information. The total amount of penalties imposed in 2023/24 was £2,310.
In 2023/24 19 properties that had not been registered for Council Tax were identified and Council Tax demands issued.
In 2023/24 37 cases of fraudulent Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claim were identified and reported to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Proactive work is also carried out to identify non-domestic properties not registered for Business Rates, those that do not report changes to their premises, and those that falsely claim Small Business Rate Relief. In 2023/24 this work resulted in £61,773 being billed or rebilled to the business owners.
Information Title: Waste Contracts
Information which must be published:
One-off publication
Local authorities must publish details of their existing waste collection contracts, in line with the details contained in paragraphs 32 of the Code, at the point they first publish quarterly contract information under Part 2 of this Code.
Rochford District Council Data:
Details of Rochford District Council’s Waste Contract is published within the Council’s Contracts Register and Contracts Finder on gov.uk