Where did the money go last year?

Follow me @LindaDerrick1

Facebook Linda Derrick for Ridgeway East

6 October 2024

I’ve been trying for months, on and off, to try and account for HPC’s spending in 2023/4. This is my best, and definitely last, attempt. 

According to HPC’s Accounting Statement, the Council spent £384,043 in 2023/4.  The Accounting Statement is required by law and went to the external auditor in June.  It is on HPC’s website at agar-2023-24.pdf (hughenden-pc.gov.uk). 

£384k is a lot more than HPC spent the year before (£236k) or the year before that (£221.5k) or indeed more than HPC has ever spent, as far as I am aware.

You will also be able to see on the website that HPC carried over £453k in March 2024 - £12k up on March 2023.

This is all the information you, the taxpayer, can find online about how HPC spent your taxes in 2023/4. 

The Council is required to put a list of all the payments it has approved in its minutes.  However, the Council failed to do this during 2023/4.

Council is also required to monitor its budget against actual spend and income regularly during the year.  However, Council got its first monitoring report in November 2023 and its second, and last, in January 2024.

These monitoring reports are not on HPC’s website; residents have to ask for them.

But you are not missing much; Council was told that both reports were unreliable.  

Council has never had an end- of- year report.  And, as you might have guessed, it has never had an end-of- year review of its budget. 

So, all I can tell you, based on the January 2024 report, is that Council had by then apparently spent £276k.  Of this, £99k was on direct costs, £142k on administration, HR and governance, and £35K on special projects.

I was mystified as to how Council had spent £384k last year.    

So, quite separately, I made a list of all the payments made from HPC's bank account from 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024. My list of payments (excluding those under £100) is below. 

In addition, HPC paid £44,154 in salaries, £4324 to Buckinghamshire Pension Fund and £2071 on loan repayments. 

The total is £247k, substantially short of the £384k.   More than £100k short.  

I’m sure I have missed some payments and made errors.  My apologies for these. But I find it worrying that I can’t account for a substantial part of HPC’s spend.

I find it more worrying when the locum Clerk continues to refuse to provide me with copies of invoices, when I continue to have no idea who is authorising payments, when tenders for £130k have been issued without Council’s prior knowledge - and the internal auditor has resigned.

And worrying that the locum Clerk is now strongly advocating that HPC builds an extension to the Council Offices – you tell me how much that would cost.

But more of that anon.

LIST OF PAYMENTS IN 2023/4

                                                          £

Contractors

Spruced Up                                        48,839

LGRC                                               33,622

Azets                                                  9,346

Tree Top Arborists                             7,590

TBS Hygenie                                     6,879

Secure Desk                                       6,458

Reed Specialists                                 4,718

Breakthrough Communications          2,214

AJ McKwan Forestry                         1,995

Aubergine Ltd                                    1,197

Chiltern Rangers                                1,404

Yorkshire Cleaning                            817

SR Farm Services                              775

Veolia                                                666

Sparkx                                               616

Shred on Site                                      232

ARD Playgrounds                              222

UK Safety Management                     219

                                                          127,809     

Consultants

Mike Deegan Ltd                               5,436

Hoey Ainscough Ltd                          980   

SlCC Enterprises                                416

                                                          6,832 

Grants

Hughenden Valley Village Hal           9,600

Great Kingshill Cricket Club              1,250

Widmer End Residents Association    1,008

Grange Area Trust                             500

Bryants Bottom CT                            420

Hughenden Valley Shop                      350

North Dean Village Hall                     135

                                                          13,263

Auditors

PKF Littlejohn                                   756

IAC Audit                                          474

                                                          1,230

Advice

BP Collins                                         2,590

                                                          2,590

Other

Proludic                                             19,355

Hughenden Com Support Trust          9,750

MiddlePeak Engineer                         3,179

Clear Insurance                                  2,509

Greenbarnes Ltd                                 965

Edison Electrical                                840

SSE                                                   741

Eazy Plumb                                       723   

Viking Office UK                               702

K Hepburn                                         600

Sustainable Furniture                         500

Country Supplies                               453

Clarity Copiers                                  426

Gommes Forge                                  410

NALC                                               360

Wycombe recycling                            338

Amersham Town Council                   319

Shaw and Sons Ltd                             307

SLCC                                                296

SSE Energy Solutions                        268

AK Hobson  Ltd                                 240

BALC                                                210

Chesham Town Council                     210

Parish Online                                     188

LERC Online                                     180

Metrosigns 2000                                175

Brunel Engraving                               165

Matrix Fire and Security                     162

Institute of Cemetery and Cremation   150

                                                          44,721

Total                                                 196,445