Saltford Parish Council acts according to its ‘Financial Regulations’ to ensure that it is managing its income and spend according to set procedures at all times. SPC’s Financial Regulations are reviewed annually. Saltford Parish Council continues to strive to provide the best value for money for all of the Saltford community.
Parish councils primarily raise money from people in the parish by levying a parish precept which is collected as part of your property rates (B&NES council tax).
For information about how Saltford Parish Council spends its precept, proposed and agreed spend is included under ‘financial matters’ in SPC’s agendas and minutes. The schedule of expenditure and monthly financial report are published alongside the agenda, to be approved at the meeting. Published minutes include copies of monthly financial report and schedules of expenditure.
Precept
Precept
Saltford Parish Council spends its precept to provide services which it judges to be necessary or of importance to the community, as well as meeting running costs and costs associated with its assets and responsibilities.
Further to accommodating general increases in costs (inflation etc) the majority of SPC’s budget lines remain similar to 2025/2026. However Saltford Parish Council (SPC) is increasing its precept for 2026/27 more than in previous years. This is due to three main factors, as summarised in our ‘SPC sets its precept for 2026/27’ article and as detailed below.
Considerations when setting the precept for 2026/27
- New charges from B&NES Council for elections
A key consideration for 2026/27 is the introduction of charges for Saltford Parish Council by-elections and scheduled elections. Until now, Saltford Parish Council did not have to cover these costs.
From 2026/27, B&NES Council will charge all Parish and Town Councils in the area for the costs of running elections. This new policy is expected to have a significant impact on the precepts of all 50+ Parish and Town Councils in the B&NES area, including SPC.
These costs are not avoidable and are directly attributed to the change in B&NES Council’s policy regarding responsibility for Parish council scheduled and by-elections.
B&NES Council has given SPC the following quotes:
- ~ Scheduled elections from May 2027 will cost SPC £4,700
- ~ Any by-elections from April 2026 will cost £6,600 each
As such, SPC has looked to accommodate this future spend when setting its precept.
For 2026/27, SPC has allocated £6,600 to cover the costs of any by-election and/or Parish Poll, as held in an earmarked reserve.
SPC has also allocated £2,350 to a new scheduled elections earmarked reserve for 2026/27 (to be added to in the same amount again in 2027/27 in time for the May 2027 elections – to then be rebuilt at c.£1,175pa over four years until the next set of scheduled elections, and so forth).
This will ensure that SPC has the capacity to accommodate the quoted cost of scheduled elections come the next elections in 2027, and a byelection (should one be called) in 2026/27.
2. Essential maintenance at St Mary’s Churchyard
SPC is legally responsible for maintaining the closed churchyard in Saltford including the boundary walls at St Mary’s Church.
- ~ In 2025/26, an unexpected partial wall collapse cost SPC £1750. Further wall works near the location of the partial wall collapse have since been identified as requiring priority maintenance, which the Council has resolved an estimated spend of just over £7,000 for works to take place prior to the end of the 2025/26 financial year (Item 13, September 2025). These unanticipated emergency works meant that SPC has had to use part of its general reserves in 2025/26 to accommodate spend. SPC had budgeted £2,500 for all Churchyard Special Maintenance Projects in 2025/26 (including tree survey, tree works, wall survey etc). SPC posts its Monthly Financial Report on its website and noticeboard with agenda information, and a copy of the MFR is included in each set of minutes. At the time of writing, the MFR shows that SPC had spent £2,250. With an estimated £7000 (wall works) plus estimated £500+VAT for tree works (also resolved Sept 2025, Item 13), should works be achieved by the end of the financial year SPC will likely to have spent c.£9,750 on Churchyard Special Maintenance Projects in 2025/26 (c.£7,250 over its £2,500 budget due to the unexpected emergency works required).
- ~ The emergency wall works in 2025/26 and the 2025 wall survey identified that SPC should allocate increased funds to its ‘Churchyard Special Maintenance Projects’ budget going forward. Further maintenance has been identified as required in 2026/27 and also in future years to ensure safety maintenance of the Churchyard walls. As such, SPC’s budget for Special Churchyard Maintenance projects for 2026/27 has been increased from £2,500 to £6,000 to realistically reflect anticipated maintenance requirements (further to those above).
- ~ SPC also has an earmarked reserve, building up by £2,000, for ‘Churchyard Projects’ spend. The Council took the view that the creation of a new earmarked fund for the current financial year (25/26) would help mitigate against needing to use general reserves as in 2022 (three years to build back to recommended levels of reserves following spend) should urgent significant wall or tree works be required. A further £2,000 has been added to this earmarked reserve in 2026/27, totalling £4,000 (to be capped at £10,000, open to review pending completion of other maintenance works). This will mitigate the risk of drawing down general reserves for high churchyard costs, and the potential for subsequent larger precept increases in the future should SPC need to carry out major maintenance works at the Churchyard.
3. Green Belt defence
As resolved at SPC’s December meeting (Item 12), The Council discussed and resolved to introduce a new budget line for ‘Green Belt defence’ in the 2026/27 budget, and further resolved to allocate £5,000 from the 2026/27 precept demand to accommodate this budget line. This would mean a c. £3 per household increase to an average Band D property in Saltford per annum.
It was resolved that the ‘Green Belt defence’ budget line would be used for professional, legal, training and any other related costs required to enable SPC’s work in defending Saltford’s Green Belt from development in the context of the Local Plan and/or from speculative planning applications.
It was noted that following the decision to introduce a ‘Green Belt defence’ £5,000 budget line for 2026/27, that any expenditure from the budget line would be an item(s) to resolve on future agenda(s). Members of the public, as always, are welcome to address the Council prior to spend being resolved.
More information about SPC’s efforts to protect its Green Belt, including SPC’s responses to the recent B&NES Council Local Plan Options consultations, can be found on our regularly updated ‘Protecting Saltford’s Green Belt‘ page.
Precept set for 2026/27
At its January 2026 meeting, SPC formally agreed its budget for the 2026/27 year. It was resolved that SPC would increase its precept by 25% in 2026/27 (compared to an increase of 5.5% in 25/26, and 13.7% in 24/25), from £59,417 in 2025/26 to £74,271 in 26/27.
This decision reflected SPC’s position as a fiscally responsible Council, with the change to the precept allowing the Council to meet its costs whilst establishing earmarked reserves for new elections and byelections costs as charged by B&NES Council, substantially increase its ‘Special Churchyard Special Maintenance’ budget and add to its ‘Churchyard Projects’ earmarked reserve’ in line with its legal responsibilities, and introduce a budget line for ‘Green Belt defence’.
In consideration of the factors listed above and so as not to incur an even higher precept rise, SPC resolved a precept increase which did not reach SPC’s financial recommendations in-year, but would be projected to move towards an appropriate level over a timescale greater than one and less than two (e.g. SPC’s recommended reserves should reach recommended levels in 2027/28).
All but three of SPC’s expenditure budget lines did not see any increases 2026/27 compared to the current 2025/26 financial year. An increase of £1,000 was added to ‘General Administration’ (to accommodate spend enacted mid-year in 2025/26 resolved under Items 14 & 15 Sept 2025), and £2,000 to ‘Staffing’ (increased in line with inflation to cover annual national pay scale increases – these are TBC for 26/27, though these have not been above inflation in recent years). As above, the ‘Special Churchyard Maintenance Projects’ line was also increased. The only expenditure budget line reduced for 2026/27 was ‘Environment’ (including for grants to external community groups) reduced by £250 due to lack of demand on this specific line in recent years (to add, other grant and budget lines are available for Environmental initiatives, if required). Budget Year End positions can be viewed on SPC’s Monthly Financial Reports, as published alongside each agenda and recorded in each set of Full Council minutes.
Following receipt of Saltford’s tax base from B&NES Council, an average Band D property (Band D is used as the national comparison) in Saltford will pay £40.20 which is an increase of £7.76 per year or an increase of c.65p per month. (Last year, the average Band D property paid £32.44, which was an increase of £1.75 per year, or an increase of c.15p per month. In 2024/25, the average Band D property paid £30.69 p.a., which was a £3.61 per year increase or c.30p per calendar month). Although SPC has agreed an increase of its precept of 25%, as the Tax Base for Saltford has increased for 2026/27, please note on the Council Tax letter to be received by residents it will translate to an increase of 23.9% for each household.
How does Saltford’s precept compare in B&NES and nationally?
Town and parish councils across Bath and North East Somerset set their budgets independently. The figures for both B&NES and nationally will not be published until spring 2026, when SPC will look to update the following information for 2026/27.
For reference, 2025/26 the charges ranged from £0 to £188.04. Please find information in B&NES Council’s Budget report – supplementary appendix 13 – Council Tax setting Agenda Supplement for Council 25/26).
In late March 2025 The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published information on council tax levels set by councils in England for the financial year 2025/26. From a national perspective, the average Band D precept charged by Town and Parish Councils was £92.22, an increase of £6.32 or 7.4% in 2025/26. Parish precepts in 2025/26 total £859 million, which is £76 million higher than in 2024/25 and 1.9% of overall council tax.
The average parish precept for a Band D property in the B&NES Council area for 2025/26 was £59.11. This is an increase of 8.78%, up from £54.34 in 2024/25. Saltford’s precept for an average Band D property in 2025/26 was £32.44 (an increase of 5.5% – which translates to 5.7% due to Tax Base changes – up from £30.69 in 2025/26).
Saltford Parish Council consistently levies one of the lowest precepts in the B&NES Council area. In Bath and North East Somerset there are 44 parish councils, 3 town councils, 3 parish meetings and one village council. Saltford PC understands that Saltford has the sixth largest tax base out of all the parished areas (excluding Bath). In 2025/26, SPC levied the seventh lowest precept for an average Band D property of the 51 precepted areas in B&NES.
How SPC spends the precept
SPC aims to share information about its precept on its social media, SPC’s SCAN page, as well as on its noticeboard. Spend throughout the year is resolved at meetings, which members of the public are welcome to attend and speak on any agenda item. SPC is transparent with all its spend and follows its ‘Financial Regulations’ to ensure that it is managing its income and spend according to set procedures at all times. For information about how SPC spends its income including the precept, financial matters are recorded in SPC’s full council minutes.
Monthly financial reports and schedules of expenditure are publicised at least three clear days before a full council meeting on SPC’s website and noticeboard. Full council minutes subsequently include monthly financial reports and schedules of expenditure (to view these please scroll to the end of each set of minutes).
Residents can have their say about SPC’s precept during Full Council meetings under the ‘Public Time’ item when the precept is being discussed and resolved. SPC’s precept is usually on SPC’s January agenda (though on occasion has been on the December agenda). To view SPC’s agendas please see our ‘Meetings – Agendas and Minutes‘ page and noticeboard. SPC also signposts to agendas via its social media channels.
Saltford Parish Council’s annual accounting statements and audit information can be found below under ‘Audit’.
The overall amount of Council Tax residents pay via B&NES Council is based on the valuation band of your property and any discounts or exemptions you may be entitled to. For more information about Council Tax, please view B&NES Council’s website. Their ‘What is Council Tax‘ page explains how property bandings are calculated.
As a Parish Council, SPC’s accounts must be published, audited and open to public inspection. Each spring an internal audit takes place (carried out by an external company) and the Internal Audit Certificate is signed off for the year’s AGAR (Annual Governance and Accountability Return) known as the external audit. Saltford Parish Council’s annual accounting statements and audit information can be found below.
Annual accounting statements and audit information
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a planning charge, payable on new developments, such as housing, supermarkets and hotels. The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) was introduced by the Planning Act 2008 as a tool for local authorities in England and Wales to help deliver infrastructure to support the development of their area. The charge is administered by B&NES Council, and Saltford Parish Council receives a set proportion.
CIL receipts received by Saltford Parish Council are used to serve residents. SPC Councillors resolved to spend income from CIL for ‘enhancing Saltford’s community facilities, amenities, and infrastructure’.
To see how CIL receipts have been spent please view the Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) reports below.
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2024/25
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2023/24
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2022/23
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2021/22
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2020/21
Annual Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Report 2019/20
Saltford Parish Council sets aside a small amount of money each year for financial assistance grants that local groups can apply for to support an initiative or development that would benefit the residents of Saltford.
How much does SPC have for grants?
In 2025/26, £1000 has been allocated to Saltford PC’s annual grants budget for ‘miscellaneous’ applications. A further £250 of grant funding is available for grant applications for local environmental initiatives, and a further £500 has been budgeted towards grants for Community Events. A separate £500 has been allocated (on application, and to be resolved) from SPC’s budget to support the costs of Saltford Community Associations ‘SCAN’ newsletter. SPC can also look to spend funds from its annual CIL budget (see above).
SPC will allocate a proposed budget line (e.g. ‘Grants’, ‘Grants – Environment’, or ‘CIL’) when the application is to be discussed. Applicants do not need to state this on their application form.
SPC receives several applications annually, and applications can be made throughout the financial year. As standard with any spend, decisions made by the Council will be in consideration of its budget lines.
How to apply for SPC grant funding
Any application to SPC for a grant must be in line with the Council’s grants policy or else it cannot be considered by the Council.
Applicants are strongly advised to read SPC’s Grant Application Guide and Policy to find out more about criteria, conditions and the application process prior to submitting an application.
If eligible, please complete a Grant Application Form and send it to the Parish Clerk along with the supporting documentation mentioned in the guide and policy.
Receipt of your application form will be acknowledged, and you will be informed of the date of the meeting that the application will be discussed at.
SPC welcome applicants to meetings to speak during ‘Public Time’ in support of their application (three minutes, please see SPC’s Public Engagement Guidelines on the ‘Meetings – Agendas and Minutes’ page), and if required to answer any questions the Council may have prior to resolving a decision. For more information about SPC meetings, please view SPC’s ‘Meetings – Agendas and Minutes‘ page.