2026 Minutes (Finance, Policy and Personnel Committee)

The minutes of the Finance, Policy and Personnel Committee meeting held in the meeting room at the Institute 38 Church Street Deeping St James PE6 8HD at 8.00pm on Tuesday 13 October 2026. 

Present: Councillors Bowell, Gilbert, Hosking, Neville, Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens.

27.34 To receive apologies of absence.
Apologies were received and accepted from Councillors Halls and Rose 
Councillor Nickerson’s resignation on 01 October 2026 was noted. 

27.35 To receive any declarations of interest.
None declared. 

27.36 To adopt the minutes of the previous meetings held on Tuesday 11 August 2026 and Thursday 10 September 2026.   
Agreed and signed. 

27.37 To receive the Clerk’s report.
- The interim internal audit meeting took place virtually with the LALC Internal Auditor on Monday 12 October 2026 from which several tasks have been generated  for the Clerk to complete.  
- A chainsaw training course in Peterborough has been sourced at a cost of £500 and maintenance worker 3 will be attending on Tuesday 03 November 2026 
- Manual handling and working from heights online courses have been sourced at a cost of £60 per delegate and the Clerk will arrange for these to be completed by all three of the Parish Council’s maintenance team 
- The Clerk has booked to attend the following training – 
The Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC) Clerks networking Day/SLCC AGM at Bracebridge Heath on Thursday 19 November 2026; 
Employment Law webinar being offered by Keeping HR Simple on Wednesday 21 October 2026; 
The National Planning Policy Framework – what local councils need to know offered by LALC on Wednesday 21 October 2026; 
The role of the Council as an employer offered by LALC to be held virtually Monday 16 November 2026;
Understanding the digital annual governance and accounting return offered by LALC to be held virtually on04 March 2027; 
- Communication continues with the Asset Manager at SKDC, their legal team and the Parish Councils Solicitors to finalise the transfer of Millennium Wood and the land at St Vincent’s Close. 
- Communication continues with Lincolnshire County Council Legal Services and the Parish Council’s Solicitor regarding the correction of the plan attached to the playing fields lease document 
- A further meeting has been called by the Lincolnshire Football Foundation Ltd which representatives from the Football Foundation, DSJPC, SKDC, LCC, the Deepings School and Deeping United Football Club have been invited . It will be held on 15 October 2026 at onsite at the artificial grass pitch on the playing fields off Spalding Road and then in a meeting room at the Deepings School.  Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe and the Parish Clerk who have attended two earlier meeting will attend. 
- Following the resignation of Sue Leader in May 2026 (and Nick Nickerson in October 2026) there have been three members of the public express an interest in knowing more about the role, however none have applied to be co-opted. As an individual cannot be co-opted within 6 months of an election (local elections will take place on Thursday 06 May 2026) it is likely DSJPC will run the rest of this four-year term with an empty seat/s. With this in mind, work towards encouraging individuals to stand as candidates in the May 2027 elections should be considered  – NALC have numerous pieces of campaign literature but DSJPC should give some thought to a local initiative too. 
- The Clerk has switched the e-on electricity account supplying Woody Heights to a fixed tariff for 12 months from 16 November 2026 and will contact British Gas concerning the electricity account for Jubilee Park with a view to doing the same. 
     
27.38 To receive a report of the financial position as at 01 October 2026. 
The Parish Councils bank account balances and reserves breakdown were noted follows: 

27.39 To receive a report on the income and expenditure against budget for the period 1 April 2026 to 03 October 2026. 
The report was shared from which it was noted that two budget headings were overspent - professional fees and defibrillator purchase, however after the Clerk shared a detailed breakdown of the spend against each budget the committee were not concerned.  

27.40 To receive the bank reconciliations for 31 August 2026 and 30 September 2026. 
Councillor Gilbert signed the bank reconciliation dated 31 August 2026. The Clerk advised that the 30 September 2026 had been completed due to her having been on annual leave so it would be present at the next meeting on Tuesday 08 December 2026 along with the reconciliations from 31 October 2026 and 30 November 2026  

27.41 To receive and consider the provisional budget recommendations for 2027/28 from the Allotments, Planning and Transport and Recreation and Open Spaces Committees.
The committee noted these recommendations 

27.42 To consider all non-committee budget headings for 2027/28 in preparation for precept setting.
The Committee considered the current budget headings and discussed any additions that may be required for the financial year 2027/28. Items such as funding for the signal box re-build project, a noticeboard/warning sign on the riverbank, a new website and the repayment of a loan for play equipment (should this be agreed at the Council meeting on Tuesday 20 October 2026). The Clerk advised that she would work with the Payroll Provider to obtain budget figures for the 2027/28 staffing costs.  

27.43 To consider the update to Employment Law regarding sexual harassment at work effective from 30 October 2026. 
This was discussed and it was agreed that a starting point would be to complete a risk assessment prior to agreeing a policy. The Clerk provided examples of two risk assessments and was  asked to share these electronically with the committee so that  comments could be collected and a risk assessment and policy agreed at the next meeting on Tuesday 08 December 2026. 
Councillor Gilbert suggested that safeguarding training would cover not only this issues but also others such as lone working. Councillor Hosking said that she would attend such training and be the named point of contact should staff or Councillors need to raise concerns. The Clerk was asked to source a safeguarding training course and book a place for Councillor Hosking and arrange for signage to be produced advising that safeguarding was taken seriously so abuse would not be tolerated. The signage should include details of who to contact should concerns need to be raised.

It was RESOLVED to move into closed session in accordance with The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 due to the confidential nature of the business to be discussed in relation to the following matters:

27.44 To receive and consider any personnel matters
It was noted that the Clerk had arranged contractual cover for some duties during November and December 2026 whilst one member of staff would be absent. 
It was also noted that the annual staff appraisals were due and it was agreed that Councillors Hosking and Shinkins-Hoppe would complete these for all five members of staff. The Clerk was asked to arrange for these to take place on the afternoon of either or both Monday 9th and Monday 16th November 2026  

It was RESOLVED to move out of closed session.

27.45 To note the date of the next meeting – 8pm Tuesday 08 December 2026