Payment cards for parish and town councils

A common myth is that local councils cannot use or hold payment cards. As well as being categorically not the case, the lack of such a card can cause more problems than it solves.

Obviously all councils want to protect public funds from unauthorised use, but the lack of a council controlled card can actually have the opposite effect, where individual councillors or clerks go out and purchase equipment off their own back for the council on their own card and claim it back, or at least attempt to.

The Practitioners' Guide (the rules for audit and finance) say - "If held, corporate credit card accounts need to have defined limits and be cleared monthly by direct debit from the main bank account. Credit card balances are not acceptable reconciling items for bank reconciliation purposes". (PG 1.15.4). This makes it clear they are perfectly acceptable as long as safeguards are put in place. The council could then pass policy that no expenditure on personal cards will be reimbursed, making the situation black and white.

More and more suppliers are moving to electronic payment systems, LRALC included, and although we would not exclude those who choose to remain with current systems, we will be encouraging councils to consider making the change at the very least.