Penrith Town Council has made sudden unexplained changes to
its banking arrangements in another private meeting that excluded press and
public, just months after voting to open a new second HSBC business account.
At the council’s Annual Meeting in May, members gave formal
approval to open the new account, to be called PTC Business. The decision was
signed off by the Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk, and handed to council officers
to complete the process with HSBC and manage the account. A £20,000 daily
payment limit was set to mirror the town council’s existing account.
But in a sudden unexplained reversal, councillors on the
Finance Committee have now overruled the decision taken by the full council in
may and scrapped the plan for the second account and implemented a sweeping
overhaul branded Banking Security and Operations.
The shake-up of the town councils banking and financial arrangements
has seen the unnamed Primary User on the councils existing HSBC Bank account, understood to be an external third party. Removed and replaced by the Town Clerk, with no
public explanation for the sudden move made in a private meeting of the finance committee excluding the press and public. The finance committee also implemented
changes that will see from the end of September, all invoice payments made by
the town council now be processed directly in-house by council officers, ending
the long-standing use of an external provider.
The committee also confirmed that further changes to the
council’s Financial Regulations and Internal Control Framework will be brought
forward in December.
What has raised eyebrows is that, despite outside providers
apparently being used to handle payments for several years, no named supplier
appears in the council’s official records with no record of payments made by
the council for this service.
With no explanation for the sudden U-turn, and decisions by
the council again taken behind closed doors, questions are mounting over why
the council has abandoned its own plans and pushed through sweeping changes
under a cloud of secrecy regarding public money.
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
