Financial information - guide

1. Expenditure over £500

We publish quarterly reports describing the majority of our spending decisions over £500 for payments made in the previous month.

To protect vulnerable residents, we have decided not to include payments to people who receive direct payments for social care, or payments to people who provide care.

We are voluntarily disclosing this information in the interests of openness and accountability. If you would like more information, you can submit a Freedom of Information request.

These reports are CSV or ODS files. They will open in Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs and are machine-readable.

2. Budget Books

The Budget Book gives details of the budget. It summarises our budgets at departmental and divisional levels, key service aims and the major savings and growth proposals. It illustrates, at divisional level, the financial impact of the budget proposed by Cabinet to Council.

Budget Book 2012-13
Budget Book 2011-12
Budget Book 2010-11
Budget Book 2009-10

Since 2013/14 the Council has not published a separate budget book. Information relating to the setting of the Council’s budget can be found in the Budget Report that is agreed at the February Council meeting.

View budget reports and other decisions made by the Cabinet.

3. Statement of accounts

The statement includes a comprehensive income and expenditure statement, which shows the total value of transactions analysed by service during the year It also includes the balance sheet which provides a snapshot of our overall financial position as at 31 March.

The draft 2018/19 accounts have been updated for the results of the audit work that has been carried out to date as at 31 July 2019 and the accounts have been signed off at Corporate Committee on 25th July by the Chair of Corporate Committee and the Council’s S151 officer. An unqualified audit report and opinion was presented by Mazars to Corporate Committee on 25 July as part of the auditors ISA 260 report. Lambeth is current waiting for the final signed opinion from the auditors which is based on receiving external confirmation to complete their audit work. For this reason the accounts are published as ‘unaudited’ for the time being and will be updated to ‘audited’ once the signed opinion from Mazars is received.

4. Audit reports

Reports from external auditors to Lambeth corporate committee for the last 5 years on their audit of the Council’s statement of accounts, their findings and recommendations.

• Lambeth audit report 2018-2019
• Lambeth audit report 2017-2018
• Lambeth audit report 2016-2017
• Lambeth audit report 2015-2016
• Lambeth audit report 2014-2015

5. Lambeth Pension Fund

Lambeth Pension Fund Annual Reports and policy statements.

• Lambeth Pension Fund Annual Report and Appendices 2015-2016
• Lambeth Pension Fund Annual Report and Appendices 2014-2015
• Lambeth Pension Fund Annual Report and Appendix 2013-2014
• Lambeth Council Governance Compliance Statement 2014
• Lambeth Pensions Administration Communications Policy 2015
• Lambeth Pension Fund Statement of Investment Principles 2017
• Lambeth Pension Fund Funding Strategy Statement 2017
• Lambeth Pension Fund Communication Policy Statement 2016
• Lambeth Pension Fund Actuarial Valuation Report 2016

6. Pay Policy

Section 38(1) of the Localism Act requires local authorities to produce a pay policy statement for 2013-14 and each financial year thereafter. The pay policy statement:

• must be approved formally by the council meeting itself
• must be approved by the end of March each year (starting from 2012)
• can be amended in-year.

7. Social housing asset value

This data shows details of the value of social housing assets within the Councils Housing Revenue Account using specified value bands and postal sectors. It includes:

• total number of homes
• the aggregate value and mean value of the dwellings for both existing use value (social housing) and market value
• percentage of homes that are vacant

The publication of this information is not intended to suggest that tenancies should end to realise the market value of properties.

The data includes both Market Values and Existing Use Values - Social Housing (EUV-SH). Existing Use Value-Social Housing is the valuation basis used for inclusion in Financial Statements for housing stock held for social housing.

The Existing Use Value can be obtained by taking the cost of buying a vacant dwelling of a similar type, and applying an adjustment factor of 25% to reflect that the property is used as social housing.

8. How your council tax is spent

The GLA portion of your council tax bill

As well as collecting council tax to fund their own spending, London councils are required to collect council tax on behalf of the Greater London Authority (a preceptor). You can read about its spending plans below.

Levying bodies

Lambeth council is also required to pay contributions to the budgets of other organisations, collectively known as ‘levying bodies’. Each of them has provided information about its levy in the documents below.

9. Parking information and accounts

Parking information and accounts cover the financial year, and the parking places information is as at 31 March. Full details of the Parking Account are included in the notes to the Statement of Accounts.

11. Government procurement card expenditure

The Government Procurement Card is a Master card purchasing card. It is the preferred method of purchasing and payment for low value goods or services. The use of this card is not intended to replace the current purchasing and payment systems, but to complement purchase order systems in accordance with the Lambeth procurement process.

Published below are the details of every transaction on a Government Procurement Card.

12. Prompt payment of invoices

Percentage of supplier invoices paid within 30 days.

• Financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17