Data Transparency

The Council is subject to the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (the Code) introduced by The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 S39. The majority of the information required under the Code is already shown on the Council’s website in the appropriate sections. This page deals with any remaining ad hoc items that are not shown elsewhere on the website.

By accessing this information you are agreeing to the terms and conditions set out in the Open Government Licence. Please read the licence for the full terms and conditions.

Selling to the Council

Castle Point has a robust policy on Procurement. We list information on all Current Tenders and Contracts held with the Council on this website. Castle Point Borough Council are also members of the Essex Procurement Hub.

Payments to Suppliers

The reports list the financial Payments over £500 where the charge is greater than or equal to £500. These payments include those made by the Council where it acts as accountable body for the Association of South Essex Local Authorities (ASELA) and which are paid out from ASELA’s funds rather than the Council’s funds. The Council pays an annual contribution of £60,000 via internal transfer to ASELA and provision for this is made within the Council’s budget.

Payments of Invoices

Castle Point Borough Council publishes on an annual basis, the following information under regulation 113 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Percentage of invoices and interest paid by year
Financial year	Proportion of valid & undisputed invoices paid within 30 days in accordance with regulation 113	The amount of interest paid to suppliers due to a breach of the requirement in regulation 113	The total interest that the authority would have been liable to pay
2018/2019	98.85%	£ Nil	£ 1,871
2017/2018	97.74%	£ Nil	£ 2,109
2016/2017	97.29%	£ Nil	£ 3,636
2015/2016	97.69%	£ Nil	£ Nil

Council Pay

Donations to voluntary bodies

Trade Union Facility Time

Facility time is time off from an individual's job, granted by the employer, to enable an officer to carry out their role as representative of one or more trade unions.

The Council recognises the GMB and UNISON for the purpose of collective bargaining. Some officers of Castle Point Borough Council are members of these two unions.

During 2023/24 2 officers served as union representatives on behalf of union members. Officers do not have a set amount of their time deemed to be “facility time”. Instead the Council has a “facilities agreement” wherein it is prepared to allow reasonable paid time off for local Union representatives to undertake their Union duties and attend appropriate training.

Parking Account

Fraud

Please note: The Department for Work and Pensions is now responsible for investigating all housing benefit fraud. You can report benefit fraud online, or call their hotline on 0800 854 440 (textphone 0800 320 0512).

Castle Point Borough Council has its own Compliance Team, part of their remit is to issue reviews and verify all aspects of its benefit awards to ensure that entitlement is only awarded for genuine claims that have been properly checked and validated. Customers entitlement to benefit, Council Tax Discounts and exemptions and the circumstances declared on their claim will continue to be reviewed regularly.

The Compliance Policy is implemented by:

carrying out an on-going programme of claim reviews and some residency checks to ensure claimants are living at the property where they are claiming benefit
investigating referrals from our benefit assessment team or other bodies where there appears to be irregularities in information provided
reviewing cases where there could be contrived tenancies that have been created to take advantage of the benefits system
having a close liaison with other organisations such as The Benefits Agency to detect multiple frauds

The following performance statistics relate to our Fraud Team prior to transfer to the Single Fraud Investigation Service at the end of August 2015.

Total number of employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions work = 3
Total number of professionally accredited counter fraud specialists = 3 Number of cases investigated = 155 (49 of which were transferred to Single Fraud Investigation Service)
Total amount spend by the authority on the investigation and prosecution of fraud and other associated activities £44,800.

How to report a Fraud

If you suspect some-one of benefit fraud you can:

Complete this form
When reporting an allegation of fraud we need:
to know the persons name and address
a description of their appearance
vehicle registration numbers
to know the nature of the fraud and how long it has been going on.

When an allegation of fraud is received we make initial checks and review the benefit claim taking into account the information provided if we have enough evidence we will send the information to the Department for Work and Pensions for investigation.

Being found guilty of fraud is a criminal offence and every fraud committed results in a loss from the public purse

Report a suspected fraud online
Use our online form to report suspected benefit fraud.

Reporting Tax Evasion
Link to the Government's website providing information on how to report tax evasion.

Land and Property Assets

As part of the Communities & Local Government published Code of Practice on Data Transparency, the Council is required to make details about its land and building assets publicly available.

The Council is pleased to publish The Essex Property Asset Map which not only provides information about Castle Point Council’s assets, but information on other public sector and government owned land and property assets across Essex.

Please use the map to search for assets and obtain additional information about those. This information is provided by the Essex Property Partnership Board, a partnership of public sector bodies who came together to improve collaboration and strategic links whilst also making efficiency savings and improving services through better and more collaborative use, management and development of property.

In addition to this map, there is a list of Council assets used in the 2021/22 asset valuation exercise by the Council’s external valuers.

Data Transparency

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