Parish council policies and documents

Every policy in its place

Standing orders, financial regulations, the code of conduct, privacy notices, risk assessments and the annual governance and accountability return all need to be easy for residents to find and easy for you to keep current. Our document library keeps every one of them a click away, published in the same accessible format as the rest of your site.

Policies change more often than most councils expect, whether that is an annual review, a change in legislation or a new model policy from your representative body. Replacing an out of date version takes minutes, not a rebuild of the page, so your website never falls behind what your council has actually agreed.

Which policies and documents to publish

Most councils publish a core set of documents: standing orders, financial regulations, the code of conduct, the complaints procedure, privacy notices and the freedom of information publication scheme, alongside risk assessments, insurance details and the annual governance and accountability return. Many of these are on the Transparency Code list of information that smaller authorities should publish, so it helps to see them in one place on your site. Whatever your council has adopted, residents should be able to find the current version without having to ask the clerk. Our guide to what a parish council website must publish sets out the full list.

Documents everyone can read

A document is only useful if every resident can open it. Scanned pages and unlabelled PDFs cause real problems for people using screen readers, and for anyone reading on a phone. Publishing your policies as properly structured, accessible documents helps your council meet the public sector accessibility regulations as well as the needs of your residents. You can read more about accessibility statements and the regulations, or our plain-English guide to understanding WCAG 2.2.