Policies and Procedures

Risk Register (March 2026)

RISK REGISTER
Area	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Controls	Review Required
1. Corporate Governance Risks
Council Decisions	Decisions legally challenged	Low	High	Standing Orders followed, agendas published, minutes approved	Annual
Councillor Conduct	Breach of Code of Conduct	Low	Medium	Register of Interests maintained, Code adopted	Annual
Policies	Out-of-date policies	Medium	Medium	Policy review schedule	Annual
Transparency	Failure to meet publication requirements	Low	High	Website maintained and updated	Annual
Meetings	Meetings improperly called	Low	High	Proper notice and agendas issued by Clerk	Annual
2. Financial Management Risks
Precept	Incorrect precept calculation	Low	High	Budget prepared and approved by Council	Annual
Budget Control	Overspending	Medium	Medium	Quarterly financial reports	Quarterly
Banking	Loss of funds	Low	High	Dual authorisation, bank reconciliation monthly	Monthly
Payments	Incorrect or unauthorised payments	Low	High	Payment approval by Council	Monthly
Receipts	Loss of income	Low	Medium	Receipts recorded and banked promptly	Ongoing
VAT	Incorrect VAT claims	Low	Medium	VAT reclaim reviewed	Annual
Internal Audit	Failure to comply with audit requirements	Low	High	Annual internal audit appointment	Annual
External Audit	AGAR errors	Low	High	AGAR reviewed by Council	Annual
3. Clerk and Administration Risks
Clerk/RFO	Loss of Clerk	Medium	Medium	Documented procedures	Annual
Records	Loss of records	Low	High	Electronic backups	Annual
Correspondence	Important communications missed	Medium	Medium	Official council email used	Ongoing
Training	Clerk insufficiently trained	Low	Medium	Training budget provided	Annual
4. Legal and Regulatory Risks
Legislation	Failure to comply with law	Low	High	Clerk guidance and training	Annual
Contracts	Poor contractor performance	Medium	Medium	Written contracts and insurance required	Ongoing
Employment	Employment law breach	Low	High	Model contracts used	Annual
FOI Requests	Failure to respond	Low	Medium	FOI procedure in place	Ongoing
5. Assets and Property Risks
Asset Register	Incomplete register	Low	Medium	Updated annually	Annual
Damage	Damage or theft of assets	Medium	Medium	Insurance cover	Annual
Play Areas	Unsafe equipment	Medium	High	Routine inspections	Weekly/Monthly
Street Furniture	Unsafe benches/signage	Medium	Medium	Periodic inspections	Quarterly
Buildings	Structural damage	Low	High	Maintenance programme	Annual
6. Health and Safety Risks
Public Safety	Injury on council land	Medium	High	Risk assessments	Annual
Contractors	Unsafe working practices	Medium	High	Insurance and RAMS required	Ongoing
Events	Injury during events	Medium	Medium	Event risk assessments	Per Event
7. Insurance Risks
Insurance Cover	Under-insurance	Low	High	Annual review of policy	Annual
Liability	Public liability claim	Medium	High	Insurance in place	Annual
Fidelity Guarantee	Fraud loss not covered	Low	High	Fidelity cover maintained	Annual
8. Information Technology & Data Protection Risks
GDPR	Data breach	Medium	High	Secure storage and passwords	Annual
Email	Email hacking	Medium	High	Strong passwords	Annual
Data Storage	Loss of electronic records	Medium	Medium	Backup procedures	Annual
Website	Loss of information	Low	Medium	Hosting provider backups	Annual
9. Emergency and Environmental Risks
Flooding	Flood damage to assets	Medium	High	Insurance cover	Annual
Severe Weather	Storm damage	Medium	Medium	Inspections after storms	Ongoing
Emergency Planning	Lack of emergency plan	Medium	Medium	Emergency contacts list	Annual