We have to publish certain information under the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.
You can re-use this information (excluding any logos) under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
Constitution
We share information on our constitution.
Our constitution shows;
- how we operate,
- how we make decisions
- the procedures we follow to make sure our decisions are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people
Fraud
The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for investigating benefit fraud.
As part of the National Fraud Initiative, we share information on our investigation of non-benefit fraud such as council tax and non-domestic rates.
We share details of fraud investigations and prosecutions. Our figures show the number of fraud cases we investigated.
In 2018/19 we;
- employed one Fraud Officer (0.97, full time equvalent)
- employed two professionally accredited countet fraud specialists. Our Fraud Officer and our Audit, Insurance and Fraud Manager are accredited counter fraud specialists
- spent £50,306.40 on the investigation and prosecution of fraud
Grants
We offer grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
We publish information about the grants we have awarded:
- Health and wellbeing grants 2017-18
- Health and wellbeing grants 2018-19
- Grants awarded by retired Councillors
- Grants awarded by current Councillors
To find a grant, look for the Councillor who awarded the grant and then select their entry from the list.
Organisation information
We publish our structure chart in April and September.
Our structure chart covers staff in the top three levels of the organisation and includes:
- job grade
- job title
- service, department, and team
- responsibility
- if the role is permanent or temporary
- if the role is full or part-time
- number of direct reports
- salary in £5,000 steps including salary ceiling
We share information on the roles and responsibilities of our Corporate Management team.
We share our Budget Book. Our Budget Book has details of the budget for each service area.
We share information about current vacant posts.
We provide details of our gender pay gap.
Parking Account
We share the parking accounts.
The parking accounts provide a breakdown of income and expenditure on our parking service.
Parking Spaces
We provide details of the number of off-street and on street parking spaces.
We provide details of the spaces available in the local authority area and details of any charges that apply for Braintree and Witham car parks.
We share information on the 10p parking scheme.
Pay multiple
The pay multiple is the ratio between the highest-paid taxable earnings and the median earnings figure for our workforce.
Year 1 April 2020 - 31.3.21 our pay multiple was 5.17:1
Procurement Information
We don’t publish information about:
- a Government procurement card, as we do not own one,
- waste collections, as these are dealt with in house.
We share the rest of our information on the Current Tenders and contracts register.
Spending over £250
We publish monthly reports of payments we made to suppliers over £250.
Social housings asset value
We transferred our housing stock to Greenfields Community Housing Association in 2007. Now known as Eastlight Community Homes.
We closed our Housing Revenue Account on 31 March 2012.
Trade Union Facility Time
As we are a public sector organisation we have to report on our trade union facility time.
Total number of representatives
The absolute number and full time equivalent staff who are union representatives (including general learning and health and safety representatives);
- absolute total number; 4 GMB representatives and 6 Unison representatives (one vacancy)
- full time equivalent; 10
- all GMB representatives are representatives and safety representatives
Total Number of union representatives devoting 50% of their time
The absolute number and full time equivalent of union representatives who devote at least 50% of their time to union duties;
- Absolute Total Number - 0
- FTE – 0
Names of all trade unions represented in the local authority
- GMB
- Unison
A basic estimate of spending on unions
We calculate this as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary.
Our basic estimate is nil as much is done in the representatives’ own time
A basic estimate of spending on unions as a percentage of the total pay bill
We calculate this as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties multiplied by the average salary and divided by the total pay bill.
Nil
Local Authority Land
We share the details of our land and building assets.