Community infrastructure levy (CIL)

What do parish councils get?

The neighbourhood fund

When the borough council receives CIL payments from development in their parish:

• 15 per cent goes to parish councils with a responsible financial officer (subject to a cap of £100 plus annual indexation for each existing dwelling within the parish)
• 25 per cent (uncapped) goes to parish councils with a ‘made’ neighbourhood plan

When do they get their share?

• CIL received between 1 April and 30 September each year must be paid on 28 October
• CIL received between 1 October and 31 March each year must be paid on 28 April

What can the neighbourhood fund be spent on?

The fund is to be spent on the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure and on anything else that addresses the demands that development places on an area.

When and to whom do they report on spending?

Parish councils must report on the CIL received and spent each year both as a responsible financial body itself and to the borough council as the CIL charging authority.

The parish council must record all carried over CIL, CIL receipts and expenditure for each year.

The parish council must prepare an annual CIL report for each reporting year (the 12 months ending 31 March) in which they receive CIL detailing:

• CIL receipts
• CIL expenditure
• A summary of items on which CIL has been spent
• The amount spent on each item
• The amount of any CIL repaid following a repayment notice
• The amount of CIL retained at the end of the year
• The amount of CIL from previous years retained at the end of the year

The report must comply with accounting and audit procedures as set out in Governance and Accountability for Smaller Authorities in England, NALC (March 2016).

For detailed information on reporting neighbourhood fund spending to the borough council each year, please see our parish council funding statement requirements.

Infrastructure funding statement

We have to publish and submit an Infrastructure funding statement (IFS) by 31 December each year on the previous reporting year that closed on 31 March. The IFS must include a CIL report, a S106 report and an infrastructure list.

To enable us to do this we ask parish councils to follow this timetable in each reporting year they receive, hold or spend CIL neighbourhood funding:

Guide for parish councils

We have published a guide to help parish councils understand their rights and responsibilities around the community infrastructure levy.