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Questions Answered

Every episode of Pod-on-the-Parish tackles questions that clerks, RFOs, and councillors are actually asking. This page collects the answers in one place — pulled from each conversation as editorial summaries (not verbatim transcripts). Use it as a reference, then jump to the episode for the full discussion.

Episode 4 26 March 2026 with Millie Manton

Tweens and Teens Love Playgrounds — Designing Outdoor Spaces That Actually Work

Why do councils get outdoor spaces for tweens and teens wrong?

The simplest answer is that they get forgotten about. When a local authority or parish council looks at an open space and starts thinking about a playground, the default mental model usually stops at age 11 or 12. Everything beyond that age — the kids who still want to be outside, who still want to be active, who still want a reason to leave the screens behind — falls into a gap nobody specifically designs for. The fix isn't a single new piece of equipment; it's noticing that this group exists and is part of who the space is meant to serve.

How do tweens and teens play differently from younger children?

The biology is doing something. From around age 8, the onset of puberty shifts how this group moves: they're growing faster, sleeping more, and their sense of balance changes as their bodies change. Play stops being purely about running around and starts being about social context — who's watching, who's hanging out, who's performing for whom. They still want to be active, but the equipment that worked at age six (the slide, the small climbing frame, the bouncy spring animal) suddenly looks childish. Spaces designed without this in mind get abandoned by the age group very quickly.

How much physical activity should young people actually be doing — and how many are hitting that?

The World Health Organization recommends around 60 minutes of moderate activity per day for this age group, training all major muscle groups and motor skills. The reality is much further off than most people realise: globally, only around 23% of 11–17 year-olds meet that minimum. The headline matters because designing outdoor spaces that actually appeal to older kids isn't a "nice to have" — it's one of the levers that nudges that percentage up.

What four things actually motivate tweens and teens to be active outdoors?

KOMPAN's Play Institute ran a major study in cooperation with the University of Southern Denmark, using GPS and activity trackers to see what tweens actually did in playgrounds (not what they said they liked). Four motivators came out on top: ball games, areas away from the main playground, climbing, and a combination of active participation and spectatorship — performing for and watching each other. Once you see those four, a lot of the design choices stop feeling like guesses and start feeling like answers to specific questions.

Why do tweens and teens want areas away from the main playground?

Because the main playground reads as a children's space — and this age group is doing the work of *not being a child* every day. A separate area, often outside the fenced playground itself, signals "this is for me, not the toddlers". It doesn't need to be elaborate; a piece of equipment, some seating, or a corner with a different feel is often enough. The independence — being out of direct adult sightlines, having their own zone — is doing as much work as the equipment.

What is the Make Space for Girls initiative?

It's a campaign that's been quietly reshaping how the sector talks about playground design. The starting observation: when councils think of older-children play space, they tend to default to a football pitch — which by then mostly serves boys. Girls aren't being deliberately excluded, they're just falling outside the frame of what gets designed. Make Space for Girls is pushing the conversation toward outdoor space that actively works for teenage girls, not just space they can technically use.

What kinds of equipment work well for engaging teenage girls?

The same KOMPAN research, sliced for girls specifically, lights up a few categories: swings (especially basket swings and group swings), trim trails, climbing, ball games beyond football, and spinning equipment. The pattern is that these are pieces that support being sociable while being active — moving and chatting at the same time, sharing a piece of equipment with friends, not having to look directly at each other to interact.

Why are swings so good for older children, and what kinds work best?

Swings are one of the simplest, cheapest interventions for this age group, and they're routinely under-deployed. Basket swings hold three or four bodies at once, lying down or sitting; they're inclusive (very little core strength needed), they're social, and they invite kids to stay on for far longer than a single-seat swing. Flat swings sit kids side by side for conversation. Group swings — where everyone swings together with feet meeting in the middle — work especially well in larger outdoor spaces. The unlock is to think about swing placement beyond the fenced toddler playground.

What is open-ended (non-prescriptive) play, and why does it matter for older kids?

Younger children's play equipment tends to be highly prescriptive — this is a slide, you slide down it; this is a spring animal, you bounce on it. Older kids reject that. They want pieces of equipment that don't tell them what to do, so they can decide for themselves what the piece is for: a structure to sit on, hang off, perform on, or just lean against to chat. Designing for tweens and teens means leaving room for that interpretation — what looks underspecified to an adult often reads as freedom to the kids actually using it.

Why are seating and hangout spaces just as important as play equipment for older children?

A big part of how this group "plays" is actually socialising — sitting, chatting, watching each other, being part of a group. Creative seating, hammocks, planters that double as benches, swings used as seats: pieces of equipment that invite hanging out are part of the activity, not a separate amenity. Treating seating as an afterthought is part of why older kids stop using a space; treating it as a design feature in its own right is part of how to bring them back.

What's the single biggest mindset shift councils should make when designing outdoor spaces for tweens and teens?

Stop thinking of them as "older children who need a shelter to gather under." The instinct to provide a shelter — a roof, a bench, somewhere out of the rain — is often the only nod councils make toward this age group, and on its own it's not enough. Get creative with outdoor spaces. Design areas that invite movement and socialising at the same time, away from the toddler equipment, in places that signal *this was thought about for you*.

Listen to Episode 4 →

Episode 3 12 March 2026 with Eleanor Greene

Preparing for a Successful 25/26 Internal Audit

Should internal audits be done face-to-face or remotely?

Face-to-face is the strong preference. A remote audit doesn't really meet the underlying requirements: the auditor can't inspect the physical minute book, can't look through the actual records, and can't read the clerk's body language when a question is asked. Remote works only as a follow-up arrangement — for councils the auditor has already worked with face-to-face in the past and built a relationship with. For a first audit, expect (and arrange for) someone in the room.

Which Practitioner's Guide applies to this year's internal audit?

The version compulsory for the year-ends now being audited is the one published in March 2025. A new 2026 edition is on the way, but it only becomes compulsory for the following financial year. It's worth being aware of where the new guide is heading — to see the direction of travel and where the sector is going — but the council still has to do what's in the guide it's actually got, not what's coming next.

What will the internal auditor actually test for Assertion 10?

Very little more than: has the council done the four things Assertion 10 requires? It's a high-level check, not a deep audit. The reason is that internal auditors aren't the regulators of the underlying legislation — FOI, GDPR, accessibility regulations — so they're not in a position to go beyond confirming that the council has the right pieces in place. Internal-auditor guidance for Assertion 10 is being written and will be published, but the testing itself will stay at that high level.

Why does it matter whether councillors use personal or council email addresses?

A council's actions, messages and emails are subject to Freedom of Information requests and subject access requests by any member of the public. If a councillor is using their personal account for council business, that personal account — alongside everything else in it, from tennis bookings to family photos — falls within the scope of those requests, and the ICO has strong powers to pursue them. Where councillors use a council email account, the clerk can answer an FOI directly from the web-stored emails through the back-end of the website, without needing to see anyone's phone. When a councillor leaves, the account can simply be switched off — closing the door on former councillors continuing to send mail as if they were still in post. The point is protecting both the council and the individual.

Does the council need to issue councillors and staff their own mobile devices?

The right framing isn't device-vs-device — it's about centralised control of the email account. If the council can grant and revoke access to the mail at any time, what hardware someone happens to read it on becomes a much smaller question. The work to do is in the management of the email, not in the handset.

Why should the clerk have a council-owned phone?

The risk being managed is loss of access. There's a real case of a clerk who resigned suddenly in difficult circumstances, with bank authentication codes still going to her personal phone, and didn't pass them back — leaving the council temporarily unable to pay wages. A refurbished phone and a £10 pay-as-you-go SIM (often topped up only once or twice a year) closes that gap for very modest money, and a council-owned number can also receive things like flood alerts from residents. The audit test is whether the council is taking good care of public money — on that test, the phone is a no-brainer.

What's the most common governance mistake councils make around the internal audit report?

Publishing only part of it. The internal audit page of the AGAR is often missed, with councils publishing the governance and accounting statements but quietly omitting the auditor's section. The requirement is to publish the whole AGAR — including the internal audit page — and current guidance reinforces that. Anything less leaves a visible gap that residents and external auditors will both spot.

What should the council do with the internal auditor's report?

Treat it as the start of a process, not the end. The auditor should be flagging things to improve; if they aren't, they probably haven't done a thorough job — no council is fully compliant, because the rules and rulings keep moving. The council needs to minute at full council that the report has been seen, agree an action plan to address each point, and track it through. That action plan is what closes the loop and is increasingly what the following year's auditor will look for.

Can a council use a friendly accountant or family friend to do the internal audit for free?

It's possible, but the bar is real. Even an unpaid auditor needs an engagement letter, an audit plan, and an action plan from the council in response. Standard accountancy qualifications cover company law; CIPFA-style qualifications cover county council law; very few cover charities and effectively none cover parish law — so an accountant has to be able to demonstrate they understand the legislation the AGAR sits under. And if there's no contract and no fee, there's also no comeback if the work isn't done — and no reassurance for a resident who learns the audit was done for free by someone close to the council. Parish councils aren't required to have professional indemnity insurance, but an engagement letter is required no matter how small the council.

Who actually enforces website accessibility, and how do they respond to complaints?

The statutory regulator is the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) — the same body that handles the Equality Act. Like the ICO with Freedom of Information, the EHRC only reacts to complaints; it has neither the right nor the resources to audit websites proactively. When a complaint does come in, the typical response is a request to fix the specific thing that prompted it — not a demand that the council remake the entire site.

What is the Daily Mail Test, and how should councils use it?

It's a sense-check for non-standard decisions: imagine a Daily Mail journalist sitting in on the meeting. If the way the council is acting could become a tabloid headline, that's a sign to stop and rethink. If it couldn't, the council is probably doing something right. The test isn't asking councils to be timid — there are moments when the right call is one that wouldn't pass a strict legal reading because it serves the community, and the local press would back it — but it's a useful pause before signing off on the unusual.

Listen to Episode 3 →

Episode 2 26 February 2026 with Keira Lake, Nigel Hayes

Career Pathways: From Apprenticeships to CiLCA and Beyond

Why would a council take on an apprentice rather than recruit a fully qualified candidate?

The strongest case is succession planning. Many councils have a demographic gap in the 20–39 age bracket — staff cluster at either end — and without a younger generation coming through, every senior departure becomes a recruitment crisis. An apprenticeship lets a council grow the experience and qualifications it actually needs around its own systems and culture, rather than competing in a thin external market when a key role suddenly opens up.

What funding is available to local councils for apprenticeships?

A few routes layer on top of each other. The apprenticeship levy is paid by large employers (those with a wage bill over £3 million), and unused funds can be transferred to other public bodies — including parish and town councils. The principal authority is the obvious place to ask: Dorchester Town Council, for example, has had its training fully funded through transfers from Dorset Council. On top of that there's a £1,000 government incentive for taking on a young apprentice (previously £3,000 during the post-COVID push), and many local areas run their own apprenticeship grants. Between them, the direct training cost to a small council can be zero.

What does it actually cost to employ an apprentice?

The apprentice wage is the main cost, alongside employer National Insurance and pension contributions. From April 2025 the apprenticeship hourly rate runs from around £8 for younger starters up to £12.71 for those aged 21 and over — a step-change from the £4.30 starting rate of 2022. When training is fully funded through a levy transfer there's no separate employer-side training fee to budget for. Compared with a standard entry-level grade (e.g. scale point 4), an apprentice is competitively priced while gaining a recognised qualification on the job.

How do councils recruit an apprentice — is it the same as a normal job advert?

The standard route is the government's Apprenticeship Service, usually run through a training provider who advertises the role on the council's behalf. Partnering with a local college that runs the qualification gives the council a steady candidate pipeline. The framing of the advert matters: a finance apprenticeship with an AAT qualification attached typically pulls strong applications, where a more generic "admin apprentice" often doesn't.

Does an apprenticeship have to be a full-time role?

No. Apprenticeships can be part-time, which makes them workable for very small councils where every other role is also part-time. The two requirements that matter are that the apprentice spends roughly one day a week in off-the-job learning (typically at college), and that there's someone in the office to support them rather than them being left to work alone. Beyond that, the contract can flex around the council's existing hours.

Why was AAT chosen for the apprenticeship rather than a council-specific qualification?

AAT gives a broad grounding in finance — invoicing, ledgers, reconciliations, payroll basics — that maps neatly onto the day-to-day work of a council finance team. It isn't council-specific, but a recognised qualification like AAT makes the role appealing to candidates who haven't yet decided on a sector, and it's transferable in both directions if their career takes them elsewhere. Sector-specific qualifications like ILCA, FILCA and CiLCA then layer on top.

How much paid study time should a council give an apprentice or studying officer?

There's no fixed rule, and a written study-time policy isn't required. A common approach is one full day a week at college for the apprentice, plus additional time off in the run-up to exams. For other staff studying qualifications like the Community Governance degree, the training provider allocates study days that translate into office time, with the expectation that some additional work happens at home. Making the expectation explicit at the start tends to work better than imposing a fixed weekly allocation.

What is the qualifications pathway for a local council officer?

The sector has a fairly clear ladder. ILCA — the Introduction to Local Council Administration — is the entry point, followed by FILCA (a deeper foundation, finance-angled), then PIALC (the SLCC internal auditing qualification), and CiLCA, the Certificate in Local Council Administration, which is the recognised practitioner cornerstone. From there, the Community Governance degree delivered by SLCC and De Montfort University runs across three levels of two years each, with exit points after each level so it doesn't have to be a single six-year commitment. A Master's in Public Leadership sits above the degree and is growing in popularity.

Is an apprenticeship a better choice than university for a finance career?

For someone certain they want to work in finance, the maths often favours the apprenticeship. Earning a salary while studying — rather than paying tuition and accruing debt — leaves a meaningful financial gap by the time the qualification finishes, and AAT is recognised by employers across sectors. The trade-off is the university experience, social and otherwise. Apprenticeships suit candidates who already know roughly what they want to do; degrees still make sense where someone wants the optionality of three years to figure that out.

What's the best preparation for the End-Point Assessment (EPA) at the end of an AAT apprenticeship?

Start tracking the requirements from day one rather than waiting for the assessment window. The big one is logging off-the-job hours as you go: AAT Level 2 currently requires at least 278 off-the-job hours and 365 days with the college before the EPA can begin, and discovering a 100-hour shortfall at the last minute is the classic way to delay an exam. Familiarise yourself with the EPA structure early — for AAT that's a one-hour structured interview covering knowledge, skills and behaviours like communication, sustainability and equality — and ask the training provider in advance about the reset and retake policy.

What does an apprentice's day-to-day work actually look like?

At Dorchester it started narrowly and broadened over time. The first stretch was mostly invoices and payment runs — repeatable work that builds up speed and accuracy. From there it widened to month-end tasks (bank reconciliations, direct-debit authorisations, credit-card processing), drafting documents that the RFO reviews before they go out, and one-off projects across other departments. The principle is to hand over a section of work, let the apprentice own it, then layer the next section on top — rather than dumping everything on day one.

Listen to Episode 2 →

Episode 1 29 January 2026 with Mark Tomkins

Is Your Council Assertion 10 Ready?

What is Assertion 10, and what does compliance require?

Assertion 10 — officially "Digital and Data Compliance" — is a governance requirement introduced in the Practitioners' Guide. It's made up of four things: a council-owned domain name for a generic clerk email, ongoing compliance with website accessibility regulations, an IT policy (this part is new), and continued UK GDPR / Data Protection Act compliance. From AGAR 2025/26 onwards there's a yes/no tick box on the form for it.

Does Assertion 10 apply to councils in Wales as well as England?

The requirement as written is England-only at present, though Wales is likely to have equivalent provisions.

Do councillors have to use the council's official email domain?

The Assertion 10 compliance requirement is specifically for the clerk to use a domain-based email. Councillors are not currently caught by the rule — but they should not use personal email addresses for council business, and they should not forward council email to a personal account. Forwarding moves council data out of a controlled environment into an uncontrolled one. Later editions of the Practitioners' Guide are expected to clarify the position for councillors and staff.

Should the clerk use a role-based email like clerk@, or a personal name?

The council's official address must be role-based — clerk@, town.clerk@, or parish.clerk@. Continuity (and UK GDPR) requires the address not to be tied to a named individual; the clerk isn't always going to be in the seat. A name-based address can exist in addition, but the role-based one is the official one. Beyond the clerk — having chair@ or per-councillor addresses — is entirely up to the council.

Which domains are acceptable for a council website and email? Does it have to be .gov.uk?

As long as the council owns the domain, the suffix doesn't matter — .gov.uk, .org.uk, and .com all meet the requirement. What Assertion 10 actually asks for is that the clerk's email runs on a domain the council owns. Best practice is .gov.uk because it's the top tier, but it's not mandatory.

Can we use .gov.uk for email but keep our website on a different domain?

That's not good practice. If your email is on clerk@smithfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk, your website should be on smithfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk too. Splitting them confuses users, and there's no reason to maintain two domain names when you only need one.

Will moving to .gov.uk email reduce spam?

No — spam volume has nothing to do with the domain suffix. If you're seeing more spam after a switch, that's down to your service provider or the reputation of the IP address the email service runs on. Spam and domain type are independent of each other.

How long should a council keep emails, and what should a new clerk do with thousands of inherited emails?

Data retention length is the council's own choice, with the obvious caveat that the longer data is held, the greater the exposure if something goes wrong. A two-year window for general correspondence — keeping anything within finance, contracts, HR, or regulatory scope separately — is a sensible benchmark. For an inherited mailbox, don't just delete the old material. Take it to council, agree a retention policy, and use that policy as the mechanism to clear historical content.

Can we rely on the accessibility statement provided by our website host?

No. The host didn't write it for you, and the council hasn't ratified it. The accessibility statement is a policy — it has to come from the council, with the council's name above the door. Revisit it every year. A good starting point is the Government Digital Service template, which has been available since 2018 and is kept current; it covers the elements that are legally required. Adapt it to your council, and explicitly call out anything you know isn't accessible — large local-plan documents from principal authorities are often non-compliant and worth flagging in your statement.

Is Lighthouse good enough for checking website accessibility, or do we need WAVE?

Lighthouse is OK but won't pick up everything. WAVE by WebAIM is better. And the alerts matter — they're not just warnings. Things like "click here" non-descriptive link text and non-sequential headings go into alerts rather than absolute failures, but they're still non-compliance and they do need to be addressed.

Should the IT policy cover the use of AI tools like ChatGPT?

Yes. If the council uses AI in any form — even just a clerk opening ChatGPT for help — its use should be defined in the IT policy. State what it's used for (saving time, drafting documents, summarising material), because there's a lot still unknown about how AI handles data. AI is increasingly baked into normal tools without being labelled, so a useful rule of thumb is: if you didn't write it, or watch someone else write it, assume a system wrote it.

Listen to Episode 1 →

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