Transparency

As a public-funded organisation, we have a duty to residents to be transparent in how council tax money is spent, our business operations and outcomes.

The following sections provide you with the opportunity to view a range of information regarding how we go about our business dealings.

We publish details of our contracts to allow businesses to plan ahead and be ready to place a bid when the contract is up for tender. Our contract register is published through Pro Contract. Click here to visit the ProContract contracts register webpage
Current tender opportunities are published through Pro Contract. Click here to visit the ProContract opportunities webpage
To register your interest in an opportunity you will need to register your organisation on Pro Contract. This is free of charge. Simply click the “Register free” link on the Pro Contract homepage and follow the instructions. Click here to visit the Pro Contract home webpage
Publication of this information forms part of our commitment to being open and transparent with residents.
Click here to view details of existing waste collection contracts
Supplier payments (see the section below): monthly details of supplier payments of more than £499.99 from December 2010 to August 2012, then more than £249.99 thereafter (excluding VAT).
Government procurement card transactions: we do not use a government procurement card.
Click here to access the register which includes grants to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

Senior management salaries and organisation chart : details of all senior managers’ salaries (head of service and above), plus additional details of staff paid more than £58,200 per annum, including job descriptions. The page also includes the latest organisation chart, the council’s pay policy and details of the council’s ‘pay multiple,’ the ratio between the highest paid salary and the average salary of the whole of the council’s workforce.
Trade union facility time: details of the number of union representatives, including the names of trade unions and basic estimates of spending on them. This is currently showing full-time officials only and we are currently working with the unions to provide the part-time representatives data.
Pay policy and pay multiple: the Localism Act 2011 requires the county council to prepare and publish a pay policy statement. The purpose of such a statement is to articulate the council’s policies towards a range of issues relating to the pay of its workforce, particularly its senior staff and its lowest-paid employees. The council also wishes to ensure it operates on the principles of equal pay for work of equal value and also within the various other legislative requirements, including the Equality Act 2010.

Finance and contract rules, as adopted by the council on 22 February 2012.

Click here to read the Forensic independent review of the Advance Northumberland group

Parking account: a breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority's on-street and off-street parking accounts.
Parking spaces: the number of marked out, controlled on and off-street parking spaces.

Corporate fraud team public report: detailing the total number of cases of irregularity investigated.

We are committed to freeing up our data and want residents to be able to use the data that is held within this site free of charge from the following open data sources:

Details of the value of social housing stock that is held in the Housing Revenue Account:

Publishing this information meets the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.

As a public sector organisation, the Council must be open and transparent. The Freedom of Information Act allows anyone to request any non personal information which is held by the Council. This is otherwise known as a Freedom of Information Request (FOI). Under the Environmental Information Regulations you can request environmental information held by the Council, otherwise known as an Environmental Information Regulations Request (EIR). Environmental information includes such things as information about the air, soil, water and other elements, as well as things such as noise emissions, pollution and buildings.

Before making a request, we would recommend that you check our FOI Disclosure Log to see whether you question has already been asked.

To make a new FOI or EIR request, you can do so using our FOI and EIR Request Form.

To make a request we require some information from you:

A brief description of the information you are looking to access, and
Your full name and contact details

Please note that you cannot access personal data via an FOI or EIR request. You must submit a Subject Access Request to access personal data.

Does it cost to make a request?
No. Requests are free to make, though there may be instances where charges apply. If this is the case, the Council will contact you.

How long will it take you to respond to my request?
The Council has 20 working days to respond to an FOI or EIR request.

For SAR or other individual rights requests, the Council has one calendar month. An extension of up to an additional two months may be applied in complex cases, though you will be contacted if this is the case.

Can you refuse my request?
Yes, the legislation states that the Council can refuse your request if certain conditions apply. If the Council refuses your request, you will receive a letter explaining why.

What happens if I am unhappy with the outcome of my request?
If you are unhappy with the outcome or handling of your request, you have the right to request an internal review where an internal member of staff will consider whether you request was handled correctly, and in line with legislation.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to raise your concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

You can find contact details for the Information Commissioner, as well as range of advice and guidance on data matters by visiting the website.

On our Data Hub, you can view accurate and up to date information on:

View detailed information on the Data Hub.

Our constitution sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the council to choose.

Constitution of the council (PDF, 3MB)

If you have any questions about this document, please contact our Democratic Services team at democraticservices@northumberland.gov.uk.

This section was last updated on 3 March 2025.

Each month we publish a list of all payments we make, showing; who we paid how much we paid what this was for

The monthly reports below list payments made to suppliers exceeding £499.99 to August 2012 and £249.99 thereafter (exclusive of VAT).

Publication of these reports forms part of our commitment to be open and transparent with Northumberland residents.

January CSV |PDF
February CSV|PDF
March CSV|PDF
April CSV|PDF

Dec 2010: CSV|PDF

Where values shown are less than that amount, it means that the payment has been split over multiple cost centres.
There are a number of exemptions in the data provided. These include non-commercial payments to specific individuals which cannot be disclosed as they are covered by Data Protection Act requirements. Employee and pension information are also not included as part of the dataset.
The data is published each month in two formats: CSV and Adobe PDF. This is to make it as useful to as many people as possible.
This data is freely reusable under the same terms as data.gov.uk. Click here for the terms and conditions.

Financial year - 2024/25

Total Value of Late Payments - £57,653,462.03
Late payment interest liability - £751,748.10
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - £6,745.88
Invoices paid within 30 days - 91.5% (153,782 invoice payments)
Invoices paid within 31-60 days 5.1% (8,594 invoice payments)
Invoices paid within 61+ days 3.4% (5,706 invoice payments)

Financial year - 2023/24

Late payment interest liability - £416,273.87
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - £0.00
Invoices paid within 30 days - 95.33%

Financial year - 2022/23

Late payment interest liability - £297,412.19
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - £0.00
Invoices paid within 30 days - 95.98%

Financial year - 2021/22

Late payment interest liability - £150,798.77
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - £0.00
Invoices paid within 30 days - 96.95%

Financial year - 2020/21

Late payment interest liability - £113,660.95
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - £328.48
Invoices paid within 30 days - 96.28%

Financial year - 2019/20

Late payment interest liability - £156,791.09
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - none recorded
Invoices paid within 30 days - 96.52%

Financial year - 2018/19

Late payment interest liability - £138,946.06
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - none recorded
Invoices paid within 30 days - 95.25%

Financial year - 2017/18

Late payment interest liability - £64,874.09
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - none recorded
Invoices paid within 30 days - 97.62%

Financial year - 2016/17

Late payment interest liability - £50,870.05
Actual late payment interest charged by suppliers - none recorded
Invoices paid within 30 days - 97.62%

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Transparency

Page Contents:

Transparency

The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations

Open data (Data Hub)

Constitution of the Council

Payments to suppliers

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