REPORT TO PICKMERE PARISH COUNCIL
7th September 2021
AGENDA ITEM 7.3 CONTINUATION OF COUNCIL ZOOM ACCOUNT
1 REPORT
1.1 The Council entered a subscription arrangement with Zoom at the point where, as a result of
the pandemic, Council meetings began to be held online. This was because free Zoom sessions
are generally restricted to a maximum of 40 minutes whereas with a subscription meeting
length is unlimited. The current cost of the Council’s subscription is £14.39 monthly incl. VAT.
1.2 For the moment at least, it is unlawful to hold formal Council meetings online (although there
may yet be a change in this when Government reconsiders the matter). There is no such
restriction on meetings other than formal Council meetings (thus online meetings of working
groups or of individual councillors/clerk are perfectly legal.) The question therefore arises as to
whether the continuation of such a subscription is worthwhile in terms of the convenience and
economy of time and effort it provides.
1.3 However it should be noted that further investigation has concluded that accounts with Zoom
still have to be paid via credit card and despite the considerable growth in the use of Zoom,
there is no provision either for payment by BACS or payment by cheque. This is both
inconvenient and undesirable, since the Council does not have such a card, and it therefore
requires a named person (in the case of the Council’s Zoom account the Clerk) to use his
personal credit card and reclaim the expense on a monthly basis.
2. RECOMMENDATION
2.1 That the report be noted and Council consider what action to take.
Jack Steel
Clerk to the Parish Council
