Questions clerks ask
Plain answers. If yours isn't here, email us and we'll add it.
How much does ParishPages cost?
£299 a year, or £29 a month, with no setup fee and no VAT to add. That covers the website, hosting, migrating your current site and every historic PDF, your .gov.uk domain, the accessibility statement, support and training. You pay nothing until your new website goes live, usually the day your current contract ends, so you never pay two suppliers at once.
Can residents actually read it?
Yes. Minutes and agendas are published as web pages from the Word document you upload, with real headings, lists and tables, so a screen reader can read them and a phone can show them. The PDF is alongside as a download. Every site is built on the GOV.UK Design System to WCAG 2.2 AA and checked with automated tests on every change. We don't call anything “WCAG certified”, because there is no such thing.
Are there councils using it already?
ParishPages is new, so the honest answer is that the first councils are being set up now and we have no customer sites to show you yet. That's why the preview is free: you see your own council on it, try the admin, and pay nothing unless you go live.
Is ParishPages accredited or approved by anyone?
No, and no accreditation is needed to supply websites to parish councils. We're an independent supplier, not part of any council or government body. Our sites are built to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities, and we publish how we test them.
We're in a contract until next year. Can we start now?
Yes. We build and migrate now, in days, and switch on the day your current contract ends. Your preview is free, and you start paying the day your new website goes live, so you never pay two suppliers at once.
Our minutes go back twenty years. Will they really all move?
Yes, as part of the price. We copy every document from your current site, sort them by year and meeting type, and check the result with you. Old documents stay as PDFs; new minutes are published as web pages from the Word document you upload, with the PDF alongside.
What does the clerk have to do each month?
Upload the agenda before the meeting and the minutes after it, as Word documents, and add a notice when there is one. Your admin home works out the rest from your meeting calendar: when the agenda is due, which minutes are waiting for approval, which notices expire, and what the Transparency Code still needs. Most of the work is the same as emailing a document.
Will it look like a council website?
Yes, deliberately. The GOV.UK Design System's components, with your crest and a village photo where the crown would be. There are no themes to choose and nothing to design, which is why the price has no extras list.
Can we keep our .gov.uk domain, and can you get us one?
.gov.uk domains are held with approved registrars, who control the records. We're not a registrar: we send yours exactly what to change and chase it, and we plan around the few days it can take. If you don't have a .gov.uk domain yet, we apply for one for you with an approved registrar, included in the price. The registrar's own fee, typically £40 to £100 a year for the domain, is the council's.
Do you provide email addresses for councillors?
We set up email on your .gov.uk domain as part of onboarding: we configure the records and recommend a low-cost provider that councils already use. We don't host mail and we don't set up phones and laptops. Managed mailboxes tied to your councillor list, at £20 a year each, are planned for later.
What about hall bookings, accounts, planning applications, allotments and cemeteries?
Hall bookings link to your booking system, such as Hallmaster. Accounts link to Scribe or whatever you use. A planning applications page, a councillor-only document area, consultations and newsletters are built in. Cemetery and allotment records get a simple page each with a link to your register. Anything that needs live records, payments or bookings is town council territory, and we'll say so and point you to suppliers who do it.
What happens when the clerk changes?
The new clerk gets a free training call, like the last one did. Every new clerk does, for as long as the council is with us. The admin tells them what's due, so nothing about the website lives in one person's head.
What does it cost in year two?
£299 a year, the same as year one. No setup fee, no VAT to add, no leaving fee, no extras. If you leave, you get a full copy of your pages and documents, and we help move your domain.
Why is there no VAT to add?
GP Sites Limited, the company behind ParishPages, isn't VAT registered, so the price you see is the price you pay. If that ever changes, councils reclaim VAT anyway, so it would make no difference to what the website costs you.
Can you quote for our comparison paper?
Yes. Send us your council's web address and we'll send a one-page quote with everything included and nothing hidden, written so it can go straight into the papers for your next meeting. Email hello@parishpages.co.uk or use the contact form.
What is the free preview?
A private copy of your council's website on ParishPages, built from your current site within three working days, with a login so you can try the admin. It has a banner saying it isn't your live site and search engines can't see it. No setup fee, no obligation, and nothing to pay unless you go live.
See your council on it, free.
Built with your content, in three working days. No setup fee, no obligation.