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www.irrv.netApril 2009
ISSN 1361-1305 £5.50
Ibrahim Hasan uncovers Freedom of Information Act
exemption complexities
INS
IDE
: Cou
ncil tax
refun
ds // M
anag
ing
benefi
t caseloads // IR
RV
benefi
t research an
nou
nced
www.chandlers-bailiffs.co.uk
Chandlers has been collecting Local Authority revenues since its incorporation in 1996, and continues to provide effective Bailiff and Civil Enforcement Services to England and Wales.
Chandlers continues to meet the demands of our clients by bringing new approaches and services to the market place. We are always looking at new ways of improving our services to our clients by using the most up to date Information Technology and new initiatives in the way we collect revenues.
For further Information contact Adaine Gardner M.E.S.A - Managing Director 020 8290 0866
www.jacobsbailiffs.co.uk
In 2009 Jacobs celebrate 50 years in business and are currently responsible for providing bailiff / debt recovery services for over 120 local authorities throughout England and Wales. With full appreciation that we are, effectively, an extension to the workings of each local authority client Jacobs offer a solid, reliable and efficient service. Long term client retention is our goal and we have an enviable proven track record of 100% client retention at procurement exercise in the last 10 years.
Dave Cornes IRRV MESA Telephone 0151 650 4994 Email [email protected]
To ADVERTISE hERE plEASE ConTACT
Tregartha Dinnie
Vicki parry or Sam Rowe-GreenT 01908 306 500E [email protected] [email protected]
CERTIfICATED BAIlIffS
[email protected] The Local Authority Insolvency team is a unique specialist unit assisting and supporting local authority revenue personnel in their recovery duties, with an established reputation for providing independent, user-friendly solutions.
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LA Directories Ltd provides Local Authorities with web-based knowledge management solutions for RevBens services, that are on-line, plain English analyses of law, caselaw and guidance presented by subject. Our flagship product The Benefits Directory is fast becoming the standard by which others follow because ‘everybody benefits from The Benefits Directory’ - so says Cambridge CC. The Revenues Directory currently covers country-specific Council Tax, and Non-Domestic Rates will be available later in 2009. The Benefits Procedure Manual, a bespoke solution, is currently under development for imminent availability. LADL also provides RevBens training and consultancy services.
Tel: 0845 094 3348 Email: [email protected]
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IT SupplIERS
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Mouchel have developed a more intelligent method of verifying SPD’s. This provides a more robust review of the database, challenging those customers who claim an SPD to which they are not entitled. This is a managed service and includes: u Verification of SPDs against credit bureau data to inform a more accurate review u Application of changes to the Revenues database u Handling all customer enquiries
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SunGard Public Sector Aspiren Ltd is a leading provider of performance and information management technology and consultancy to the UK public sector. We have an outstanding track record of local, regional and large scale national deployments and have won a number of awards for our collaborative approach to service delivery. Our innovative solutions designed specifically for Housing benefits include:
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To find out more about our solutions please contact +44 (0) 8453 300 747 or e-mail [email protected]
pERfoRMAnCE AnD DATA MAnAGEMEnT SoluTIonS
CERTIfICATED BAIlIffS
IRRV InsIghtManaging Editor John Roberts
Editorial Director Celia Mather
Editorial Assistant Annie Jennings
Art Director Joel O’Connor
Designer Anja Linke
publisher Tim Lloyd
IRRVChief Executive
David Magor, OBE IRRV
41 Doughty Street
London WC1N 2LF
T 020 7831 3505
W www.irrv.net
Enquiries
Chief Executive’s office 020 7691 8972
Membership 020 7691 8980
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Editorial John Roberts
T 07952 659 258
Subscriptions 020 7691 8975
Advertising
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T 01908 306 500
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IRRV Insight is produced by Abstract Associates
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Unless otherwise indicated, copyright in this
publication belongs to the IRRV.
April 2009 ISSN 1361-1305
© IRRV 2009. Reproduction in whole or in part of any article is prohibited without prior written consent. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute. Whilst all due care is taken regarding the accuracy of information, no responsibility can be accepted for errors. Any advice given does not constitute a legal opinion.
IRRV Council: IRRV President Julie Holden IRRV MCMI CMg; Senior Vice-President Geoff Fisher FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV; Junior Vice-President Kerry Macdermott IRRV; Phil Adlard Tech IRRV MInstLM MCMI; Alan Bronte FRICS IRRV; David Chapman IRRV; Tracy Crowe CPFA IRRV; Barbara Culverhouse IRRV CPFA; Carol Cutler IRRV; Tom Dixon RD BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV; Pat Doherty CPFA IRRV; Ian Ferguson IRRV; Richard Guy FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV MCIArb; Richard Harbord MPhil CPFA FCCA IRRV FIDP FBIM FRSA; Mary Hardman IRRV FRICS MCMI; Gordon Heath BSc IRRV; Caroline Hopkins IRRV; Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV MCIArb; John Roberts IRRV; Eric Rose FRICS IRRV; Kevin Stewart IRRV MAAT MCMI; Angela Storey Tech IRRV MCMI; Bob Trahern IRRV; Julie Trahern IRRV; Allan Traynor FCCA IRRV
In the next issue...Insight introduces Poland, the venue for the June International Conference u The DWP’s new initiatives, including the In and Out of Work project, gather pace u The Kent Benefit Partnership NVQ initiative is highlighted in Faculty Review
“When it comes to personal information, the right to privacy will often take precedence” p12
05 Chief Executive’s notes 06 Inside the Institute The latest news, events and other Institute activity
10 Doherty’s despatch
12 Cover story Ibrahim Hasan examines Freedom of
Information Act disclosure exemptions
16 Sink or swim? Gandlake’s Jane Rose tackles benefit take-up
18 Government Connect
19 Faculty Review An analysis of the key technical issues facing
the revenues, benefits and valuation faculties
27 LGA focus28 IT/E-government30 Legal corner 32 Viewpoint 34 The customer is key RB Solutions’ Mark Poole on utilising performance
When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it.
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Contents
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The lead
up to perhaps
the most critic
al
revaluation in over
30 years needs a firm
hand at the tille
r, so the
announcement of Andrew
Hudson’s move to the Treasury
and David Park’s retire
ment did
come as quite a surprise.
The Valuation Office Agency
has been under-valued by its
stakeholders, in partic
ular the
billing authoritie
s and Ministers.
Compared to the equivalents in
other countries, th
e Agency has huge
expertise. The high collection figures
are a credit to billin
g authorities,
however the quality of th
e valuation
process should
also take some
of the plaudits.
The valuation for local taxation
in the UK is second to none and the
professionalism
of our private and public
sectors has no equal in the world. The cost
of the valuation process is low, while the
accuracy of the rating list is v
ery high and
continues to improve. We have the greatest
wealth of case law on valuation matters, which is
a point of reference for all valuers, wherever th
ey
practice. The Agency is revered internationally
and should do more to promote its ‘UK excellence’.
It is time to have a reality check on local taxation.
We can boast the high in year collection performance
which sits along side the best in
the world. Despite
there being no statutory obligation on council
taxpayers or businesses to
make a declaration of liability,
nor the prospect of penalties/interest if
discovered late,
the accuracy of the tax base is close to 100%.
Much has been said of the recent critic
ism being
levelled by politicians in
relation to the ports issue.
This trial by Parliament was unfair and based on a
misunderstanding of th
e Agency’s role and its
duty in
relation to statutory valuation.
Andrew and David will be misse
d, and the Institute
wishes them well. T
hey have been the custodians of this
valuable service for a number of years and have delivered a
very effective and “fit for purpose” product.
There is no better operational alternative to the
statutory valuation of property than the VOA. It
continues to fulfil a vital role – the Agency’s
independence from the collection and
policy process is important. The
appointment of the new Chief
Executive and his or her deputy
is critic
al to the survival of
property tax in the UK. D
“The cost of th
e
valuation process
is low, while the
accuracy of the
rating list is very
high and continues
to improve”
The valuation for local taxation in the UK is second to none, so it is crucial
that recent changes at the VOA do not hinder the service, says David Magor
Chief Executive’s notes
All
change
➦David Magor OBE IRRV
is Institute Chief Executive
1. Who do you admire? Anyone who is truly visionary and has the ability to turn the vision into reality. Anyone who can admit their mistakes and then do everything in their power to put them right. And finally, those who tell the truth and live by this mantra.
2. If you had a £50,000 windfall how would you spend it? Unfortunately, it would not be enough for me to disappear into the blue yonder. But the romantic side of me would take time out and travel to the remotest parts of the world.
Realistically though, I would probably use it towards property, either against my mortgage here or towards buying something abroad.
3. What has been your best career decision? The first was my decision to move to East Riding of Yorkshire Council where, from day one, I was given challenges that allowed me to develop my skill base and to build a team with a reputation for excellence.
The second was my move to arvato, part of the media giant, Bertelsmann. This opened up a whole new world of opportunity and experience that I could never have hoped to see in local government alone.
4. What is your favourite book, film or TV programme? I like anything that I can disappear into. My favourite film has to be Pretty Woman. Particularly the scene where Julia Roberts, laden with shopping, walks back into the shop that earlier snubbed her and points out its “big mistake”!
5. What do you look forward to most when you’re not at work?Time not at work or not “thinking” about work is extremely valuable these days. My goal is to make more “me time” and spend more time having fun with my family and friends.
CV in BriefCaroline began her local government career in the Rates Office in Bradford. In 1989 she moved to Derby for the implementation of community charge and then to Doncaster in 1993 for the implementation of council tax.
In 1999 she moved to East Riding of Yorkshire Council and has never looked back. She is now the Partnership Director for arvato government services, heading up a team of over 500 employees to oversee the delivery of services on behalf of East Riding or Yorkshire Council.
Caroline has been an active member of the Institute throughout her career, serving on the Yorkshire and District Association since 1993, before being elected to the Institute’s Council in 2003. She is currently the Chairman of the Institute’s Commercial Services Committee and sits on the Policy and Resources Committee.
Partnership Director for arvato government services
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Caroline Hopkins
Take 5Dear Editor,Ian Nisbet raises a
number of interesting points
in his article ‘For whose benefit?’ in February’s issue of Insight.
I’m with Mr Sarkozy on the VAT reduction – I do not think 43p off my £20 a month mobile phone bill is going to send me mad on the plastic in the shops!
I do however agree with Ian on the benefits front. An over-reliance on tax credits, which still do not work properly and are neither fast nor flexible enough to provide the support when and where it is needed, is a great mistake. The double standards of pushing councils to ever quicker turnarounds on housing benefit (HB) claims while taking two years to bill a child tax credit overpayment, which I had notified them of, and calculated myself, but could not pay until the bill finally arrived, are truly breathtaking.
The government’s ideas on “simplicity” sees councils paying up to £15 a week over the actual rent in local housing allowance and a Pension Credit Guarantee recipient continuing to receive the benefit (plus full HB/CTB) for up to five years after winning £250,000 on the national bingo!
I recently received news of the latest Welfare Reform Bill, which aims to abolish income support and push almost all claimants
into work, no matter what their circumstances.
Private sector partners are already tasked to find jobs for the long-term unemployed, sick and disabled, and are baulking at the “payment by results” contracts.
Surely such contracts will seek to solve the “round peg/square hole” scenario by application of a mallet rather that common sense?
All of this is without addressing the significant problems with HB/CTB which Ian mentioned – capital limits, earnings disregards, non-dependant deductions – but such issues cannot be resolved without new money. No politician is going to throw more money at benefits – there are no votes there, and in the current economic climate, the money has gone elsewhere anyway.
The review of HB for working age claimants will undoubtedly be delayed, marginalised, then buried. Government priorities change by the minute, let alone over months, and all politicians seem to seek is short-term fixes, not major reconstruction.
It seems to me that benefits practitioners will carry on dealing with repeated minor tinkering and the odd ham-fisted jolt, such as LHA, for the foreseeable future.
John Booty IRRV
Official dinners, billing rounds and council meeting preparations
– the busy schedule of the IRRV President never stops…
“My council undertook its annual billing process in February. We had a
few hairy moments but all is well that ends well and the billing went very
smoothly - for the first time ever we were back up on the Monday morning
after having closed at 5pm on the Friday night. I must thank my revenues
and benefits team, as this was a marvellous result.
I took the opportunity to meet with Rachel Toombs from the Institute
to look at hotels for the April Council round. But other than Gatwick there
are not a great deal of hotels in the area that can accommodate the size of
council and the committee meetings that need to be held, so it was a very
short shortlist! Having said that I think we have been successful.
My chosen charity this year, St Peter and St James Hospice in East
Sussex, provides wonderful work in the respite and terminal care of cancer
patients. I will be undergoing some peculiar activities during the year
to raise money for them and I do hope that some of you will be able to
sponsor me as I endeavour to do so. I will be taking part in “the sleepwalk”
(around Haywards Heath dressed in PJ’s at midnight!!!) in July for the
hospice, and a link for them will appear on my homepage soon, but I hope
to do something special as well during my year.”
Julie’s blog is regularly updated – to keep up-to-date with the President’s
activities, visit the IRRV’s website: www.irrv.net and click on President’s blog.
LETTER
To ThE
EDIToR
Inside the Institute
For whose benefit?
I
Ian Nisbet
“While we are all striving to deliver more effi cient services it does seem rather dishonest to continually suggest this can be painlessly delivered”
Leadership
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rank Wright, honorary member of the Institute, died in his 89th year on 6 February 2009.Frank, who was better known to his family and close friends as FH, was born
in 1920, in Northern Ireland. A chartered surveyor and a fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he had a long and distinguished career that started in 1938 with Harding & Harding, building contractors and engineers in Belfast. In 1946 he became a trainee quantity surveyor with McCarthy & Lilburn, Belfast and in 1950 he set up in private practice in Belfast under the title of F H Wright & Partners, which became one of the leading firms of quantity surveyors in Northern Ireland, employing some 55 people in seven offices within the province. He also established the firm of Frank Wright & Co, valuers and loss adjusters.
Frank was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Association of the Institute and even though he retired from practice in 1996 at the age of 76 he continued to play a very active role in the life of the Association and was, until very recently, treasurer.
Frank was invited to become an honorary member of the IRRV in 2000 for services to the Institute, and is one of only two members from Northern Ireland to have been so honoured.
Never one to take life slowly and enjoy his well-deserved retirement, Frank took up his studies again, studying European Law. He received his Masters in Law from the University of Glamorgan in 2000 – not surprisingly, Frank was the oldest student to ever graduate from the university.
On a personal level, I feel honoured to have known Frank. He was what many people would describe as ‘a character’, and had a great sense of humour. He will be sadly missed by all those who had the good fortune to know him, and the Institute has lost not only a long standing member but also a good friend.
Frank was happily married for 66 years and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Evelyn, and his family.
Compiled by IRRV Council member Pat Doherty
t was with great sadness that the Institute learned of the death of Brian Hill on 19 January 2009.
Brian was the secretary of the Rating & Valuation Association for almost 25 years before he stood down from his post on the
grounds of ill health in January 1988. He remained the editor of the monthly journal for a further year and was a regular contributor to other professional journals and national newspapers. He was a member of the Institute until his death. On Brian’s retirement, the Association’s National Council agreed to create the new post of Director to replace that of Secretary.
He was born in Leicester in 1935, educated at Wyggeston Grammar School and then the Universities of London and Reading. From 1954 to 1956 Brian served in the Royal Navy, primarily on frigates and destroyers in the Far East. He remained associated with the Royal Navy reserve for more than 25 years, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
In 1959 he became the personal assistant to Sir Douglas Logan, the Principal of the University of London. After two years he transferred to the court department, where he was responsible for the
administration of the university’s estates. In 1963 he was appointed as assistant secretary to the Rating & Valuation Association, and became Secretary in 1972.
Brian devoted much time to his public relations work, during his time as secretary, frequently appearing on the radio and television. He spoke at conferences across the world and at a local level, was a member of the West Sussex Local Valuation Panel. He was also an examiner for the RICS Special Rating Diploma.
Brian was the second person on record to be appointed as an honorary member of the RICS Rating Diploma Holders’ Association, and he acted as a diploma examiner in the subject of ‘Development of Local Taxation’ for more than 20 years.
The Institute was represented at Brian’s funeral, in February, by the President, Council, Honorary Members, and the Chief Executive.
Compiled by Institute Deputy Chief Executive, Gary Watson
Frank Wright
Brian Hill
F
I
Brian was already Secretary of the Rating & Valuation Association when I became a member of the Executive Committee of the Metropolitan & Home Counties Branch, many years ago.
In 1975, the Executive
Committee set up a group to run a second weekend school and Brian kindly allowed us to hold our meetings in his office, which gave us not only a comfortable location but also the benefit of his advice and guidance.
We were most grateful for his time, support and encouragement, as well as the fact he was an extremely pleasant and knowledgeable companion.
Brian Hill was a gentleman and I will remember him as such.
Marin taylor IRRV
A PerSOnAL reCOLLeCTiOn Of BriAn HiLL
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he last time the IRRV held a conference in Southport, the benefit system as we know it was barely a year old. The Annual Conference in 1983
was held in Southport minus the delights of the new Marine Lake development, now incorporating the brand new Ramada Plaza hotel, and the new conference centre.
The Benefits and Benefit Fraud conferences fitted perfectly into the new environment, and once delegates got used to the fact that they were no longer in Harrogate, things settled into the familiar pattern of top-notch presentations and a thriving exhibition. With over three hundred delegates in attendance, the two concurrent events easily matched previous offerings, and the signs of a repeat event in Southport are looking good.
Institute President Julie Holden launched her first major conference, using the platform to introduce the Institute’s ‘occasional paper’ on the potential reform of the housing and council tax benefit scheme (the full report is detailed on the IRRV website). The conferences were particularly notable for their inclusion of presentations from all aspects of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) work. From In and Out of Work, to Government Connect, to the Performance Development Team, the government’s work to improve welfare benefits across the board was evident both from the conference platform and in the exhibition, where delegates mingled with their civil service counterparts, discussing new initiatives and drawing on the experience of those piloting them.
The keynote Ministerial presentation this year saw another Institute first. A critical vote in the Commons meant that Kitty Ussher MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with the DWP, was unable to deliver her message personally. However, delegates were treated to a video presentation, ably introduced by Paul Howarth, Head of the Department’s Housing Benefit Strategy Division. The non-attendance didn’t deter delegates, who packed the Floral Hall.
The Burnley and Padiham member of parliament
opened her video link with the government commitment to ensure that they remain “dedicated to getting people into work… without barriers and bureaucratic complexities”. Ms Ussher went on to acknowledge the effort put in by all local authority staff, particularly acknowledging the significantly improvements in processing speed.
The next focus was technology, and Ms Ussher was quick to point to the success of voice recognition analysis software. Turning to other new initiatives, she went on to highlight progress of the In and out of work pilots, pointing to the need for solutions within central government, which had to play its part alongside local authorities. She emphasised the need for closer working with HMRC to “make life easier for customers… and to speed up the electronic transfer of data, ensuring it is secure”.
The Minister continued her presentation with encouraging words to local authorities in respect of the implementation of local housing allowance – “thanks to all”, she said. She added, however, that the scheme could still be too complex, hindering claimants, and not dealing satisfactorily with issues of low wages and high rents, particularly in areas like London.
Concluding her short address, Ms Ussher promised, following internal debate, formal external consultation with all stakeholders
in respect of housing benefit reform within the next few months, encouraging delegates to participate fully in this important exercise.
➦John Roberts is Managing Editorof IRRV magazines, a Council member and a Past President of the Institute
John Roberts picks out the highlights from the Institute’s Benefits and Benefit Fraud Conferences
All change
TPresident Julie
Holden opens the Fraud Conference
Hot off tHe press…
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Inside the Institute
irrV ‘OCCASiOnAL PAPer’ LAunCHedThe Institute has produced a paper outlining a series of reforms that would ensure a more effective benefit system. Details of the paper can be found on the website, www.irrv.net, with further commentary in the Institute’s Benefits Advisory Service magazine, Benefit.
THe frenCH COnneCTiOn?French president Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that the taxe professionelle, a business tax, will be abolished from 2010. Another burden on business has been removed as part of the ongoing package of reforms that the present government is pressing forward with to improve the business attractiveness of France. The tax is similar to the UK’s non-domestic rate, calculated on a national formula, but with rates that differ in the various régions, départements and communes.
SOCiTm CALLS fOr SeLf-SerViCe weBSiTe The Society of IT Management has said local authorities should adopt a strategic approach to online self-service as part of their response to the economic crisis. Better Connected 2009, its 11th annual survey of local authority websites, says that more self-service through websites will help councils provide a low cost means to meet a growing demand for information and services at a time resources are unlikely to increase. The survey suggests there has been an improvement in the overall performance of council websites.
fSB SuPPOrT fOr BuSineSS rATe reLiefSupport is growing for a Private Members Bill pioneered by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), calling for rate relief to be made automatic for eligible firms. The Early Day Motion was tabled by Peter Luff MP, and has so far been signed by over 100 MPs ahead of a scheduled debate on the Bill in the House of Commons in March.
STuDEnT MEMBERS:Name EmployerDoroteya Alexander Great Yarmouth Borough CouncilLynda Almond Blyth Valley Borough CouncilFiona Bolger Lancaster City CouncilJames Brewer Fenland District CouncilSally Buckley Lancaster City CouncilJenny Davies Warrington Borough CouncilJudith Gleason Great Yarmouth Borough CouncilKaren Jayne Holtom Coventry City CouncilSamantha Jones East Dorset District CouncilKathleen Lamont Wigan Metropolitan Borough CouncilJacqueline Lowe Falkirk CouncilMatthew McGrawaghan Newcastle City CouncilChristopher George McNally Coventry City CouncilDavid Miller Capita Business Services Ltd (Carlisle Office)Kirti Mistry Coventry City CouncilLucie Mullery West Berkshire Council James Newport Breckland District CouncilEdward Page Bromsgrove District Council Anil Panesar Hillingdon London Borough CouncilKenneth Parry Newcastle City CouncilJonathan Payne Coventry City CouncilAndrea Pounder Wear Valley District Council Samantha Rackham St Edmundsbury Borough CouncilJennifer Rouse Newcastle City CouncilJoy Smith Coventry City CouncilPaula Stafford Coventry City CouncilIngrid Stakle Capita Business Services Ltd (Carlisle Office)Craig Suddick Newcastle City CouncilAlan Thompson Great Yarmouth Borough CouncilIain Turner Gateshead Metropolitan Borough CouncilBarry Wadeson Bolton Metropolitan Borough CouncilDavid Yates Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
CoRpoRATE MEMBERS: Name EmployerJ Clark Scottish Borders CouncilCaroline Lee Burnley Borough Council
nVQ MEMBERS: Name EmployerStuart Basford Congleton Borough CouncilBarry Bennett Exeter City CouncilHollie Bloom Congleton Borough CouncilLucy Brown Isle of Wight CouncilGuy Burnley Exeter City CouncilTeresa Elliott Congleton Borough CouncilStella Hands Exeter City CouncilMatthew Kemp Exeter City CouncilSally Leavy Tandridge District CouncilHelen Longworth Congleton Borough CouncilCarrie Maskell Rugby Borough CouncilNatalie Richards Congleton Borough CouncilCandice Smith Isle of Wight CouncilDebra Vallas Isle of Wight CouncilLisa Wallis North Dorset District CouncilDarren Whitty Exeter City CouncilCheryl Wilkins Exeter City Council
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Newmembers
eduCATiOn & memBerSHiP
Inside the Institute
more congratulations!Insight is pleased to report an additional
pass in the recent examinations:Full Professional Qualification – Level
1: Vojin Joksimovic of Haringey London Borough Council
Get Twittering!The IRRV is currently trialling Twitter. Visit www.twitter.com/irrv to follow the IRRV’s ‘tweets’ and let us know what you think!For the uninitiated… Twitter limits you to 140 characters per ‘tweet’ and you can follow other Twitter users on your homepage.
Onerous activityAs local authorities embark on the long-awaited Comprehensive Area Assessments, there are also changes on the horizon for council tax and benefits. Pat Doherty reports
Council tax freeze Scottish councils have, for yet another year, agreed to freeze council tax bills. A hold on rises was initially agreed as part of the local government concordat drawn up by ministers and council leaders more than a year ago. The decision to maintain the policy in the next financial year comes despite warnings from some council leaders that another freeze was doubtful because of the credit crunch and its impact on budgets.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said the move would provide vital relief for households at a time when the effects of the economic downturn were being felt across the country. He added: “This government is doing all it can to help families and households through these tough economic times. We know that the punishing rises in council tax we saw before this government came to power are the last thing anyone struggling with domestic finances needs at the moment.”
Councils that were willing to agree to a further freeze were offered a share of a £70m fund given as part of the £11.8bn local government funding package announced last week.
As reported last month, Swinney surprised the Members of Scottish Parliament during his announcement on the funding settlement when he announced the government’s decision to postpone the party’s flagship local income tax policy until the end of the current parliamentary session, at least. He also pledged that they would maintain the council tax policy for the rest of the session, which is due to end in 2011.
A spokesman for First Minister Alex Salmond said the local income tax decision was made after considering other issues, including the implications of a £500m budget cut next year imposed by Westminster.
I think it was simpler than that – the figures never added up from the start – it just took the politicians time to understand what they had been told by the professionals in Scotland.
Backdating rules review The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has taken an interesting approach to its latest consultation on the backdating of housing and council tax benefit. New rules came into force in October 2008, affecting the period for which a claim for housing or council tax benefit can be backdated.
Claimants of working age can apply for up to six months backdated payment, if they can demonstrate a good reason for not applying earlier. Claimants who have reached the qualifying age for pension credit can have their claim treated as having been made up to three months earlier. Previously, and quite reasonably in my view, the time period for both categories of claimant was 12 months.
The original intention of the new rules was to apply a three-month time limit to backdated awards for working age customers. This was extended to six months following representations made to the government by a number of organisations concerned about the possible impact on claimants. But the government has not given up on its intention to eventually reduce the working age backdating period to three months, but has decided to review the effects of the policy this year before making any further changes.
The idea is that individuals who deal with claimants will be asked to complete a questionnaire and provide individual case studies. The questionnaire is aimed at individuals rather than organisations, so more than one person from the same organisation can complete one. Organisations can also use the questionnaire to give more general feedback on the policy.
The questionnaire, which is intended for employees of organisations such as welfare rights agencies and local authorities, is available on the DWP website. It is particularly aimed at those giving advice
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Doherty’s despatch
Onerous activityto customers about possible housing benefit and council tax benefit entitlement, or dealing with claims for benefit.
It is also thought that people advising on housing issues, dealing with rent arrears or evictions, offering debt advice or other similar issues, may have views on the new rules.
I personally think this is an excellent approach, and actually provides those who are closest to claimants an opportunity to have their say. It is only to be hoped that the organisations themselves will allow the individuals who work for them to complete the questionnaires in their own right.
Comprehensive area assessmentCAA comes in with effect from April 2009, and is part of a new area-based performance framework focused on outcomes delivered by councils working alone or in partnership. The Audit Commission (AC) says that it is designed to be more proportionate than previous frameworks and to be aligned with frameworks in other local service sectors. By bringing together evidence across different local services, CAA will be more effective in driving improvement than separate assessments for each sector can be.
CAA will have two main elements that will inform each other:u an area assessment that looks at how well local public services are delivering better results for local people across the whole area, focusing on agreed priorities such as health, economic prospects and community safety, and how likely they are to improve in the future; andu an organisational assessment for councils, combining the external auditor’s assessment of value for money in the use of resources with a joint inspectorate assessment of council service performance.
For both elements the AC will use the performance reported against the National Indicator Set as a key source of evidence.
For the area assessment, the AC will take the priorities agreed in the local area agreements and the sustainable community
this as a significant concern, using a ‘red flag’. Where the AC identifies exceptional performance or improvement, or promising prospects for improvement through innovation, they may highlight this as a source of learning for others using a ‘green flag’.
The organisational assessment will combine council’s use of resources and managing performance themes into a combined assessment of organisational effectiveness scored on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest).
The AC will prepare the organisational assessments using evidence from other inspection work, and draw on the information that is available nationally and used locally. CAA will not rely on the type of rolling programmes of major inspections, with detailed performance criteria and a focus on the corporate arrangements of local service organisations, used in previous assessment frameworks.
High performing organisations and partnerships delivering improvements in outcomes and value for money will receive less inspection. The more robust, relevant and timely the information being used to manage services locally, the less the AC inspectorates will need to request additional information.
The AC says it will work with government offices in the regions, regional improvement and efficiency partnerships and others to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting improvement.
I have to say that life does not get any simpler for those working in local government, and it will be interesting to see how long this inspection regime lasts before the Commission comes up with yet another one. D
➦Pat Doherty IRRV CPFA is
an independent consultant and IRRV Past President. If you
wish to comment on the article please email him at: pkd@
pkdconsultancy.co.uk
“I have to say that life does not get any simpler for those working in local government, and it will be interesting to see how long [the CAA] inspection regime lasts”
strategies as their starting point, and look at the prospects for future improvement, both long and short term, in those outcomes. The AC will take into account how well the local partners understand their local communities and reflect this in their priorities, as well as how well served local people are currently.
The area assessment will be reported as a narrative and will not receive a numerical score or other overall rating. If, in the view of the AC, the action being taken in the area to improve an important outcome is unlikely to deliver the improvement sought, they may highlight
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it decided not to do so, it warned that appellants should reflect on the possibility that costs in quite significant sums could be awarded against them. The Information Commissioner updated his guidance note on vexatious requests, which can be read on his website: www.ico.gov.uk.
Under section 12 of the FOI fees regulations, a public authority can only cost the time it takes to find and supply information at a rate of £25 per hour, and if this totals over £450 (or £600 for a government department) there is no need to supply the requested information.
I am often asked what would happen if the information is held by an external company on behalf of the authority and their charge for retrieving the
information is more than £25 per hour, whether the additional charge would be taken into account when assessing the £450 limit? According to a recent Commissioner decision involving Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (Ref: FS50198379 24/11/2000) the answer is firmly in the negative. The request involved the Trust having to retrieve hundreds of closed files from its external archiving service. It added the charges levied by the company to its £450 limit estimate. The Commissioner disagreed with this approach. He ruled that while a public authority can take into account the time taken by an outside contractor to retrieve information at the rate of £25 per hour, it cannot take into account any charge over and above this fixed rate.
Audit reports are often the target of FOI requests by those who suspect wrongdoing or fraud by the public authority or bodies it is auditing. Where a local authority audit department is investigating allegations of fraud, it often tries to
claim the section 30 exemption. This allows information to be withheld if it relates to investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities. A recent decision, however, emphasised that this exemption can only be claimed where a public authority is holding information about investigations or proceedings that it has a legal duty to conduct.
In Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (Ref: FS50144991 10/11/2008), the complainant requested a copy of a report detailing the findings of an audit carried out by the council on a local charity. The audit followed allegations that funds were being mismanaged at the charity. The council refused the complainant’s request on the basis *
It is now four years since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) came into force. While the Act is about opening up the public sector to more scrutiny through access to recorded information, Parliament has recognised the importance of ensuring that public authorities are protected from vexatious requests, which can waste time and resources.
Section 14 of the Act allows a public authority to deem a request vexatious and so avoid having to deal with it. The Information Commissioner continues to support public authorities in this area. In a decision involving Cheshire Constabulary (Ref FS50157445 30/10/2008) the complainant made a request for seven pieces of information relating to the Constabulary’s coat of arms and logo, its policies regarding the recording of conversations, and for information about its internet domain and service provider. The Constabulary refused the complainant’s request on the grounds that it was vexatious. It was drawn to this conclusion by the complainant’s stated intent to use the requested information to assist him in setting up a website publicising his grievances. The Commissioner agreed with the Constabulary. He examined previous contact between the parties and considered that this request, together with the history of complaints and other information requests, constituted a significant burden to the Constabulary. He also ruled that the intent behind the request would have the effect of harassing the Constabulary.
The Information Tribunal is also adopting a strict line on vexatious requests. In Stephen Carpenter v Information Commissioner and Stevenage Borough Council (EA/2008/0046) it upheld a decision of the Information Commissioner agreeing with the council that a persistent requestor was vexatious. The Tribunal even considered awarding costs against the appellant. While
I Vexatious requests and invasion of privacy are complex elements to the Freedom of Information Act, particularly in relation to exemption requests. Ibrahim Hasan reports
While Freedom of Information is about openness and transparency,
when it comes to personal information, the right to privacy
will often take precedence”
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Cover story
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Cover story
that the exemptions in sections 30 and 36 applied.
The Commissioner decided that section 30 was not engaged because the council did not hold the information pursuant to a legal duty to conduct the investigations or to institute proceedings. The council had argued that it had the powers to institute and conduct criminal proceedings for fraud in its own right by virtue of section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972. The Commissioner noted that section 222 provides the power for local authorities to prosecute only in cases where it is “expedient” to do so, he considered that in general, it would not be considered expedient to prosecute where the police or the Crown Prosecution Service would be better placed to decide if a criminal prosecution was viable or warranted. Such powers are generally only used by local authorities to implement trading standards legislation to address anti-social behaviour, or in circumstances where the prosecution relates to a local authority’s specific function, not general criminal law.
The Commissioner also ruled that the section 36 exemption (prejudice
to the public) lives of those individuals.Public authorities are regularly asked
for information about staff that leave the organisation through retirement or by mutual consent. They often rely on the section 40 exemption to withhold the information. The Commissioner has ruled that this is the correct approach in a number of decisions – see Calderdale Council Ref: FS50074995 16/05/2007 and City of York Council Ref FS50123921 15/05/2007.
In December 2008, we saw the first challenge to this approach in an Information Tribunal appeal involving Doncaster College where a journalist wanted information on the investigation into the former principal (Mr Gates) including the reports drawn up during the enquiry (Rob Waugh v Information Commissioner and Doncaster College (EA/2008/0038)). The challenge was on the basis that the information related to a senior official carrying out public functions and the public interest favoured disclosure. The Tribunal ruled that disclosure of the information would represent a significant invasion of Mr Gates’ privacy and would be unfair. Witnesses who gave evidence during the investigation, which eventually led to his departure from Doncaster College, would also have a reasonable expectation that the information they provided in the context of the investigation would not be released to the general public. It follows that disclosure of their personal data would
be unfair to them as well as Mr Gates.
In addition the Tribunal ruled that there is a recognised expectation that the internal disciplinary matters of an individual will be
private. Even among senior members of staff there would be a high expectation of privacy in respect of disciplinary matters. The majority of the information sought in this case consisted of material not normally available to the public. The Tribunal also gave weight to the existence of an agreement between the college and Mr Gates, which included a provision that expressly limited the amount of information that would be made available to the public about the termination of his employment.
The Information Tribunal has sent out a message that, while FOI is about openness and transparency, when it comes to personal information about employees, the right to privacy will often take precedence. D
There is a recognised expectation that the internal
disciplinary matters of an individual will be private”
to the effective conduct of public affairs) did not apply in this case, and even if it did the public interest lay in disclosure. He ordered disclosure of the requested information except where it consisted of personal information of junior employees of the charity where the section 40 exemption (personal data) could be claimed. However, the charity’s senior employees’ data was not exempt, other than a few sections which impacted directly upon the private (as opposed
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➦ Ibrahim Hasan is a director of Act Now Training and a consultant with IBA Solicitors. He produces a
bi-monthly freedom of information podcast reviewing all the latest
FOI decisions, which can be downloaded from his website: www.
informationlaw.org.uk
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sink
e are constantly reminded, on the television, radio and newspapers, that we are in the grips of a recession and that things may get a lot worse
before they get any better. Obviously the effect of unemployment or
redundancy on an individual and their family is huge, but it has a much wider reaching impact, and with less disposable income the local economy also suffers – people have become reluctant to partake in other social activities.
Local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that anyone entitled to housing or council tax benefit is invited to claim and is paid their award as soon as possible. But the burden on local authorities to meet this responsibility is immense.
When the local economy is suffering financially it can have an impact on the revenue collection rates of local authorities. If residents are struggling financially, they will find it increasingly hard to pay their rent or council tax. So ensuring that they are encouraged to apply for housing and council tax benefit will provide a means to meet these responsibilities and go some way to
swim?W
The recession has had a huge impact on
benefit caseloads, but to ensure that local
authorities do not begin to drown under new
claims, they should invest in web-based
technology. Jane Rose reports
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Local authorities need to
act now before their work
becomes unmanageable”
swim?easing the burden of collecting this revenue.
For benefit departments particularly, this means a workload increase, as more and more people become unemployed and rely on local authorities for help with housing costs. I recently saw a news report highlighting the number of skilled workers who now find themselves unemployed and “signing on” for the first time. It raised concerns that job centres are not equipped to cope, and the government was turning to private recruitment companies to assist with trying to find them work that matched their skill sets.
Local authorities have a different challenge when providing a service for these people. Many of the newly unemployed have probably never been in this situation before. Since leaving school or university they have never been out of work, and the minefield of local authority and state benefits can be confusing to say the least. It’s the local authority’s job to make the application process as stress-free as possible.
Many are PC and internet literate, so the ability to apply online without having to visit the local authority would be a real bonus, and being able to track the progress of their claim online is even more attractive. But this has an added bonus for the local authority. An increase in caseload normally goes hand-
rin-hand with an increase in enquiries and correspondence – but if claimants are given the option and encouraged to self-serve via a secure online portal, the number of enquiries handled by staff will dramatically reduce.
Self-service will also enable local authorities to implement full or partial automation of the assessment process. Data from the electronic claim form can then be extracted and automatically uploaded into back-office systems, which will provide significant benefits in efficiency, accuracy and cost.
Full automation means the population and calculation in the benefits system, eliminating the need for the benefit officer to key in the claim details and carry out the assessment process. A copy of the completed form can be loaded into the document management system for future reference.
A partially automated process will load the form into a document management system, creating a workflow item for the officer to load into the system and calculate.
A web-based self service portal can provide the customer with 24/7 access to a fully automated, intelligent claim form together with the ability to view existing claim detail, including correspondence sent to and from the benefit section. This in itself provides a higher level of service meaning that customers are not restricted to standard office opening times.
Mobile processing can also enhance benefit services, which can work in tandem with a web-based service or in isolation. This can prove to be particularly useful in rural authorities or where there is no satellite office facility.
We must not forget that benefit sections will still be tasked with
their normal day-to-day workloads. The government has announced some increase in the administration grant for 2009/10, which will go some way to easing the extra burden, but payment of this is not guaranteed. It will be reliant on the accurate completion of the SHBE (Single Housing Benefit Extract), and the Department for Work and Pensions has already warned that authorities failing to accurately complete these could be penalised.
To make sure that you don’t miss out you will need to be confident that all claims are recorded correctly and dealt with accurately. Back office systems will provide the management information to allow SHBE to be completed, but the management information will only ever be as good as the data loaded. So local authorities must decide the most effective way of utilising any additional grant award. One option could be to appoint new staff, but the amount of time it takes to train someone to become competent in assessing housing and council tax benefit claims would need to be considered first. Even if a local authority is successful in recruiting suitable staff it will be some months before they are truly effective.
Another option could be temporary agency staff. This may solve the problem in the short-term, but once the money has gone and the agency staff have left, your local authority will still have a responsibility to maintain a high level of service.
A web-based claims process, simply by the use of an electronic claim form on the local authority website, or a full secure web portal self-service module, will attract many existing and first-time benefit claimants. The customer can make an application at any time of the day or night and be reassured that it will be securely delivered to the benefit section. Most benefit sections use a document management system of some sort – obviously the functionalities vary, but whichever you have, you can be assured that the electronic claim form will arrive safely.
Electronic forms do not have to be restricted to just benefit applications. There are a number of electronic forms that will allow a local authority to capture data for any number of circumstances. And this information can all be automatically loaded into a benefits or document management system for full or partial automation. In a benefits section, the main driver must be to respond to the information provided by the customer, and this being the case, the advantages are immense.
There are a number of options that can make these challenging times a lot easier for local authorities, but they must first consider what meets their needs, both in the immediate and long-term.
Local authorities must act now before their work becomes unmanageable, rather than leaving it until they are drowning under a sea of new claims. D
➦ Jane Rose, a benefit expert with GandlakeConsultancy, has 13 years local authorityexperience in benefit administration, five asHead of Benefits. She now works with localauthorities on the challenges faced in the current benefits environment
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All networks joining the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) are assessed for compliance with the Code of Connection and CESG guidance. This ensures data can be exchanged safely between central government and its agencies – health, police, and now, local government – through
Government Connect, helping to restore public confidence.
Second is that in joining the central government community,
the threats vary, not just those likely to attack local government but also international threats likely to use local government as a back door to attack central government. It is therefore essential that the GSi community (of which those connected to Government Connect’s GCSx are a part) all comply with basic standards. It is about protecting the whole community, not just local authority data.
Remote access is a particular challenge because it provides a ‘soft underbelly’ for attacking systems. One of the difficulties local authorities face is the need for ‘2 -factor authentication’ on remote network access to reduce the threat of such attacks, normally a card or
token-based solution which authenticates the user
nnovation is a by-word for local authorities, with many now using
techniques such as remote working as a matter of course in their business processes. This has enabled cost and efficiency savings over traditional methods while improving customer services by taking service delivery to the citizen. The down side is that local authorities have implemented security differently.
The Code of Connection required for connecting to Government Connect is built around Security Standard ISO 27001, and represents best practice from public and private sectors. Implementing this can be a challenge for some authorities but the application of a standard security model is important if the following two issues are to be addressed.
First, in virtually every public survey, concerns are expressed regarding the public sector’s ability to handle personal data safely, and recent data-loss incidents have done little to calm concern. The real issue is not compliance but ensuring that the public trusts and has confidence in public services.
In the first of a regular series from Government Connect, Simon Norbury explains why ensuring that the GSi is safe is in everybody’s best interests
identity. This offers additional assurance that the user is who they say they are, not just someone who has gained access to the system and passwords. Numerous commercial systems already exist that can fulfil this function.
The requirement is to give confidence that only those authorised are accessing systems and that the network is not being used to ‘piggy back’ into another part of the secure network.
Even when the issues of remote access are addressed, to build public confidence, local authorities must consider the type of data that is being accessed. The scenario local authorities should consider is where an employee-owned PC is allowed to access data and is then donated to another person, sold or even disposed of at the local council’s own recycling facility. The government data that is accessed across GCSx includes restricted data (Impact Level 3), such as the Department for Work and Pensions’ CIS database. When databases are accessed by remote systems, images left on the PC can be retrieved. If the PC falls into the wrong hands this data could be used for criminal purposes and cause considerable embarressment, which is one reason why CESG insist the PC must be appropriately controlled, including disposal.
Although there are thin client systems that claim not to leave information on PCs, there are compliance
Securing the system
“It is about protecting the whole community, not just local authority data”
I difficulties if these are not correctly configured. There is a need for appropriate control at the end points where they sit outside the network.
A further risk is that the PC might not be maintained at the right patch level, i.e. all operating system updates are applied, which could include essential security patches that would leave the PC (and network) exposed if not properly controlled. This is not possible if an individual rather than the organisation owns a PC.
The public demands that personal data is accessed and handled appropriately. While local authorities were innovative, the Government Connect minimum security standards has highlighted weaknesses. Prior to Government Connect, authorities were not assessed against industry standards for remote access. The vast majority are now acting positively to correct these weaknesses, achieving compliance, with networks assured and assessed against risk, integrity and availability.
The end result will be a higher standard of network security, providing better protection for the public and the GSi family of networks, which ultimately leads to greater confidence in the government’s ability to handle sensitive data, assisting the achievement of the data sharing and transformational government objectives. D
➦Simon Norbury is Head of Security and Architecture at
Government Connect
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Government Connect
INS
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: Intro
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Faculty Reviewapril2009
p22
Opportunitycks!kn
Julie Holden gives a flavour of the IRRV’s recently submitted occasional paper
on benefits reform p25
➦Roger Messenger is chairman of the IRRV Valuation Faculty Board, and a Past President of the Institute
Faculty
Board
updatep20
FR
n recent weeks there has been some speculation in certain business gatherings that the current economic conditions may give rise to the postponement of the 2010 revaluation. The basis for this is that
the demands, based on valuations, made way back in the ‘good old days’ of April 2008 would simply be too unpalatable for businesses to stomach at this time. Well, businesses will need to reach for the antacid tablets instead of clutching at any straw of postponement.
Aside from the practicalities of changing primary legislation and the associated messages that might send to the markets, a postponement would be in no-one’s best interest. If anything, the downturn should highlight the need to consider as a priority a reduction in the period to the subsequent revaluation. After all, it is the redistributive impact of a five-year interval that will be the bone of contention for many ratepayers in 2010.
Another view that has done the rounds in some quarters of late is that there are bothersome flies in the non-domestic rating (NDR) ointment, which need removing, for example that the system would be so much better if HMRC took over billing responsibilities from local authorities, and if the whole operation were overseen by the Treasury instead of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Department. This is an interesting issue which, at its heart, sees the positioning of rates as a tax (which it is not, it is inherently a local levy) and feeding it into the most centralised cogs of central government. I for one do not see any convincing merits in such changes. I see the future for NDR lying in the current shift towards greater partnership working.
The IRRV has certainly been fully committed in working with the Valuation Office Agency, CLG, billing authorities and the Local Government Association to achieve streamlined co-delivery of services, built around the needs of the citizen. Perhaps more needs to be done to communicate these changes, to highlight the good and valuable outcomes of this partnership approach and to embed it as a principle within the system.
The Institute is currently undertaking a major overhaul of its examination and qualification processes. The Valuation Faculty Board has been fully engaged in helping to develop the strategy in respect of the valuation stream. The current full professional qualifications will be replaced by a Level 5 Diploma qualification and the valuation stream Diploma has been developed specifically to meet the needs of the modern market, in respect of candidates and employers alike. In addition, the IRRV will deliver
DifficultId
evelo
pm
ents
a Technical Certificate in valuation. This Level 4 qualification is designed for practitioners in the public and private sector who provide valuations of interest in land and buildings for a variety of purposes. Significant progress has already been made on both qualifications, and further announcements on the detail of both will be announced soon.
The Faculty Board has received several reports of prior agreements having been discussed directly with trade bodies, thereby cutting out the involvement of agents, and there is evidence to suggest that agreements have been signed off by the incorrect individuals. It is important that such prior agreement activity is inclusive from the outset, or else it will lead to considerable difficulties in the future. We have made our views known on the need for the involvement of the agent and will continue to do so.
Finally, at its February meeting, the Board considered the draft of the Rating Consultancy Code of Practice, which has been amended to reflect the new RICS Rules of Conduct for members and for firms. The IRRV is a co-signatory to the Code, with RICS and the Rating Surveyors Association. The Faculty Board raised general comment about whether such a document is still relevant, but given that it is likely to remain, it concurred with the proposed changes. Ultimately the Board favoured a move in due course to a much shorter ‘bullet-point’ style pamphlet that would be easier for public or client consumption, and which could have a detailed Appendix.
You can contact the Valuation Faculty Board at: [email protected]. D
Credit unionsp21
FR
he Local Government Association and the government talk about them, some local authorities pledge to support them, and the Department for Work
and Pensions’ Minister, Kitty Ussher, does her best to promote them. But ‘credit unions’ still seem to carry an air of mystery. For years, credit unions have remained in the background of the financial inclusion world.
The formal definition of a credit union is: “a financial co-operative owned and run by its members, that offers an accessible savings facility and low cost loans to its membership.” Today, credit unions provide a savings and loans facility to all, particularly those who, for various reasons, do not have bank accounts. They try to attract inward investment to build up capital, which they then lend to members, including those who are not able to get credit elsewhere. Many credit unions are run entirely by volunteers, but they are increasingly amalgamating and employing paid staff.
The origin of credit unions is entwined with the co-operative movement, dating from the industrial revolution, when shopkeepers and artisans of the day lost the protection of their trade guilds and began to need capital in a competitive world.
Credit unions as we know them today originated in Germany in the mid 1800s, when a charitable loan association was established – borrowers had to ‘join’ the association and make a small regular contribution towards its capital. Loans were granted for productive purposes but
not with the appearance of ‘charity’ or ‘gift’. Membership was open to “seekers after credit” and “not limited to any one occupation or social class”. It also introduced the principles of one vote per member, regardless of shareholding, to educate its members to manage their finances, and this continues today.
Credit unions spread rapidly across Europe and North America throughout the late 1800s, and were introduced into Ireland in the early 1900s. However it was the mid-1900s when the first credit unions were set up in the UK under the Companies Act – in Wimbledon, Highgate and Hove – which were mainly used by immigrant communities from the West Indies. Credit unions expanded through the sixties and seventies when rising unemployment brought them to the attention of politicians nationally as a means of addressing poverty.
This view of credit unions expanded rapidly, as did their number. Local government began to realise it could play a vital role in community regeneration due to the credit unions’ basis of mutuality – they were each formed around a ‘common bond’, which identifies the member qualifying criteria. These are mainly community groups based around a church, town, county or other definable area.
There are currently over 600 credit unions in the UK, with more being formed almost weekly. They all retain the principle of mutuality and a one-member vote. They range from thousands of members
(Leeds and Glasgow) with a wide range of financial products, to those run by volunteers with a small common bond and just a few hundred members.
To become a member you have to ‘join’ and pay a small fee. You then save either by making regular payments through your bank, by cash at the credit union office, via payroll deduction, or using a PayPoint card. Savers’ accounts, apart from ‘young savers’, do not attract interest, instead a dividend is paid annually based on the profit made. This would probably be less than on the high street, but with interest rates increasingly dropping, it is becoming competitive. Many savers choose to save with a credit union due the ethical nature of the organisation, whereby savings are applied to loans for people who would find it difficult to get them otherwise.
The total amount a saver can have in a UK credit union in limited by law to £10,000, and the average loan is generally around £500. As with other financial institutions, credit union loans are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and, should difficulties occur, covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. They have specific rules about how much of their investments they can lend, and are therefore very safe places to invest. And because they are confined to a specific common bond, the money stays in the local community.
My next article will look in more detail at how credit unions operate, and how they can assist local communities through the current financial crisis. For further information, visit: www.fsa.gov.uk. D
In thebeginning…
➦Colin Holden IRRV is General Manager of the East Sussex Credit Union
udging by the questions that I have been receiving recently, relief from rates for partly occupied properties under section 44A of the Local Government Finance Act (LGFA) 1988 is still misunderstood.
This mainly arises from the changes to the scheme from April 2008, which were a consequence of the changes to empty rate. Some further misunderstanding has now arisen from the increase in the exemption from empty rate charges to include all properties below a rateable value of £15,000 for 2009/10 only. For the record, I will set out the scheme as it currently applies, which has a number of differences from the situation before April 2008.
Relief from rates for partly occupied properties is discretionary and that discretion is operated by the billing authority at the point where the authority decides to apply to the valuation officer for an apportionment of the rateable value, shown in the local valuation list, between the occupied and empty parts of the hereditament. Once requested, the valuation officer is required to do the apportionment and the billing authority must apply it.
The authority can only apply for the apportionment if the hereditament is in the local list and it appears to the authority that part of it is unoccupied and will remain so for a short time only. There is no definition of a short time in the legislation. Situations where relief may apply include during a phased occupation or phased vacation of a building, or during a temporary downturn in trade. Given the current economic climate and the desire to help businesses survive, it seems to me that authorities should be giving sympathetic consideration to requests from ratepayers.
The apportionment applies to any day within the operative period of the apportionment for which the rateable value in the list remains the same as for the day on which the authority made the request.
The operative period of the apportionment begins on:u the day that the hereditament became partly unoccupied; unlessu there is already an apportionment under section 44A in place, in which case the new application for an apportionment brings the previous apportionment to an end and the new apportionment starts the next day.
The operative period of the apportionment ends on: u the occupation of the unoccupied part;
Ju the end of the rate period (i.e. 31 March);u the requiring of a further apportionment; oru the hereditament becoming completely unoccupied.
It can be seen from these rules that a further application is required if the relief is to continue beyond 31 March into the new financial year. It can also be seen that if the area that is unoccupied alters, a different apportionment can be requested. This allows for several successive apportionments during the phased occupation or phased vacation of a hereditament and successive periods of relief.
LGFA section 44A(6) and (7), as amended, deals with apportionments where the hereditament does not fall within a class prescribed under LGFA 1988 s45(1)(d) or would if unoccupied be zero rated under LGFA1988 s45A. In other words, it deals with hereditaments for any period in which there would be no empty rate charge if wholly unoccupied.
Section 45(1)(d) allows for the class of hereditaments subject to empty rate to be prescribed by the Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) (England) regulations SI2008/386. There are equivalent regulations for Wales. The regulations prescribe that empty rate charges apply to any hereditament that consists of a building (or part), or a building (or part) together with any land used in for the purposes of the building (or part) except those listed in regulation 4, which lists the 13 exemptions from empty rate charges.
LGFA 1988 s45A provides for zero empty rate charges for unoccupied properties where the ratepayer is a charity and it appears that when next in use, it will be occupied by that charity or that charity and others. It makes a similar provision for community amateur sports clubs.
Thus section 44A (6) and (7) applies to any day that the hereditament would not be subject to empty rate charges. This includes the first three months unoccupied, or six months in the case of industrial or warehouse hereditaments. It also includes listed buildings, properties below a rateable value of £2,200 or below £15,000 in 2009/10 and all the other empty rate exemptions, plus charities and community amateur sports clubs.
Section 44A (7) provides that in all these
Resolving the rate debateGordon Heath tackles the troublesome topic of rate relief for partly occupied properties
first apportionment would generate the normal three or six months relief because for those days, the hereditament would be exempt from empty rate if wholly unoccupied from the date of the apportionment.
However, if the first apportionment is ended by the operation of a new apportionment, a further three or six months relief is generated. This is because it was not wholly unoccupied during the first apportionment and therefore the relief applies under the second apportionment on the basis that the hereditament would be exempt from empty rate if wholly unoccupied for the first three or six months of the second apportionment.
Thus successive apportionments for different areas of the hereditament each generate three or six months relief, whether they include some or all of the previous apportionments or not. Similarly, if the property is vacated, this brings the relief to an end, and three or six months empty rate exemption applies to the whole property.
Turning to a different issue, it has come to my attention that some rating “cowboys” are offering to apply for small business relief, mainly on behalf of small shops. It must be all of 20 minutes work for them! The result, if successful, is up to 50% relief for the three years from 2007/8 to 2009/10. For this, the ratepayer is asked to sign a contract giving the agent 50% of any rate relief received, for whatever reason, for the life of the contract.
In one case, the agents all had RICS after their names on the headed notepaper. One ratepayer brought this to the attention of the local authority, which raised it with the RICS. As a member of the National Council of the IRRV, I also raised this at the IRRV’s Professional Conduct Committee.
Unfortunately, as the agents concerned were not members of the IRRV, there was no direct action that the Institute could take. I do not know if the RICS has taken any action. I can understand if they have a reluctance to intervene in contractual matters between agents and their clients, but this kind of blatant rip-off puts the whole profession in a bad light. It is simply not in the interests of the vast majority of honest agents.
If you come across any similar activities and the agents are claiming to be IRRV members, please contact the IRRV. If they appear to be RICS members, I urge you to write to the RICS and encourage any ratepayer affected to do the same.
Meanwhile, please encourage ratepayers to apply for small business relief themselves. D
➦Gordon Heath BSc IRRV is an independent revenues consultant and a member
of the IRRV Council. The views expressed here are purely personal. Gordon
can be contacted at: [email protected]
cases the rates are charged as an occupied rate charge on the basis of the apportioned rateable value of the occupied part only.
Section 45(4A) allows for the government to reduce empty rate below 100% of the occupied rate charge. Section 44A (8) and (9) deal with calculating the charge in these circumstances. As empty rate charges currently remain at 100%, these provisions have no effect.
Section 44A(9A) provides that where a hereditament is subject to empty rate charges on the day concerned and empty rate remains at 100%, the apportionment has no effect, and full occupied rate charges are payable on the rateable value shown in the list.
To sum up, the result is that for most hereditaments, occupied rates are charged on the apportioned occupied rateable value for the first three months of the apportionment, or six months for industrial and warehouse properties. After that, the apportionment ceases to have any effect and full occupied rates are charged on the value in the list.
The exception to this is where the hereditament is exempt from empty rate or zero-rated and the relief can continue until 31 March. A fresh application in April would also allow it to continue further. The increase in the rateable value limit for exemption from empty rate from below £2,200 to below £15,000 in 2009/10 will allow relief for up to the full year for any hereditament below £15,000 rateable value.
One final bit of clarification is needed where successive apportionments are used for a phased vacation or occupation. The
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Resolving the rate debateThe increase in the rateable value
limit (for 2009/10 only) will allow relief for up to the full year for any hereditament below £15,000 rateable value”
already been noted, and unsurprisingly the response from the Local Government Association was that local authorities have a responsibility to those people who pay their tax on time. The banks have been given guidance on how soon they can take mortgage defaulters to court and while local authorities have to work within the current legislative framework, perhaps they should agree additional rules so that it is clearer for customers, and the need for government intervention can be avoided.
Local authorities have set recovery timetables and procedures that they follow, but perhaps these need to be reviewed to allow for more flexibility so that taxpayers can adapt to their new economic circumstances. It surely cannot be in the interest of the local authority to inflict further costs on those members of the community who are least able to pay.
Benefits will play an important part in helping authorities maintain their council tax collection rate. Most authorities direct the majority or all of their Discretionary Housing Payments towards helping customers meet their rent payments. The primary objective for these payments will remain to help people avoid homelessness, but perhaps a review of the policy is needed, with some of the funds being directed towards those facing temporary problems with their council tax payments. To achieve the best results it may be sensible to include council tax staff in the process.
Benefit caseloads are increasing, as is the pressure on resources. One of the problems that can result from this is that authorities can neglect their take-up strategy, or even worse pretend that it is being successful because of the impact that the recession is already having. The recession means that delivering the take-up strategy is one of the prime objectives for the service. Improved take-up will certainly help offset some of the collection problems faced by authorities. Failure to deliver the strategy will mean that authorities will face increasing difficulties and costs in trying to maintain their collection rate, and is also likely to make council tax even more unpopular.
It was certainly pleasing to see the government recognise the additional work involved in the increased benefits caseload and find some extra funding. While the money is welcome, it is only temporary funding, and means that authorities have to face up to other problems as a result. Trained benefit assessors are not instantly available, so should authorities put the money into training new staff or make use of the already trained resources available through the agency and off-site processing market? The problem of resilience when trying to deal with peaks and troughs, sickness and staff vacancies, was already an issue for many authorities, but the increased demand means that many will urgently need to find a cost-effective solution. D
➦Ian Nisbet IRRV is a Benefit Subsidy consultantwith Capita Local Government Services
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he recession is, as you would expect, having a considerable impact on local authorities. Some of its impact will be short-term, but some will be felt long after
the economy has recovered. Many local authorities have reduced their collection rate for the coming year in anticipation of council tax recovery problems. Only time will tell whether these reduced rates of collection are sufficient to match the new economic climate, but I fear that for some, it will not be enough.
During the good times, collection rates generally improved and have delivered the expected continuous improvement. The acknowledgement that collection rates will fall creates interesting problems for performance management. If it is accepted that collection rates will fall, how will authorities judge whether they are performing well, particularly as the recession will hit some areas harder than others?
Local authorities are used to consulting with their taxpayers over the level of the tax and what they see as their priorities, particularly if cuts need to be made to services. But should local authorities also be seeking taxpayers’ views over how the tax is collected? An increasing number of liability orders has
It comes as no surprise that tax collection rates are likely to fall this year as an effect of the recession. But local authorities urgently need to find a solution to the problem, says Ian Nisbet
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collection rates improved and have delivered continuous improvement. The acknowledgement that collection rates will fall creates interesting problems for performance management”
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he benefits world never stands still for long, and the same has to be said for the Ministers that have responsibility for the benefits portfolio. James Plaskitt has been a very
involved housing benefit (HB) minister. He has always been keen to talk to us and share his views.
James has moved on now, and Kitty Ussher has been moved into the HB arena. Kitty has a great background in social and welfare matters and will have hit the ground running. With the arrival of a new Minister and the conclusion of the different task forces and benefit reviews that have been undertaken, the Institute felt it would be a good idea to build on our 2001 HB Inquiry by producing a new paper of ideas, and challenge for the Minister to consider, as part of the review feedback.
Following the views and comments being submitted by the Benefit Faculty Board, the occasional paper was pulled together over the Christmas period by Institute Chief Executive, David Magor and myself, and submitted via post and email to Kitty on 13 January.
I gave a flavour of the highlights of the paper to our members at the Benefit Conference in Southport.
So what does the paper contain? There
are seven ‘visionary’ proposals, covering the following issues:u local authorities as the gateway for all benefit claims; u a benefit database for all benefits;u a verification scheme consistent across all benefits to ensure error does not occur at the start of a claim;u true and inclusive data sharing, ‘backed up’ regularly by HMRC; u a locally run anti-fraud operation should be developed covering all aspects of welfare benefit fraud; u Jobcentre Plus customers should be able to sign on electronically in appropriate cases; andu an electronic single claim form should be developed for all benefits.
These are, of course, only edited highlights but the full paper is now on the IRRV website to be considered further. I do urge you to have a read, and if you support the proposals or want to be involved in helping to develop ideas or provide
evidence please contact myself or any member of the Benefits Faculty Board.
We also have some wishes for the scheme to be modified (of course!) ranging from a unified private rent scheme through to ‘applicable amount’ changes, which are also included within the main paper.
Our next step with this paper is to hopefully meet with the Minister and discuss those of greatest interest and merit. I hope that I can report back, in time, that further work to develop some of these is going on. I feel strongly that this is our time to radically change the face of welfare delivery. I strongly believe that these changes could really help shape a lasting welfare state for the future and that in the longer term, significant savings could be made from a joined up approach for local delivery/access point for benefits.
Customers come to us in the local authorities, we are in the local high streets, our e-claiming abilities and online advice is more advanced for the individual claimant than the centralised agencies and our presence in the community in mobile and remote working speaks for itself. We are already ambassadors for the welfare system, let us make a real difference to the customer by being able to truly offer them a joined up and thorough approach – come on Minister, you know that it makes sense! D
Opportunitycks!kn
Further details of the IRRV’s ‘occasional paper’ on benefits are available in the April issue of Benefit, which is
available as part of the Institute’s Benefits Advisory Service (BAS). To subscribe to BAS visit the website: www.irrv.net.
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➦Julie Holden IRRV MCMI CMg is Head of Revenues and Benefits with Tandridge District Council and IRRV President
Following the IRRV’s submission of an occasional paper on welfare reform, Julie Holden calls for change to the benefits system
➦Gary Watson is the Institute’s Deputy
Chief Executive
Q1: Is there a different interpretation of the ‘six week rule’ for council tax and non-domestic rate?
Answer: Yes. There are additional requirements to be satisfied for the ‘six week rule’ to apply in respect of council tax. It should also be noted that there is no requirement to occupy a dwelling during the ‘six week period’ for it to apply for council tax. This is something that is often misunderstood.
The relevant legislation that supports this finding is set out below:
Council taxRegulation 2(2) Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992 (S.I.1992/558) provides that for the purposes of classes A and C of Regulation 3:a) A dwelling is vacant on any day if on the day:i) in the case of a dwelling consisting of a pitch occupied by a caravan or a mooring occupied by a boat, the caravan or boat is unoccupied; andii) in any other case, the dwelling is unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.b) In considering whether a dwelling has been vacant for any period, any one period, not exceeding six weeks, during which it was not vacant shall be disregarded.
Non-domestic rate Regulation 5 Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) Regulations 1989 (S.I.2008/386) provides that a hereditament which has been unoccupied and becomes occupied on any day shall be treated as having been continuously unoccupied for the purposes of Regulation 4(a and b) if it becomes unoccupied again on the expiration of a period of less than six weeks beginning with that day.
Q2: Can a billing authority charge an unoccupied rate on land (i.e. land usage for storage, land used for car parking, etc) where there are no buildings within the assessment?
Answer: No. In order for a billing authority to charge unoccupied rate, it must be classed as a ‘relevant non-domestic hereditament’. When interpreting a ‘relevant hereditament’, it is important to distinguish between the definitions for both occupied and unoccupied rate – they are completely different.
The relevant legislation that supports this finding is set out below:
occupied rateSection 43(1) Local Government Finance Act 1988 provides that a person (the ratepayer) shall as regards a hereditament be subject to a non-domestic rate in respect of a chargeable financial year if the following conditions are fulfilled in respect of any day in the year:a) on the day the ratepayer is in occupation of all or part of the hereditament; andb) the hereditament is shown for the day in a local non-domestic rating list in force for the year.A hereditament is a ‘relevant hereditament’, if
it consists of property of any of the following:a) lands;b) coal mines;c) mines of any other description, other then a mine of which the royalty or dues are for the time being, wholly reserved in kind; andd) a right to use any land for the purposes of exhibiting advertisements (Section 64(4) Local Government Finance Act 1988).
Unoccupied rateSection 45(1) Local Government Finance Act 1988 provides that a person (the ratepayer) shall as regards a hereditament be subject to a non-domestic rate in respect of a chargeable financial year if the following conditions are fulfilled in respect of any day in the year:-a) on the day none of the hereditament is occupied;b) on the day the ratepayer is the owner of the whole of the hereditament;c) the hereditament is shown for the day in a local non-domestic rating list in force for the year; andd) on the day the hereditament falls within a class prescribed by the Secretary of State by regulations.
The class of non-domestic hereditaments prescribed for the purposes of Section 45(1)(d) Local Government Finance Act 1988 consists of all ‘relevant non-domestic hereditaments’ other than those described in Regulation 4 Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) Regulations 2008 (S.I.2008/386).
A ‘relevant non-domestic hereditament’ means any non-domestic hereditament consisting of, or of part of, any building, together with any land ordinarily used or intended for use for the purposes of the building or part (Regulation 2 S.I.2008/386). D
The IRRV technical enquiry ‘question and answer’ facility is part of the Forum Service.
Insight regularly reproduces highlights, giving practitioners a snapshot of this valuable part of
the Institute’s work. If yours is not one of the 200 plus organisations already using the Forum Service, why not check out what’s on offer.
Visit the website: www.irrv.net and click ‘forums’.
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simultaneously, hopefully included in the subsequent reports. In case you missed it, we said that, “people struggling to pay bills are given as much leeway as possible. As a matter of course, councils contact people a number of times before starting legal proceedings or calling in the bailiffs”. Hopefully this is just what authorities would want us to say. We closed our press release with a heavy heart, concluding that it seems, in terms of getting tough on council tax collection, town halls are “damned if they do and damned if they don’t”.
What lessons can be learned from this? Local government, and the public sector in general, is under fire. You only need look to the publication of the LGA annual forcast of the scale of council tax increases in 2009/10 for an example. The fact that we forecast the second lowest increase ever at 3.5% was ignored – instead, the media hastened to point out how out of tune our forecast was compared to the Treasury’s inflation forecast.
The LGA’s Reputation campaign – which aimed to discover why, when council services are improving, the public perception of local government is not – found that residents judge local authorities on how well informed they feel. It is quite right that you be closely scrutinised as it involves your being able to account for your actions. At a national level we could respond to the research
ot far in to my first day back after the Christmas break, I
was tipped off that research was about to be published to argue that billing authorities are too quick off the mark in taking action to recover council taxes. It was an ideal story for the first week in January and a media that’s only too happy to publish council tax stories would have given the story wide publicity.
But who benefits? Well, the authors of the report would have been only too happy with the number of column inches given to the research – the result of yet another Freedom of Information request that has been responded to. But one wonders how it went down with officers in Southwark and Sheffield, which were highlighted as two of the greatest “offenders”.
And the rest of you? Well, you’ve seen it all before – the year’s first negative council tax story – and you know it won’t be the last. On the bright side, it may have spurred some taxpayers to pick up that reminder letter that was sent before Christmas and make arrangements to pay.
It is not within the power of the Local Government Association (LGA) to prevent such research being published, but what we can do is robustly defend local
authorities’ reputations. With advance knowledge of
publication, we can ensure that our
comments are read
When it comes to council tax enforcement and recovery, local authorities are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, explains David Maddison
because we had the evidence to support what local authorities were doing in terms of billing collection and recovery.
So if the media will not print positive stories, find your own ways of communicating. London commuters may well have noticed adverts on the underground from Hammersmith and Fulham. And in 2007, Kent County Council launched its own internet television channel. Reasonable residents believe that, in terms of council tax, those who can pay, should. So it should be possible to build on that and explain why you take the action that you do.
Finally, I write this just before the 2009/10 bills go out. I hope you have been able to send out business rates bills on time after the unreasonable delay by Communities and Local Government in issuing revised demand notice regulations.
And I hope that council tax payers receiving 2009 bills have done what they usually do – looked only at the bottom line, and not flooded you and your call centres with questions about efficiency statements. Your life is difficult enough as it is! D
Catch 22?
➦David Maddison is Policy Consultant with the Local Government
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“Could do better” was a phrase which often appeared on my school reports, and it seems to also be the message in two recently published reports, from Experian and the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM), relating to websites.
The reports indicate a decline in the quality of websites and a lack of understanding of citizens’ requirements. We still don’t appear to be utilising the most accessed channel and even seem to be allowing the situation to get worse.
The first report was from Experian, which undertook research into authentication issues and trust between local authorities and citizens when identifying the customer. The report highlights substantial differences in viewpoints between what officers believe the citizen wants and what the citizen actually wants. These are highlighted below:
Local Government’s viewu 20% believe there is no security risk in storing identity documents on-site;u 67% of officers surveyed believe identity
➦Simon Bailey IRRV is a Director of ISCAS:
contact him at: [email protected] (www.iscas.co.uk)
According to recent reports, the internet is rising in popularity but decreasing in
usability, which is not good news for local authorities. Simon Bailey reports
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2. Overall how do you rate the service? and 3. If you believe the service was poor, please tell us why?
These same questions were asked over the three main access channels of face-to-face, telephone and the internet.
So which channel do customers prefer? Surprisingly, the telephone channel gave the highest satisfaction rate, with face-to-face being second and websites being a poor third. Yet it is the web that attracts the most number of visitors.
The main reason for telephone dissatisfaction is the delay in answering, but when citizens did get through they at least had their questions answered. Their dissatisfaction with the internet was because their queries had not been resolved, which is worrying, as they would then be unlikely to re-visit the website.
So why are people visiting council websites? The SOCITM report highlights that the main reason was for viewing job vacancies, followed by information on schools and leisure. Making a payment and finding out about housing were way down the list.
The credit crunch is having an effect, and I am aware of more visitors to local authority websites, searching for help on debt, benefits and what happens if they don’t pay. These are the top stories that should now be taking the headline spots on home pages. Many
sites now have specific areas where questions can be asked, and based on these questions, visitors can be directed to specific areas of the site, which would be a much more intuitive way of finding information.
Is the situation for websites getting better? Well, it would appear to be yes and no! In the survey,
the percentage of people who found the information they
were looking for had increased from last year. But the percentage of people not finding the information had also increased. So while it is good news that more people are finding information, it would be better if this was at the expense of those not finding information, showing a real trend in improvement.
The SOCITM survey is just one of many reports. And each one gives invaluable information as to web activity and use. If you pester your web master to let you read them, they will be really pleased that somebody is taking an interest in developing their own area of the website. Not only from a content level, but also to take into account the findings of SOCITM and Experian, as outlined in this article.
I believe that citizens really do favour the web as their access channel, but are finding that it is not providing them with the information they require. We still do not understand the needs of people, and it is only with the data from surveys such as those provided by SOCITM and Experian that we will understand their needs and act accordingly.
Could do better? Marks 5/10 – room for improvement! D
passport really confirmation as to the identity of an individual? The report highlights some fascinating statistics that should make us think the next time we accept these documents as proof of identity:u there are 80 million active National Insurance numbers in the UK, despite the fact that the country’s population is only 60 million; u in 2006, the Identity and Passport Service had 16,500 fraudulent applications, 10,000 of which went undetected;
u in 2008, 3,000 blank passports were stolen in a raid on a delivery van; andu there were around 2,500 fraudulent applications for driving licences detected by the DVLA in the 12-month period up to March 2007.
I personally find the first statistic the most disturbing!
Experian believes that by the end of 2009, two thirds of financial organisations will use a series of national databases to perform electronic authentication for identity purposes. Electronic authentication is clearly a more efficient and effective process than paper-based methods, and based upon the statistics above, will provide a “true” picture of who the citizen actually is!
SOCITM’s report reviews the channels and range of services being delivered, together with their cost and performance. It is a useful read for any revenues and benefits manager, as it covers areas such as housing and council tax benefits, together with the delivery of council tax and NNDR enquiries.
For satisfaction of service delivery, customer feedback was measured by asking:1. What was the reason for your visit today?
“We still don’t appear to be utilising the most accessed channel and even seem to be allowing the situation to get worse”
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fraud is a problem in relation to the services they provide; u 54% stated that customers can apply online but only 8% stated the ID verification process was automated;u 30% worryingly admitted that they were not considering online authentication at present; andu only 8% think that customers are unhappy or very unhappy with the current paper-based systems.
Citizen’s view u 40% think the most significant improvement in customer service that local authorities could provide was to offer services over the internet; andu a third of citizens find paper-based authentication either inconvenient or very inconvenient.
One of the more worrying points to be raised was that authorities are still using traditional paper methods of authentication – often asking for a driving licence as proof of ID – only 8% of the respondents used an electronic ID checking system. Yet when customers were asked “what could your local government do to improve the level of customer service they offer?”, 40% of respondents replied “provide services over the internet”.
The need to establish identity by paper-based methods will seriously hinder online applications. The report also highlighted that as well as creating a fragmented process, sending important documents in the post poses a security risk. But why is paper ID so important? Are documents such as a
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ocal authority council tax practitioners will be well aware that substantial numbers of council tax bands have been reduced over the last year or so, as a result of taxpayers making
appeals or representations to their Listing Officer (LO). In many cases, the effective date is 1 April 1993.
However, I understand that, when a LO reduces a council tax band retrospectively, some council tax practitioners are setting aside the effective date advised by the LO and substituting the tax liability start date of the current taxpayer for the effective date advised by the LO. Thus, adjustment notices and refunds were not produced for previous taxpayers of the property unless those earlier taxpayers contacted the council to claim the refund. Clearly, unless the previous taxpayer is in contact with the new occupier (very unlikely) they will be totally unaware that they are owed a refund for their time as taxpayer, which can amount to a very substantial sum.
To ignore the effective date provided by the LO is wholly illegal.
Section 22 to the Local Government Finance Act (LGFA) requires the LO for the billing authority’s (BA) area to compile and maintain a council tax valuation list for that BA.
LSection 22 to the LGFA and regulation 2 to
the Council Tax (Contents of Valuation Lists) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/553) require that the valuation list shows (inter alia) the valuation band applicable to the dwelling concerned, and an “…indication…of the period for which or, as the case may be, the day from which [an] alteration has effect…”.
Regulation 18 to the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/613) (the A & E regulations) requires BAs to issue a demand notice with respect to every financial year and regulation 19 states that the demand shall “…be served on or as soon as practicable after the day the billing authority first sets an amount of council tax for the relevant year for the category of dwellings which includes the chargeable dwelling…”, concerned.
Regulation 20 to the A & E regulations states: “If the demand notice is issued before or during the relevant year, the notice shall require the making of payments on account of the amount referred to in paragraph (2).(2) The amount is:-(a) the billing authority’s estimate of the chargeable amount, made as respects the relevant year or part, as the case may be, on the assumptions referred to in paragraph (3); or(b) where an amount falls to be credited by the billing authority against the chargeable amount, the amount (if any) by which the amount estimated as mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) exceeds the amount falling to be so credited.(3) The assumptions are:-(a) that the person will be liable to pay the council tax to which the notice relates on every day after the issue of the notice; or(b) that, as regards the dwelling concerned, the relevant valuation band on the day the notice is
Reimbursing funds after a council tax banding reduction is a troublesome task for practitioners, but it needn’t be if regulations are followed properly. Paul Russell reports
Council tax needn’t be taxing!
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“Where a forwarding address is known with respect to a former council tax payer, that person must be sent an adjustment notice and the overpaid sum be repaid to that person”
issued will remain the relevant valuation band for the dwelling as regards every day after the issue of the notice...”8. Regulation 31 to the A & E regulations says:(1) This regulation applies where:-(a) a notice has been issued by a billing authority under this Part requiring a payment or payments to be made by a person in respect of his liability to pay council tax for a financial year or part of a financial year,(b) the payment or payments required to be made are found to be in excess of or less than his liability for the year or the part; and(c) provision for adjusting the amounts required under the notice and (as appropriate) for the making of additional payments or the repaying or crediting of any amount overpaid is not made by any other provision of this Part, of the Act or of any agreement entered into under regulation 21(5).(2) The billing authority shall as soon as practicable after the expiry of the year or the part of a year serve a further notice on the person stating the amount of his liability for the year or the part, and adjusting (by reference to that amount) the amounts required to be paid under the notice referred to in paragraph (1)(a).(3) …(4) If there has been an overpayment, the amount overpaid for which such other provision as is mentioned in paragraph (1)(c) is not made:-(a) shall be repaid if the person so requires; or(b) in any other case shall (as the billing authority determines) either be repaid or be credited against any subsequent liability of the person to make a payment in respect of any council tax of the authority.”So far as service of notices is concerned, regulation 2 to the A&E regulations states that
service shall be in accordance with section 233 to the Local Government Act 1972 s.233(2) & (4) of which says:“(2) Any such document may be given to or served on the person in question either by delivering it to him, by leaving it at his proper address, or sending it by post at that address…;(4) For the purposes of this section and of section 26 of the Interpretation Act 1889 (service of documents by post) in its application to this section, the proper address of any person to or on whom a document is to be given or served shall be his last known address…”.
So the first demand notice must be issued on the assumption that the band for the dwelling concerned will remain as it is in the valuation list. Where that valuation band is subsequently reduced by the LO a BA is required by regulation 31 above to issue a further notice as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year concerned and regulation 2 (incorporating section 233 to the Local Government Act 1972) requiring that the notice be served on the “last known address”. Where this results in an overpayment, the resultant credit must be repaid unless the BA is aware of a subsequent council tax liability of that person to that BA.
If the BA is unaware of a forwarding address, but is aware that an individual council taxpayer has moved from the property concerned, there is no requirement on the BA to make investigations as to the current address. However, where a forwarding address is known, then the notice must be served on that address.
So regulation 31 to the A&E regulations makes it absolutely clear that, where a council tax band is retrospectively reduced and there is a resultant overpayment, it is mandatory on the BA concerned to issue a further notice on the council tax payer concerned, whether or not that person or those persons have moved to a different address, and that the notice must be served on them at the last known address.
While I accept that the regulations stop short of imposing any investigative duty on the BA, the effective date provided by the LO is not in any way limited to the current taxpayer. If the LO reduces the council tax band retrospectively, which can be as far back as 1st April 1993, there is a duty on the BA to make the resultant adjustments and issue adjustment notices to all persons who are currently or have been taxpayers from the date of the effective date of the reductions onwards, unless there is no subsequent address known to the BA.
Clearly there will be some cases where taxpayers have moved without providing the BA with a forwarding address. In many situations, the person will move within the BA area and/or the BA will locate the person by other means. Where no subsequent address is known, the BA is not under a duty to issue an adjustment notice or refund unless or until that person is located.
I understand that, with the ability of the LO to reduce bands as far back as to 1st April 1993, it can place a considerable burden on BAs to issue adjustment notices and refund the overpayments concerned. However, the law is clear – where a forwarding address is known with respect to a former council tax payer, that person must be sent an adjustment notice and the overpaid sum be repaid to that person. D
➦Paul Russell LLB, IRRV is an
independent specialist law consultant and
can be contacted at: paul-russell@
btconnect.com
Legal corner
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Despite such promising beginnings, local government is in danger of turning to increasingly desperate measures to survive. Tom Dixon reports
eremy Paxman’s recent television series The Victorians rightly highlighted the tremendous contribution of local government in the development of society in the 19th century. Public
utilities, arts, sport, social housing and education – not to mention the less obvious but fundamental benefits of mains drainage and urban planning – created a lasting legacy from which we continue to benefit from to this day.
How very sad therefore that in 2009, local authorities are generally regarded as failures in all these functions, and their main interface with their citizens is as tax gatherers and enforcers of increasingly dubious legislation against the individual. It is a dismal indication of the depths to which local government has sunk that the House of Lords has felt obliged to challenge the powers which local authorities have taken upon themselves to investigate individuals and potentially infringe their human rights. So where did it all go wrong?
The seeds of the present disaster were probably sewn during the massive increase in public infrastructure that followed World War II. The 1944 Education Act, The Town and
J
Country Planning Act of 1947 and, although not directly related to local government, the National Health Service Act in 1948 all imposed a huge burden of regulation on the nation which local government was largely expected to administer. While these regimes brought significant benefits, local government became the meat in the sandwich – it was held responsible by the electorate and Whitehall for any failures to deliver the system and central government was unwilling to adequately fund its local agent to fulfil its designated roles.
There is nothing new in this credibility gap between central government and local responsibility. Indeed the Poor Law Relief Act of 1601, which introduced the rating system as a property tax measure, was a direct consequence of the Poor Law of 1575, which charged local authorities with a duty to provide housing but failed to give them the financial wherewithal to fulfil such a major task. Arguably the 1601 Act was the key to local government’s subsequent successes, because it provided an independent tax-raising capacity which enabled local authorities to finance and plan for their various responsibilities. As the infrastructure expanded, central government funding was increasingly required so that by the 1960s local government relied on the Treasury for some 55% of its expenditure. However, its independent powers of revenue-raising ensured that it maintained sufficient self financing capacity to remain independent from Whitehall.
The Conservative government of the 1980s, under Margaret Thatcher, destroyed this fundamental balance of power. Local authorities lost the power to raise tax on
ridiculousto the
From the
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commercial property under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and the National Non Domestic Rate reverted to the Treasury, although with cynical subtlety the responsibility for collecting the tax remained at local level, along with any associated blame for failures in the system. Local authorities were left with the abysmal Community Charge, a tax so patently unfair and regressive that it was abandoned within two years of its introduction.
Authorities were then landed with the contentious council tax on domestic property, but their independence was, in reality, destroyed. They were left with control of less than 13% of their overall budget requirements. Even council tax is being further undermined by central government’s spineless cancellation of the revaluation in 2007.
It is a simple fact of life that “he who pays the piper calls the tune,” and while the present tax regime remains, local government will never be more than a somewhat dislocated arm of the Treasury.
There has been a further and particularly disturbing development in local government funding as a result of this mismatch. As a sop to continuing under-funding complaints, local authorities have been given tax-raising powers in areas where they have no business to operate. Given their financial desperation, it is perhaps unsurprising, but wholly unacceptable (and ultimately fatal to their role) that they have sought to maximise the revenue available by these means at the cost of fairness to their public.
The first example, and it should have been a warning against subsequent developments, was the transfer of parking enforcement from the police to town halls. This switch from
to avoid payment of compensation until legal proceedings were threatened. This is no way to “serve” the British public.
Far from recognising the unacceptability of these practices, government, both central and local, has pressed ahead with yet more dubious revenue
raising schemes. The introduction of litter wardens, while commendable in theory, is unacceptable in practice when it appears that wardens, who are incentivised on their number of successful “prosecutions”, go to unacceptable lengths to identify “offenders”. Dropping a cigarette butt into a gutter should not amount to an immediately finable public offence.
As a next step, a vast network of closed circuit television cameras have been installed, initially in the guise of public safety, but now transformed into big brother style traffic enforcement tools resulting in the police no longer being allowed to exercise their statutory authority. Instead, an unqualified television operator can press a button and issue a fine, with stringent late payment penalties, without the defendant even being aware of their alleged offence. In my view this is an abuse of public powers – it is very widespread and increasingly so. It is not the role for which local government is elected. We appoint the police to enforce such laws as we consider necessary to maintain a civilised society.
Secretly pursuing individuals for financial gain is not a proper role for local government, and if it continues, the entire credibility of local administration will be open to question. D
regulation to fundraising was compounded by subcontracting the task to private companies, a number of whom operate under the most dubious of financial schemes, which have resulted in a number of high profile scandals of unlawful collection and enforcement.
A primary example occurred in West Yorkshire where the enforcing authority was digitally altering photographic evidence in order to secure prosecutions, and a series of undercover investigations by the press have revealed significant criminal activity in the operation of parking fines. The government’s response has been to “issue new guidelines” – a wholly ineffectual response which gives credence to a theory of connivance to perpetrate these misdemeanours.
In another case, a legally parked car was removed by Lambeth Council’s parking enforcers, who refused to return the vehicle without receiving payment of an exorbitant fine, despite the fact that the illegal removal was being challenged. The Chief Executive of Lambeth Council was ultimately obliged to authorise a public apology on BBC’s Watchdog, and promised full compensation. In the meantime the vehicle had been destroyed. No apology was sent and the council sought
ridiculous ➦Tom Dixon is an IRRV Past President,
Council member and a senior partner with
Sanderson Weatherall
“There is nothing new in this credibility gap between central government and local responsibility”
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Viewpoint
erformance management is just as important for a private sector company like RB Solutions as it is for a local authority – but perhaps a little less complicated.
Where local authorities are driven by the government, senior management and the customer, a company like ours is driven by the customer only.
The principles of performance management are straightforward – they are about how the organisation’s capacity, resources and people are managed in order to deliver its ambitions, plans and services. But putting these principles into practice is not always so straightforward.
Performance measurementMeasurement in council tax billing and collection is as important as a compass is for an explorer – if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there! Which is exactly what would happen to tax collection or benefits activity if no measurements were taken. Behind every efficient organisation there is a set of indicators to monitor various activities.
The purpose of performance measurement and management is communication, motivation, control and improvement, and the setting of progressive objectives is a powerful tool to ensure achievement, with standards and objectives set out in the business plan.
Successful councils measure their performance, and identify actions to take to improve. So a starting point is to review existing performance measures to determine if there is a consistent and robust approach to developing performance measures that are challenging enough to encourage improved performance.
Performance managementThis can be defined as taking action in response to actual performance, to enhance outcome. Before you can take action, performance has to be monitored against pre-agreed criteria. The key elements of performance management can be summarised into five building blocks: u aspirations to stretch and motivate the revenues and benefits service; u a coherent set of performance measures and targets against which performance and progress can be measured; u ownership and accountability to ensure that individuals who are best placed to ensure delivery of targets have real ownership; u rigorous performance review to ensure that continuously improving performance is being delivered in line with expectations; andu reinforcement to motivate individuals to deliver the targeted performance. If there is a desire to improve performance and to understand what makes performance management work on a day-to-day basis, it is
first essential to recognise the importance of performance management: u a clear vision;u developing performance measures - focusing on outcomes;u commitment to and accountability for results; andu transparent and effective monitoring in place.
But why measure performance? One of the most important aspects of revenues collection and benefit service delivery is ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in the service delivery process on the basis that what gets measured, gets done.
RB Solutions’ performance is driven by individual local authority clients, who, quite rightly, have individual needs and demands,
and, therefore, managing performance has become a critical part of our business because unless we can show our clients that we are meeting their requirements, then they cannot meet the performance levels and reporting requirements set.
To assist the approach, we developed a Performance Management & Quality Assurance system (PMQA), enabling us to quickly and easily monitor the work and the performance of all staff and produce reports detailing the information at regular intervals.
Targets are agreed at the outset of the contract, and the PMQA system allows us to continually monitor performance against them. In terms of quality it allows for different levels of checks to be selected for individual local authorities, as required by them, and which can be varied at any time at the request of the customer.
The information produced can be viewed within the system any time, and analysed for trends to ensure performance is on target and staff are continually improving.
The PMQA application was initially designed and written for internal use because we needed a system that allowed us to monitor the work for each contract – all local authorities for which we have processed revenues or benefits have utilised the system. It is now a ‘stand-alone’ application, and many local authorities have acquired it for their own service.
Basically performance measurement is about good management. Its only purpose is to deliver a better quality service, which is something that companies like RB Solutions have in common with all local authorities. D
“The purpose of performance measurement and management is communication, motivation, control and improvement”
➦Mark Poole is Operations Director
with RB Solutions
The customer
keyisP
The private sector is utilising performance management to ensure an efficient customer service. RB Solutions’ Mark Poole reports
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Interested to learn more?If you would like an on-site demonstration or a noobligation trial contact us at RB Solutions on:
Do You Manage Performance?If you don’t - we can help. If you do - we can help you improve.
We are the LEADING SUPPLIER of remote processing services for Revenues& Benefits, and our clients expect EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT ANDREPORTING of our staff performance and quality levels.
To meet our clients’ expectations we have afully functional Performance Management& Quality Checking system that -
� Is now available to all LocalAuthorities
� Has the ability to set targetsand monitor performance
� Identifies the strengths &weaknesses of individualstaff
� Control how many QAchecks are selected foreach person
� Automatically notifies theresults to relevant users and teamleaders/managers
� Can drill down, analyse vital informationand produce reports in real time.
0161 3317400 or [email protected] visit our website at www.rbsolutions.uk.comThe clear Solution
2008 Performance Awards
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