tailor made - irrv.net€¦ · for economies of scale and innovation. another pleasing feature is...

How two local authorities have joined together their revenues and benefits teams

● The Local Government Network Report ● Competency Frameworks ● The pain of overpayments

The Journal for members of the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation

August 2006ISSN 1361-1305£5.50

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NEWSTRAFFIC CONTROL UNDER ATTACKMPs take issue with the “seriously flawed” parking enforcement system

6ASSOCIATION NEWSThe inter-association golf match, the West Midlands May Ball and the Wessex Association AGM

8

REGULARSDIRECTOR’S NOTESWhy shared services should not be entered into lightly

5EDUCATIONNew developments for examinations

18NEW MEMBERSAll the movers and shakers

19LEGAL CORNERThe challenge of identifying the occupier of a non-domestic property

20

FEATURESONCE UPON A TIMEHot topics and headline makers from past editions of Insight

9

FROM HERE AND THEREA call for IRRV members to share their experiences of joint working

10VIEWPOINTHave the Government launched an all-out assault on the rights of the individual?

11COVER STORYTwo district councils experiment with a new model of shared services

12MANAGEMENTSean Langley argues for the importance of outcomes over targets

14E-GOVERNMENTThe advantages of CRM technology

16QUALITYThe first in a series of articles on competency frameworks

17BENEFITSHow to handle overpayments

22

In thIs Issue...

14

22

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F 01908 306 505 Editorial T 01992 505529 E [email protected]

IRRV Insight

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Insight August 2006 3

August 2006 ISSN 1361-1305

© IRRV 2006. 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 Insight is produced by Aspect Media on behalf of the IRRV. Unless otherwise indicated, copyright in this publication belongs to the IRRV.

IRRV President Suzanne Dean IRRV CPFA; Senior Vice President Allan Traynor FCCA IRRV Junior Vice President Bob Trahern IRRV; Simon Bailey IRRV MinstPA; David Chapman IRRV; Ian Charman FRICS IRRV; Barbara Culverhouse IRRV CPFA; Carol Cutler IRRV; Tom Dixon RD BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV; Pat Doherty CPFA IRRV; Richard Guy FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV MCIArb; Richard Harbord MPhil CPFA FCCA IRRV FIDP FBIM FRSA; Julie Holden IRRV; Caroline Hopkins IRRV; Bill Lovell IRRV; Kerry Macdermott IRRV; Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV; Maureen Neave MBA Tech IRRV; John Roberts IRRV; Helen Robertson IRRV; Eric Rose FRICS IRRV; Arthur Scott IRRV; Kevin Stewart IRRV; Angela Storey Tech IRRV; Alan Titheridge CPFA IRRV; Gary Watson IRRV.

12

director’s notes

T he shared service debate is underway. Local government has embraced the Gershon agenda and

is working with the Regional Centres of Excellence to deliver services which embrace the key elements of efficiency and best value. Needless to say, revenues and benefits services are at the forefront of innovation.

Many partnerships are already underway, ranging from simple service procurement arrangements to full blown partnerships.

Two such partnerships are the Anglia Revenues Partnership – a collaboration between three district councils, Forest Heath, Breckland and East Cambridgeshire – and the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership between the Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council being delivered by Capita (see cover story). These two models represent modern thinking that is free of the shackles of restrictive outsourcing contracts.

Both arrangements are sufficiently local to retain a strong element of accountability and scrutiny, together with enough volume to give opportunities

for economies of scale and innovation. Another pleasing feature is the transparency of the arrangements, with shared client officers and open book accounting. This means there should be a genuine audit trail to the cashable savings.

Contrast these examples with the large scale joint arrangements being proposed elsewhere. There is talk of partnerships of up to 40 local authorities (LAs), but the approach appears to concentrate on cost. There seems to be little regard for customer care and frontline service delivery. It is important to remember local government cannot choose its customers. Local government’s service delivery is unique. If you move to de-centralised, anonymous customer contact, quality and performance will suffer.

In judging whether these proposals are appropriate, LAs must test the integrity of the figures. All shared service arrangements must be subjected to a rigorous risk assessment to ensure savings and quality do not become an illusion. The Institute wants to see the Gershon agenda embraced, but not at the expense of the integrity of the very systems it is trying to improve. n

David MagorDirector

insight August 2006 5

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE?

“ The Institute wants

to see the Gershon

agenda embraced,

but not at the expense

of the integrity of the

very systems it is

trying to improve.”The IRRV would like to thank the

following companies for their sponsorship of the

Scottish Conference 2006:

Sponsor of Delegate Bags

Sponsor of Main Stage Set

Sponsor of Corporate Hospitality

Scottish.qxd 18/7/06 9:11 am Page 1

www.synergygroup.co.uk

The Synergy Group has over eight years experience providing professionalrevenues and benefits staff to local authorities across the UK. In October 2005 welaunched our new management consultancy solutions team who deal solely withthe recruitment of head of revenues and benefits, interim managers andconsultants for special project work.

We now have a high number of excellent candidates working in variousconsultancy positions throughout the UK. Our clients have been extremely happywith the service they have received from The Synergy Group and also thecommitment and expertise they have gained from the candidate.

Due to the high demand of expertise at this level we are always looking forconsultants who have experience of the following:

• Revenues and Benefits management.• Fraud management. • Project management to include systems implementation, procurement,

CRM set up, Dips Implementation.• Special projects work to include subsidy and reconciliation, writing

policies and procedures, performance reviews, BFI and CPA guidance,best value reviews, performance monitoring, health checks and counter fraud and interventions assistance.

If you would be interested in registering with our management service solutionsteam please call Andy Rolfe on 0207 556 1131 or [email protected] quoting ADV1677.

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6 insight August 2006

news

SLICE OF thE CakEA report has urged Sir Michael Lyons

to recommend that councils collect and retain money

from national taxes if he is serious about giving them

financial independence.The New Local Government Network

report, ‘Pacing Lyons: a route map to localism’, suggests councils should keep the first 10 pence in the pound on income tax and part of the stamp duty land tax.

Councils would also retain portions

of fuel duty and vehicle excise duty,

thus cutting their grant dependence. In addition,

a streamlined regionally

16 LAs are running pilot schemes offering council tax rebates for more energy efficient homes. But there are no plans for a national scheme, says the Government, despite calls from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee for it to be given consideration.

A recent report published by the Environmental Audit Committee on sustainable housing, suggests one of the major obstacles to financial incentives being offered to homeowners for going green is Treasury opposition. Financial incentives in the form of council tax rebates are already being piloted by Cambridge, Croydon, Solihull, Salford and Braintree.

According to the report, the pilot scheme launched in 2004 in partnership with British Gas, saw Braintree District Council launch what was billed as the first green council tax rebate. This offered residents in Braintree a rebate of £100 on their council tax if they installed cavity wall insulation.

In its report, the Committee recommended the Government consider reducing both stamp duty and council tax for those homes built to higher environmental standards and that any consultations such incentives might prompt should be completed in advance of the 2007 spending review undertaken by the Treasury.

A massive overhaul of Britain’s unfair, discredited, and “seriously flawed” parking enforcement system is to follow a damning report by MPs. Councils and their parking operators have been condemned for “poor judgment, lack of professionalism and sharp practice” that has brought the “inconsistent and confused” system into disrepute.

The system is branded “a mess” and “a serious indictment” of the Government and local councils whose stewardship of parking, that raises £1.2 billion a year, has left millions of motorists “angry and frustrated”, say ministers.

The Government is to act after the publication of a watchdog report by MPs on the Commons Transport Select Committee, which wants the parking arrangements to be “firm but fair”. Many of the measures recommended by MPs are to be taken up. These include: n increasing the grace period before a car can be clamped from 15 minutes to an hour; n outlawing the setting of financial or other incentive targets on the number of tickets issued by wardens; n bringing in a two-tier system of penalties, with

PARKING FINES UNDER FIREENERGY EFFICIENT TAX

news


SLICE OF thE CakEvaried two-band council tax would be retained, with capping abolished and revaluations every five years.

The report advocates reforms which would see the assigning of parts of national taxes to local government in a new form of hybrid grant, Assigned Tax as Grant (ATAG), where tax rates are set nationally but tax revenue from the locality is retained locally. Funding streams to local government would be increased from two to eight, meaning local councils would be less reliant on council tax as a way of increasing revenue. It would also allow councils to be more targeted in how they spend their income on local priorities.

Business rates would be returned to local authority (LA) control, but capped at the LA’s rate of council tax increase. Design of an equalisation system would fall to the Local Government Association. The localised taxes as grants would include: n the one per cent rate of stamp duty land tax on the first band of £60,000 to £150,000; n the 10 pence rate of income tax, though it would be collected nationally; n the first 10 pence of the 50 pence fuel duty per litre; n Vehicle Excise Duty.

The report recommends councils should also be empowered to create additional new local taxes if they hold a referendum and gain 55 per cent support or majority support on a turnout of 50 per cent or more. The report also favours radical changes to the existing grant regime. Most specific grants would be abolished, and an equalisation grant and a performance grant would be the two main grant funds.

PARKING FINES UNDER FIRE

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is consulting on proposals for the modernisation and reorganisation of Valuation Tribunals in England. The DCLG proposes establishing a single Valuation Tribunal for England with a president and vice presidents. The deadline for response is 8 September.

DCLG SEEK CONSULTATION

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has executed what is believed to be the first warrant of possession following a sale order being granted. The property was subject to a charging order and the nisi was obtained in October 2004 with the absolute being granted on 1 December 2004.

As the charge payer did not respond to the charging order, and the property was known to be empty, the Council applied for a sale order in December 2005 and it was granted on 27 January. The actual warrant for possession was finally executed on 14 June. At that point, the outstanding council tax debt was £5,067.65 plus fees. It has come to light since that the charge payer also owes Barking and Dagenham £3,065 in sundry debts.

A FIRST FOR BARKING

a lower rate of fines for lesser infringements, such as overstaying by a few minutes at a meter, and steeper penalties of up to

£120 for more serious offences, such as deliberately parking on a double yellow line.

Commenting on the Transport Select Committee’s report, Local Government Association Environment Board chair David Sparks said: “Councils must have the freedom to make decisions on parking enforcement in their area. Only authorities, with their local knowledge, have the ability to make decisions which are suited to local circumstances. “Any revenue raised from fixed penalty charges is retained

locally for funding the enforcement system. Any surplus money is spent on local transport investment such as road

maintenance and street lighting.”Association of London Government transport and environment

committee chair Daniel Moylan said: “A number of the Committee’s recommendations are already being put in place in

London, but the report still gives us food for thought. Parking enforcement is an emotive subject and we are always ready to listen to objective views on how we can enhance the system.”

See this month’s IRRV Traffic Revenues Supplement for a report on the Government’s consultation on parking enforcement.

RATE RELIEF AMENDEDThe DCLG have consulted on plans to amend the small business rate relief system in England. The proposals include: n relaxing the requirement for ratepayers to make an application for SBRR every year, provided the circumstances relating to the initial application remain the same; and n making it a condition of entitlement to relief that changes in circumstances must be notified to the billing authority. It is proposed that failure to notify changes to the billing authority should result in a loss of relief until such notification is made.

PROUD TO BE WELSHSue Essex, the Minister for Finance, Local Government and Public Services in the Welsh Assembly Government, has said Wales is at the forefront of local taxation. At a conference held by the Governing Council of the Valuation Tribunal Service for Wales, Ms Essex emphasised Wales’ successful council tax revaluation and Transitional Relief Scheme. Other speakers gave papers on areas of interest to the 90 lay tribunal members and 17 tribunal members of staff present.

NEWS IN BRIEF


newsASSOcIATION NEWS

LAs in England are on course to deliver a further £1.3 billion worth of efficiency gains in 2006/07, according to figures published by DCLG. These expected savings, identified by LAs in their annual forward look efficiency statements, compare with £1.1 billion in 2005/06

The figures highlight that, if the reported efficiency gains are delivered, local government is well on its way to meeting the £3 billion Gershon target a year ahead of schedule. Minister for Local Government, Phil Woolas, said: “These figures illustrate councils’ continued commitment to finding further opportunities for efficiency gains. ”

LAs In A GOOD PLACE

Many people do not use direct debit (DD) because they feel it does not give them control over their finances, according to research commissioned by BACS.

BACS managing director Michael Chambers said: “If uptake of DD for council tax collection were to increase to an average of 70 per cent nationally, the potential savings would be more than £15 million.”

The research shows that more than a third of people

(39 per cent) choose a method of payment other than DD because they feel it gives them control over when they make their payment. Offering flexible payment dates would help overcome the issue, with people nominating the best date for funds to leave their account.

A further 14 per cent say they are not offered the facility, with 13 per cent claiming there’s no financial incentive to move to DD. Six per cent simply haven’t thought about using DD to pay.

The West Midlands Association held their Annual May Ball at the Paramount Hinckley Island Hotel in May. Association President, Barry Powell, made a special presentation to John Owen, who has recently retired from the Association Executive. Speeches were made by IRRV President Suzanne Dean, Association Vice President Sue Williams-Lee and East Midlands Association President Rob Andrews.

PICTURED ARE ThE OvERALL wINNING TEAM, FROM ThE SCOTTISh ASSOCIATION TEAM, FROM LEFT TO RIGhT: D CUSITER, T OGILvIE, BILL LOUGhREY (IBS) GEORGE ThOMAS AND JACEK NOvAK.

Scottish Association golf triumph

A successful inter-association golf match was held in June at the Moor Allerton Golf Club, sponsored by IBS OPENSystems. The Sponsors Competition was won by W Loughrey and A Siewek. Organisers Gil Young and Ken Garrett thanked Horsfields Financial Services and Scott & Co for sponsoring ‘Nearest the Pin’ prizes. The ball sweep raised £480 for the IRRV Benevolent Fund.

DIRECT DEBIT TOO InFLeXIBLe

west Midlands Annual May Ball

ASSOcIATION DIARyLancashire and Cheshire Association

Golf Match against Yorkshire and District Association 13 September 2006 Rossendale Golf Club

Enforcement Seminar 14 September 2006 Half day seminar at Warrington Town Hall

Metropolitan and Home Counties Association

Golf Day Monday 11 September South Herts Golf Club

For more information contact Roy Tilbury at [email protected] or Andy Cummins at [email protected].

wessex Association AGMFollowing last year’s highly successful format of combining the AGM with a day’s training/mini-conference at St Mary’s Stadium, there was maximum attendance again this year at the Manor House, Marwell Zoo. The day started with David Airey giving a round-up of the developments in revenue and benefits over the last year. Chris Croft then explained how to manage change successfully and the role of Project Management and Motivation strategies in the change process.

Following the AGM, Suzanne Dean, IRRV President, talked about the “IRRV into the 21st Century”. After a buffet lunch, those attending heard Cdr John Hartley, RN explain how military leadership concepts could be successfully used in civilian management. Using “salty” cartoons and Lord Nelson’s example to illustrate, he showed how leadership qualities are timeless.

The Valuation & Lands Agency in Northern Ireland has sent out 700,000 valuation notification letters to domestic ratepayers across Northern Ireland, advising them of their new capital value assessments, which will be the basis of their rates bill for 2007.

The notification letters provide information on the new capital valuation system, and an individual assessment of each house, based on the open market value at 1 January 2005.

Finance Minister David Hanson MP described the new system as both “fair and transparent”. He said: “After the valuation notifications have been received, householders can use the period until the end of March 2007 to seek clarification on their assessments, advise of any incorrect data and if necessary ask to have the assessment reviewed”.

The capital values will be available on the Valuation & Lands Agency’s website at www.mycapitalvalueni.gov.uk.

The minister also announced the package of reliefs to reduce the impact of rates on low income households. He said: “40,000 households could receive assistance under the new scheme.” Transitional relief will be available where rates bills increase by more than 33 per cent. Those entitled to relief will not have to pay full rates bills until 2010/11.

NEW RATES FOR IReLAnD’s HOMes

ONCE UPON A TIME

John Roberts reveals the hot

topics in past editions of Insight

Hansard reports an average increase of 150 per cent in domestic rates between 1979/80 and 1986/87 – a contributory factor towards the demise of the faithful old system, no doubt!

SUMMER HEAT

John Lee introduces readers to his dislike of, “using initials as though they were words” (I think we call them acronyms these days!), with houses in multiple occupation (HIMOs) and houses occupied in parts (HOIPs) singled out for particular attention.

20 years

ago

The advance publicity for the Annual Conference at Scarborough introduces keynote speakers John Major MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for State for Social Security, and David Owen, MP, Leader of the Social Democratic Party (remember them?!).

The Annual General Meeting proposes an increase in membership subscriptions of around five per cent, taking the Fellow grade to a princely £59.

Secretary Brian Hill champions the Association’s opposition to a government proposal for a minimum 20 per cent contribution by all domestic taxpayers towards the new community charge.

The RVA plays its part in the eighth international symposium on property tax in Copenhagen, sponsored jointly by the International Association of Assessing Officers and the Lincoln Institute, both of the USA.

10 years

ago

John Roberts is Immediate Past President

of the IRRV and a member of the IRRV Council


Labour’s manifesto “New Labour, New Life for Britain” raises the spectre of ‘best value’ for the first time!

An opposition spokesman addresses the new Local Government Association, warning a change in power does not necessarily mean more money for local government. His name? Tony Blair!

The European Court of Human rights ruling in the case of Stephen Benham, imprisoned for non-payment of poll tax, identifies a breach of the right to a fair trial.

Barbara Culverhouse’s article calls for the greater representation of women in the Institute. She says the IRRV’s new Women’s Committee should address the fact only eight per cent of corporate members are women.

York City Council modernises its direct debit collection processes by adopting the new telecommunications link, BACSTEL.

The Benefits Agency abandons its freephone advice service following concerns that many calls still have to be referred to local authority benefits staff…now there’s a surprise!


from here AND there

BOLTED TOGETHERWill shared services really help build a better benefits system? asks Pat Doherty

S hared services is a subject receiving a lot of attention in the local government

press and from the Government. There is no doubt the pressures to consider

joint working are considerable and persuasive because of the Government’s modernisation agenda, the impact of Gershon and the emphasis on reducing costs by streamlining back office services, the RSG implications of not considering shared services and now the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) publication, ‘Service Transformation through Partnership’. In

addition to national pressures there are also local drivers. There is the financial

appeal of shared

working, which offers the possibility of savings through economies of scale. The standardisation of processes and IT could also reduce operational costs, while re-engineering processes could lead to service improvements and efficiency gains. The larger examples of shared working/partnerships may well aid regeneration and job creation within a local authority (LA) area.

The regional Centres of Excellence are also emerging as drivers towards joint working. The Centres provide funding to LAs to undertake feasibility studies.

The East of England centre has funded a major study looking at the sharing of revenues and benefits services between 46 LAs. This should make interesting reading when it is published, particularly in relation to how that many LAs will be persuaded to work together in harmony. I have just finished working with a group of 10 LAs on a project and it was hard to keep them all working at the same pace.

It is easy to claim joint working is a necessity because of the different costs that exist between LAs for dealing with a benefit claim or a council tax account and because of the differing levels of performance between LAs when they are administering statutory schemes. But there needs to be sound analysis of the statistics supplied by the constituent LAs. We are only too well aware of the danger of taking raw figures, without analysing them, and then using them for comparative purposes.

Shared services can mean anything, from ‘strategic partnerships’ (outsourcing, effectively) to shared working agreements

The Government published the Welfare Reform Bill on 4 July. It proposes several changes to housing and council tax benefit.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA)The Welfare Reform Bill will facilitate the extension of LHA across the deregulated private rented sector. In addition, measures are set out for changes to the design and administration of the benefit.

Anti-social behaviourThe Bill provides for a reduction in housing benefit if a person is evicted from their home on grounds of anti-social behaviour and refuses to accept the support offered to them by the state to improve their behaviour.

When a person is evicted for anti-social behaviour, the LA should offer them rehabilitation and support services to help address their problem behaviour.

No powers in this respect are provided as LAs already have the appropriate ones.

If a person refuses help, the LA have to decide on an appropriate course of action. This can include consideration of a housing benefit sanction, but the LA will have to assess the risk of imposing a sanction and take account of the vulnerability of the individual.

If a benefit sanction is considered appropriate the LA will require the claimant to take specified action, with the aim of ending or preventing repetition of such behaviour. Failure to comply, without good cause, would affect the amount of housing benefit payable.

If at any time during the period of restriction the LA considers a reduction in housing benefit is no longer appropriate, housing benefit will be reinstated at the full rate of entitlement. Those sanctioned would have the right of appeal to the Tribunal Service.

It is intended for the measure to be piloted

in 10 LAs in England for a period of two years starting as soon as is practicable.

Sharing of social security informationThe Bill enables various gateways for the sharing of social security information and functions to be extended to support joint working arrangements and improve the take-up and delivery of benefits and other services administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and LAs, including English county councils.

The Bill also enables greater information exchange between the DWP and LAs for benefit purposes and for purposes connected with the provision of welfare services. It creates a criminal offence for unauthorised onward disclosure of information to complement section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

THE WElfaRE REfORm Bill


vieWpoiNt

Back in 1984, as we sampled the first fruits of Thatcherism and basked in the reflected glory

of the victory in the Falklands campaign, we felt George Orwell’s totalitarian vision of Big Brother was far removed. But today we are faced with an all-out assault on individuals’ rights, which Orwell would certainly have recognised and dreaded.

The Reform Bill, hotly debated in the House of Lords but passed without resistance in the House of Commons, gives the Government power to repeal primary legislation by mere regulation. As those of us involved in the rating system since 1990 are aware, government by regulation is a recipe for mismanagement and the abuse of individuals’ rights.

This policy looks even more threatening when combined with the identity card proposals currently being pressed through under the guise of counter terrorism. The core of the proposals is the National Identity Registry (NIR) where all individuals’ personal details will be stored. The system will be linked to NIR card terminals used by banks, building societies and other retailers for identity checks. Each time a check is made, the details will be recorded on the NIR. The amount of data held on each individual will grow on a daily basis. Access to this data will be available to agencies such as BT, the privatised utilities and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The latter’s record in handling personal data is already under scrutiny since it was revealed they have sold drivers’ personal details to unlawful private clamping companies for substantial sums of money.

The amount of data that can be collected through modern computer systems is central to this issue. Anyone who has seen a demonstration of the National Land and

Property Gazetteer, which is likely to go live within the next two years, knows it will not only hold details of properties, but also of occupiers, including their criminal records and social security data. Access to this information is supposed to be restricted, but any such ‘secure’ systems are only as good as the investment in them.

The shambles following the introduction of the Passport Office computer system and the continuing failure of the Child Support Agency (now to be abolished) demonstrate what can go wrong when so much personal information is collated in a central source. Vast amounts of data have not prevented child credit being miscalculated for the third year running, and families’ finances being thrown into disarray as the Inland Revenue tries to claw back money any way it can.

If this seems like scaremongering, consider the proliferation of IT backed private contractors able to impose statutory penalties on citizens. Speed camera operators, LA parking schemes and the congestion charge all suggest raising revenue has taken precedence over enforcement for the public good.

Seeking redress against any of these organisations is not easy. The data protection and information regulator currently has a three-year backlog of appeals against government organisations. Access to justice in relation to CCTV and parking enforcement is restricted by the use of adjudicators, whose powers are very limited. The existence of adjudicators also prevents the use of judicial reviews. I do not believe this is an acceptable way to protect the individual against the state. n

Tom Dixon fears for individuals’ rights

Tom Dixon is Executive Director of Sanderson Weatherall Chartered Surveyors

and a member of the IRRV Council

WaTCHfUl EYE

Benefit fraud: LA prosecution and investigation powersThe Bill provides LAs with clear powers to investigate and prosecute offences relating to national benefits where there is also fraud against local benefits. The sharing of information between the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and LAs concerning national benefit offences will also be allowed.

Benefit fraud: the ‘two strikes’ ruleThe Bill allows for the extension of the period between the date of conviction in the earlier proceedings and the date of commission of the offences in the later proceedings from three to five years. This will have the effect that a person’s benefit may be withdrawn or reduced if they commit a benefit offence, of which they are later convicted, within five years of a conviction for a previous benefit offence. No changes are being proposed either to the sanction or to the ability to request or make hardship payments.

between LAs, such as the Anglia Revenues Partnership or the WestWey Partnership.

The key to the success of any of these arrangements is for individual LAs to have a clear vision of what they want to achieve, coupled with a strategic focus and supported by a compelling business case. This in turn has to be driven by strong leadership from elected members, together with all the usual project management, negotiation and communications skills necessary to ensure a successful conclusion.

The DCLG have produced a publication entitled ‘Service Transformation through Partnership’, which sets out to provide advice to LAs. It is targeted at the different stakeholders within an LA from elected members to officers and is available on the DCLG website (www.communities.gov.uk).

It would be interesting over the coming months to see articles and comments in Insight from members who are involved in the early stages of, or thinking of embarking on, a shared services project. If you have set up shared services or strategic partnerships – let’s hear from you! n

Pat Doherty is a consultant and a Past President of the IRRVEmail: [email protected]

benefits service delivery for some years and was due to retender in 2005. Vale of White Horse saw an opportunity to “piggy-back” on the tender, explains Vale’s Strategic Director Steve Bishop.

Initially, the Liberal Democrat-controlled

council wanted to test whether the service was achieving value for money. Councillors had ambitious plans to improve services, but the budget was very tight. Savings had to be made wherever they could and Mr Bishop believed the finance section should lead by example. But at the same time, Vale of White Horse had a very

A s the debate about shared services rages on, one thing in short supply is practical experience. While there

are successful ventures, such as the Anglia Revenues Partnership, very few local authorities (LAs) have attempted full-scale joint working.

Two neighbouring districts in Oxfordshire are trying a different model of joint working. South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council are entering jointly into a contract with Capita for revenues, benefits and exchequer services. This is the first time two councils have done so as equal partners.

The councils believe other LAs could follow their example, particularly as the contract brings with it guaranteed savings. However, their experience also shows the difficulties involved in joint working.

The two LAs approached the partnership very differently. Conservative-controlled South Oxfordshire has contracted out its revenues and


COVER STORY

Is it a practical proposition for local authorities to create joint revenues and benefits teams? asks Kate Miller

A STITCH iN TiME

“ Their experience of creating the

partnership also shows the difficulties involved

in joint working ”

high performing revenues and benefits service and did not want to lose any of that quality.

The two councils agreed to go for market testing. They also agreed that, although Vale’s in-house team was small, it should be allowed to make a bid. Each of the four bidders was asked to put in three prices – for delivering each council’s services individually and a joint price.

South Oxfordshire’s Head of Finance, William Jacobs, says requesting both individual and joint prices was an important safeguard. It not only allowed the councils to see whether the price was cheaper for joint delivery, it also meant that if one of them pulled out, the other could continue without having to re-tender.

The outcome for Vale’s in-house team was a double blow. Not only were the external contractors’ prices substantially below their bid, but also these savings would be achieved by delivering the service off-site. “It was a big disappointment for the team. They had put a lot

national company can bring will probably always outweigh what the in-house team can offer.”

The savings cannot be ignored, he says. “This year we’re taking £655,000 out of our budget, of which the largest single element is the £135,000 saved through the revenues and benefits contract. For a district council, that is very significant.”

There has been a cost in human terms, he agrees. But if Vale did not start to make savings, it would soon have had to cut services. “Councillors were concerned, but they understand we exist to provide services, not to provide jobs,” Mr Bishop says.

Parts of the service will be kept in house

– accountancy and benefit counter-fraud, along with the client side management, in a ‘virtual shared service organisation’. Staff within this will be employed by one of the LAs, with harmonised pay and conditions.

So would this be a good model for shared services? “I started out thinking this is the way forward for everybody,” says Mr Bishop. “But having gone through it, it isn’t that easy. Even with two LAs with a lot of trust between us, the amount of negotiation you have to do is amazing. We succeeded in agreeing identical reports to take to members in February, but of course our members asked completely different questions and had different priorities.”

This 50:50 model could work for other district councils, he feels. “It overcomes problems with sovereignty or dominance, which is usually what kills off attempts at partnerships”. No one, officer or member, likes to feel they are the junior partner and distrust quickly sets in. Two like-minded authorities of similar size could get together in this way, but “if you tried to do it with three councils, there would be an exponential degree of difficulty. I would have thought four or five partners would be impossible,” he says.

COVER STORY


A STITCH iN TiME

of effort into the bid,” Mr Bishop says. “I had to tell them the two shortlisted bidders, Vertex and Capita, were both looking to relocate the back office processing and there would be few opportunities for staff redeployment.”

Capita has agreed a no redundancies deal. Staff will be transferred on TUPE terms, but the service will be delivered from one of its other regional centres. Although Vale hadn’t originally planned to outsource the service, the deal offered what councillors wanted. Rather than having to make any trade-off between cost and quality, the Capita contract guaranteed both councils top quartile performance over a seven-year period, at a price cheaper than their current costs.

“We were testing two hypotheses,” Mr Bishop says. “First the Gershon arguments, saying it’s cheaper for two councils to work together – and yes there is a lot of truth in Gershon. Secondly, we were testing in-house versus external delivery. We found the resilience and economies of scale a

“ Even with two LAs with a lot of trust

between us, the amount of negotiation you have

to do is amazing.”

South Oxfordshire, having been through the procurement process several times before, was also struck by how much more complex it was working with a partner. “There are so many things you have to harmonise,” says William Jacobs. “To do it with three councils, from scratch, would be a big undertaking and would carry a greater risk of failure. There would be a better chance of success if you brought another council into an existing arrangement. Once we’ve got this model up and running and we’ve cleared some of the hurdles, I think it would be quite possible that others could join us.”

For companies like Capita, this is an interesting time. “For us, the shared services agenda is both an opportunity and a threat,” says Mark Chapman, Capita’s Director of Local Government Services. LAs could set up regional processing centres themselves, without the private sector. But of course Capita and the other firms will argue that joint outsourcing contracts would be a more reliable route.

Mr Chapman expects the drive to make savings will prompt more councils to follow South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse. “The councils coming to us now are not failing services,” he says. “They may be working as well as they possibly can. But we can still offer them the advantages of scalability.” Typically, this will mean savings of around 20 per cent, he says.

Capita’s proposal would be that councils could contract in with them on an individual basis, but if several come in jointly, the savings will be that much greater. “And they would not be reliant on a complicated arrangement that could fall apart if one council drops out,” he says.

Steve Bishop at Vale of White Horse thinks budget pressures will push more LAs down this route. “For some councils this will never be an option. But all of us should at least explore it,” he says. “The savings are there – Gershon is right.” n

Kate Miller is Managing Editor

of the IRRV magazines

employee at their desk; nor does it mean we need to ensure there is a rigid adherence to processes, necessarily. What we should be measuring is outcomes. One outcome of effective business planning is that as staff achieve their tasks, your action planning

is completed and your objectives are accomplished. The required outcomes are thus documented.

In John Seddon’s book Freedom From Command and Control, he talks about the futility of pursuing targets and measuring activity, rather than outcomes. Consider

MANAGEMENT


“ The return from local government’s dwindling

resources needs to be maximised and the richest resource we have is our staff”

T he most rewarding period of my time in local government was when, having gone through the

process I outlined in last month’s Insight, I had constructed a business plan, put it in place and my team and I were working to it. And I really mean working to it – we were measuring progress against the action plans that we had drawn up, so we knew what we had achieved and what we were still working on. When we met in our regular management meetings we planned what we were going to do three months hence, ensuring the foundations were in place in advance.

The return from local government’s dwindling resources needs to be maximised and the richest resource we have is our staff. Leaders need to be able to measure that return, not just guess at it, and this means being able to measure staff performance. This does not mean we need to work out to the exact minute the time spent by an

benchmarking methods. A new industry emerged in the 1990s with the development of benchmarking clubs, the majority of which concentrated on figures and statistics as a comparator. This is output benchmarking. But input benchmarking – comparing the processes – is much more productive. Maidstone Borough Council have done some good work in this area and have learnt a lot about customer satisfaction from studying companies such as Dyson and Marks & Spencer.

Pursuing targets, rather than outcomes, results in people cutting corners and not accomplishing the purpose of those targets. When a target is achieved it may appear that a good job has been done, but in reality it could mean the wrong thing has been done quickly. It is results that are important, not how you got there, nor how many coffee breaks your staff needed to complete their tasks. If you want staff to go the extra mile, you cannot treat them like children and

OUT wiTh THE CHECKLIST

Outcomes, not targets, are what really matters, says Sean Langley

impose strict rules and regimes. If you want flexibility you must be prepared to be flexible.

It is amazing how many managers shy away from variable working hours, job sharing and, most surprisingly, flexi-time. Trained and efficient staff are like gold dust. Why would you want to risk losing them by being inflexible? In a customer-driven environment such as revenues and benefits, the variable service demand and workload can be best addressed using job-sharing and flexible working hours. As for flexi-time, why would you want to dispense with a tremendous management tool, which doubles up as a massive staff motivator? With a proper clocking-on system, you have all the information you need, should you be so inclined, to measure the amount of time people are at their desk. Beware though: if

flexible working policies are simply window-dressing and there is no real culture of flexibility, staff can easily become cynical about such arrangements.

Measuring staff is one thing, but are local authorities measuring the performance of their managers as well? Do they know how? Have the required results been identified? Have they been conveyed to managers themselves, and do they know how they will be measured?

I am not talking about whether, for example, upper-quartile performance has been achieved in determination of new housing benefit claims. I am talking about purpose. Determining new claims in good time is a purpose, but what is the cost attached to that? Is there a high turnover of staff, leading to disproportionate recruitment and training costs; are there high levels of sickness, requiring excessive expenditure on temporary staff to cover it? Good, effective leaders will keep sickness levels in check, simply by their words and deeds. They will create an environment where the vast majority of people want to work, and turn up, knowing that they make a difference and that it is appreciated that they make a difference.

In order to be an effective leader you must have jurisdiction over your budget and be able to exercise control over it. Understanding not only the financial impact of the decisions you make but also the financial restraints you operate under makes you a more proficient and creative manager. The Government seems intent on measuring the minutiae, but as a leader you need to measure your real success. In an open market, would your customers choose you, if they had a choice? Quality service, delivered by quality staff, is the only yardstick. n

xxxxxxxxxxMANAGMENT

Sean Langley is a freelance

Revenues and Benefits Consultant

Contact hm at [email protected]

“ when a target is achieved it may appear that a good job has been done,

but in reality it could mean the wrong thing

has been done quickly ”


E-GOVERNMENT

MANAGE BETTER

C ustomer (or citizen) relationship management (CRM) is increasingly of interest to

local authorities (LAs). CRM helps manage interaction with citizens – it directs them to the relevant staff who can deal with their queries, enabling a fast or immediate response by the council. CRM gives the public a choice of communication channels with which to interact with their council: face-to-face or via email, phone, SMS text message or the council website. It is both a system and methodology.

“The implementation of CRM is a combination of people, process, and technological change,” says John Chapman, Programme Director at Touchstone Group, which provides integrated business software and consultancy services. “In planning for implementation, there should be a view taken of processes from end to end, not just within one directorate,” he says.

CRM has already begun to make revenues and benefits delivery smoother in some LAs. More than a static database or the means to contact an LA, it can help the delivery of consistent, efficient and faster services. CRM could be just the revitalisation LA customer services need.

CRM enables access to a single customer record – a log of personal details, including benefits claimed or council tax accounts, dates of contact and reasons for contact. Staff across departments can access an identical view of these citizen profiles and add to them when necessary. Sharing information between departments therefore becomes much more efficient.

CRM could even help councils attain the revenues and benefits Holy Grail: fraud reduction. “CRM linked to a central address database and using the concept of a single

customer record will significantly reduce the opportunity for fraud. It is easier to track individuals and searching for people with like names becomes possible, without time-consuming tracking across databases,” Chapman says.

One of the major benefits of using CRM is that incoming calls are moved to a front office contact centre, freeing up time for staff. Head of Strategic Consultancy at Northgate Information Systems, Mike Spanner says: “For revenues and benefits employees, the volume of telephone contact decreases dramatically. Large savings

(around 20 per cent) can be made through moving simple query-handling from the back end systems to the CRM.”

In the past, the London Borough of Brent found internally written benefits applications were occasionally illegible, lost in the post, or wrongly filed, according to Ayo George, CRM Systems Manager at the Council. Now, CRM has made the benefit claims process more efficient for both parties, since records of previous contact and outcomes can simply be emailed to citizens. “[CRM] gives a record of what was discussed, agreed, the next steps, what to expect and a record of documents submitted to the council,” says George. “You can solve problems faster. The customer doesn’t have to tell you the same story again and again.”

CRM technology has much to offer revenues and benefits services, says Mel Poluck

“ CRM could even help councils attain the revenues and benefits Holy Grail: fraud reduction ”

QUALITY


i nvestors in People (IiP) accreditation is highly valued by the many local authorities (LAs) who have achieved

the status. The award is usually prominently displayed in foyers, reception areas and on documentation, as a sign of an LA’s dedication to providing quality services.

Accreditation is not easily gained and is equally difficult to retain. The regular audits preceding confirmation of continuing accreditation are as intensive as those preceding the initial award. As time moves on, the requirements become ever more intensive and searching. Emphasis is now on a closer examination of the competence of an organisation at all levels. Auditors want to examine the managerial and communicative skills of managers and their abilities in those roles

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has produced much valuable information and guidance for organisations on the development and functioning of competency frameworks. The development of competency frameworks and their application within an organisation could well be a critical factor in future IiP audits.

So what is a competency framework? It is not one that identifies the competency levels required for the performance of particular tasks or functions. Rather, it identifies behaviours and attitudes that employees must possess, or must demonstrably seek to acquire, to enable them to competently analyse and resolve situations and achieve high levels of performance, whether in managerial or customer-facing situations.

The competences required relate to a minimum set of standards demonstrated through performance and outputs in the workplace. While operational competencies can be assessed at least in part through the formal assessment of knowledge and understanding, total competency must also embrace the attitudinal and cultural aspects of an organisation and of the individuals

comprising an organisation. It is these latter issues a competency framework must address.

Each organisation should develop its own framework, but generally the aspects that need to be identified and evaluated will include: team orientation of the individual; communicative skills at a personal level; people management skills; customer interaction; attitudes towards personal development; skills in use of ICT in interpersonal relationships; performance/results orientation; attitudes towards problems and problem solving; commitment to corporate aims and objectives; cultural attitudes towards the organisation; cultural attitudes towards colleagues; level of importance placed upon personal image.

These aspects are not necessarily placed in order of priority. The impact and importance will vary depending on the organisation, its purpose and its aims and objectives.

By its very nature, the framework is intended to concentrate upon the individual rather than the organisation as a whole, but a similar assessment of the corporate whole, using these same principles, will add to the effectiveness of the overall process.

The human resources function of each LA will have developed frameworks for the organisation as a whole, but at individual service level many have yet to address this aspect in their contribution to IiP accreditation. Revenues and benefits managers should examine in earnest what developing and adopting a competency framework could mean for their service.

In the next article, in October, I will examine the mechanics of developing competency frameworks and offer suggestions as to what aspects should be included and how the services can benefit from such a move. n

Mel Poluck is a freelance journalist

specialising in e-government

But implementing public sector CRM is not without its pitfalls. “One major problem is getting CRM to talk to back office systems, because normally the CRM vendor is different to the vendor of the back office system,” George says. To address this, councils must buy an Application Programming Interface (API), which enables system requests to be made between front and back office systems and data to be exchanged between them. But, costing around £80,000, it’s an option few can afford.

Some councils are glad they have made the investment, such as the London Borough of Islington, which has every transactional council service on its CRM from Onyx Software Corporation. “CRM is an opportunity to change the relationship with the customer,” says Kevin Gibbs, head of the council’s trailblazing contact centre, Contact Islington. Traditionally citizens provided their name, address and date of birth to enable staff to access accounts and records. “Customers only have to remember one number [to enable access to accounts]. It’s a more rewarding relationship on both sides.”

The council is using CRM in innovative ways. Last September, customer services began to use its Single Customer Record to flag up residents not registered on the electoral roll. Non-registered residents calling the council contact centre with a request for unrelated information were asked to register during the same conversation. Now, the department is to extend the scheme to council tax payment reminders, and is on the verge of integrating council tax services with CRM, saving Islington £1 million on printing and postage. n

Barry Wheeler is a consultant

and a member of IRRV Council

Barry Wheeler begins a series of articles on competency frameworks

COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY


educAtion

CHANGE IS COMING

The IRRV Council has decided that, with effect from July 2006, all candidates who have achieved the Technician qualification

by examination, with an appropriate combination of subjects, will be exempt from either local taxation law and practice or housing and council tax benefits law and practice at Level One of the Full Professional examinations.

An appropriate combination of subjects at Technician level is one that includes council tax law and non-domestic rating law, or council tax law and housing and council tax benefit law, or housing and council tax benefit law and the prevention and detection of housing and council tax benefit fraud.

An inappropriate combination of subjects is one that includes council tax law and the prevention and detection

of housing and council tax benefit fraud, or non domestic rating law and the prevention and detection of housing and council tax benefit fraud, or non domestic rating law and housing and council tax benefit law.

Revenues and benefits candidates who have gained the Technician qualification in the above circumstances will therefore be required at Level One to pass UK constitutional framework, commercial law and principles of accounting. Valuation Tribunal candidates in the same position will be required to take UK constitutional framework, commercial law and tribunal administration and practice. This rule will be applied to candidates at and after the December 2006 examinations session. n

Michael Hopkins is IRRV Head of Professional Services

important developments are happening in student examinations. Michael Hopkins reports

At the

Distance Learning Centre, we are gearing up for

the new academic session in September. Currently we are awaiting revisions from the

authors for the new modules. Last year we offered the programme via online study, and this is still available. Several students took this option and I am keen to hear feedback from them.

We sent out our annual questionnaires to distance learning students and are collating the responses. If you did not receive one, get in touch – it is still not

too late to send you one. Next month we will be holding the

Awards Congregation at University of Wales in Newport. If you are a Level Three distance

learning student who passed this year (either in June or December) you should receive an invitation to attend. When you get your results, if you want to attend please let us know.

We will again be arranging some student days in the autumn. While these are mainly intended for new students, all are welcome. The dates pencilled in are: 17 October in London; 20 October in Newport; 24 October in Leeds and 27 October in the Midlands. These dates may change so I will give you more information next month. A booking form will be available on our website.

Les Tuckwell is Manager of the Distance Learning Centre

Distance Learning Dispatch

Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation

Autumn Revision Coursefor the December 2006 examinations

Friday 3 November 2006 to Monday 6 November 2006

Keele Management CentreKeele University

KeeleStaffordshire

ST5 5BG

Course Fees(exclusive of VAT)

Full course (residential, three nights) £775 Full course (non-residential) £675

Single subjects (residential, one night) £245Single subjects (non-residential) £195

Additional accommodation is available at £60 per night (excluding VAT) on dinner, bed, breakfast terms to cater

for students sitting one (or two) subjects. Each day will be dedicated to specific subjects.

Further details of the course (including a booking form) can be obtained via the IRRV website (www.irrv.org.uk)

or the course director, Gary L Watson ([email protected])

Closing day for bookings is 30 September 2006

new members


stUDent MeMBers

IRRV official golf tournaments

CALL FOR ENTRIESThe popular IRRV Scottish Conference andAnnual Conference golf tournaments arenow accepting entries.

Book your place early to avoid disappointment

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IRRV Scottish Conference 2006Tuesday 5th SeptemberCrieff Golf Course, Crieff, Perthshire

IRRV Annual Conference 2006Monday 9th OctoberThe Dyke Golf Club, Brighton

TO SECURE YOUR PLACE PLEASE CALL ORE-MAIL TODAY FOR AN APPLICATION FORM

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Tel: 01908 306500

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caLL tO actiON

cOrPOrate MeMBers

The Institute is again seeking views on all levels of the current examinations and assessment syllabus. Any comments on the syllabus as a whole, individual subjects, assessment and any other relevant aspects will be welcomed.

Please send your views to Tolu Akintonde, Assessment and Training Manager, at [email protected] or write to her at the Institute. Comments should be received by 5 October 2006. Views received earlier in 2006 will remain under consideration.

MEMBERs’ MOVEsn Allen Graham, Deputy Chief Executive at Kettering Borough Council, has been appointed Chief Executive of Rushcliffe Borough Council. n Kevin Stewart has been appointed Head of Revenues, Benefits and Exchequer at Bedford Borough Council.n Deborah Grogan has joined civil enforcement agency Bristow & Sutor as Client Development Manager.

Buki Adekoya Principal Benefits Officer Daventry D CKehinde Ajayi Benefits Officer L B of Barking and DagenhamAndrew Billingham Benefits Officer Swale B C Nicola-Ann Bishop Benefits Officer Swale B C Sara Boama Revenues Officer LB of Barking and DagenhamPauline Cobain Visiting Officer Luton B CSteven de-Bruin Fraud Investigator North Somerset CouncilHannah Egan Benefits Assistant Harlow D CNatalie Fry Revenues Administrator Horsham D CDawn Hallsworth Benefit & Appeals Derby C C Assessment Manager Gillian Hills Team Leader L B of Barking and DagenhamSusan Hodgkinso Benefits Manager Vale Royal B CSanita Kaur Council Tax Officer Redbridge LBCZoe Kent Benefits Supervisor Swale BCEsther Lala Revenues Officer L B of Barking and DagenhamNichola Lawrence Benefits Officer City of London CorporationGary Pegram Assessment Officer Crawley BCMark Petty Appeals Officer Derby C CPeggy Phiri Council Tax Officer Redbridge LBCJanice Routledge Recovery Officer Isle of Wight Council Amy Shreeve Revenues Assistant Suffolk Coastal D C

Ian Milton Depute Assessor Grampian Valuation Joint BoardDavid Selwyn Surveyor North Norfolk DC


LEGAL CORNER

KNOCK, KNOCK WHO’S THERE?

The occupier of a property can be tricky to identify, says Paul Russell

D etermining liability to pay non-domestic rates with respect to a hereditament entered into

the rating list is not always easy. In council tax law it is usually, but not always, clear who is liable, because the combination of section 6 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Council Tax (Liability for Owners) Regulations 1992 are reasonably precise, especially when compared with rating liability.

All practitioners will be aware that the effect of sections 43, 45 and 65 to the Local Government Finance Act, in general terms, is that the ratepayer with respect to occupied properties, is the “occupier” and for unoccupied properties it is the “person entitled to possession”.

So far, so good! However, conflicts as to who should be liable, and with respect to what, have troubled the courts and, like many other areas of rating law, have evolved over the years.

Fortunately, section 65(2) specifically links the 1988 Act with the General Rate Act 1967 (an Act consolidating all of the previous rating Acts) so far as whether or not a hereditament is occupied and who the occupier is. Much of the case law which evolved since the Poor Relief Act 1601 onwards is therefore directly relevant.

Not all readers are likely to be able to cast their minds back to 1791, or even more recently 1808, when it was held in R v St Mary-the-Less Durham and R v Aberystwyth respectively that if an occupier only makes use of part of a hereditament, they are rateable for the whole. Hence the saying, “Occupation of part is occupation of the whole”.

In Cory v Bristow (1877), when examining the need to identify who had exclusive occupation, Lord Hatherley said: “The courts have not meant by the term “exclusively” that the interest may not be determined on certain terms and conditions, but merely that the person so

occupying should have the right unattended by a simultaneous right of any other person in respect of the same subject matter”.

In Phillips v Ystradgynlais RA (1936) it was held that if the occupier only has the right to occupy part of hereditament, and does not occupy other than that, they are not rateable for the whole of that hereditament.

Often cited as the leading case on exclusive control, Westminster City Council v Southern Railway (HL) 1936 established that control over access by the landlord did not necessarily confer paramount control on the landlord.

There then followed a plethora of cases developing the concept of the hereditament. In particular, the requirement for exclusive occupation as one of the four required ingredients of rateable occupation was laid down in John Laing & Sons Ltd v Kingswood Area AC (CA) 1949 and confirmed in London County Council v Wilkins VO (HL) 1956.

Then in 1978, the Court of Appeal held in Camden London Borough Council v Herwald that Mr Herwald could not he held liable for rates on a hereditament described in the valuation list as “workshop and store” when he did not occupy the store and did not have the right to occupy it.

This last case poses a number of difficulties for billing authorities. Obviously an instant problem arises with an assessment described as “offices and premises ground, first and second floors” where a lease has been awarded to a tenant with respect to the second and third floors. The tenant cannot be held liable for the whole hereditament and, unless a split is achieved, the only person who can legally be held liable is the landlord, who retains the superior rights.

However, Herwald also provides for a potential defence against a liability order if the description in the rating list is different from the property actually occupied. So, if a warehouse has been converted into offices, and occupied as such, but the entry in the rating list remains as “warehouse”, it is possible to use that argument to evade liability unless and until the rating list entry is amended. Then, the ability of the Valuation Officer to backdate such a change of circumstances is limited, particularly where it results in an increase in rateable value.

The description and address shown in the rating list are vitally important. Which is why schedule two to the Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rate (Demand Notices)(England) Regulations 2003, at paragraph one, specifically

require them to be shown on rate demands. I find it amazing that many billing authorities do not include the proper property address and description. I have often seen demands showing “as per valuation list” instead of the proper description: yet another example of illegality which could prejudice the collection process.

While the cases over the years have also allowed for smaller units of assessment to evolve, there are still situations where separately occupied parts of a building cannot split to reflect those occupations. A lack of proper access is the most common reason for no split taking place, in spite of separate occupations.

So, who does one hold as occupier/ratepayer when there are conflicting occupations? In Wimborne District Council v Brayne Construction Co Ltd and W H White Co Ltd (1985), Lord Justice Lloyd said: “I found some difficulty during the argument in understanding how the requirement that occupation must be exclusive could be reconciled with the well established rule that where there are two competing occupiers of the same hereditament, it is the paramount occupier who is rateable. If there are two occupiers of the same

hereditament, how can either be exclusive?”Hence, neither of two tenants of two separate

offices within the same hereditament can be held liable. In such circumstances, the owner would be the ratepayer as he is the only person with any title to the whole hereditament and thus retains paramount control. It is normally

also the case that such ‘lettings’ are on the basis of a contractual licence rather than a lease or formal tenancy, as the rules as to what can be demised by way of lease or tenancy are very similar to what can constitute a separate hereditament for rating purposes.

Contractual licences of themselves also provide for difficulties in this area. Leases

and licences were compared by the House of Lords in Street v Mountford (1985) when it was held that, while an agreement may purport to be a licence, if exclusive possession was awarded, for a fixed or periodic term and a rent paid in consideration, it was a tenancy or lease, not a licence.

In such cases as occupations by way of contractual licence it is important to examine the level of potential interference which may be exercised by the landlord over the tenant/licensee in order to determine whether or not the landlord retains paramount control over the hereditament. In particular, if the landlord retains to himself part of the hereditament then he also retains liability as ratepayer.

In a later article I hope to look more at problems with liability for unoccupied rate. n


LEGAL CORNER

Paul Russell is an independent law consultant and trainer

Email: [email protected]

The views given in this column are personal views

and should not be construed as legal opinion

“ The description and address shown in the rating list are vital, but many billing authorities

do not include these properly ”

@

W hy are overpayments such a nightmare? Is it that benefit rules make it too confusing

to understand why an overpayment has happened; the letters explaining them are inadequate; computer systems can’t deal with multiple changes and underlying entitlement properly; staff lack the skills to deal with overpayments correctly and the Government makes daft rules or the subsidy incentives force us to act unfairly?

It is probably all these things, plus a simple fact: nobody likes paying bills.

There are important matters that must be brought under

strict control if overpayments administration is to run

smoothly. Firstly: who does what? I am a

firm believer in the principle that, at

the point

of identifying the cause of an overpayment, the officer dealing with the claim is in the best position to make the right decisions over issues such as subsidy coding notification and recoverability.

If it is decided that the way to collect any

recoverable overpayments is through a sundry debtor account, a specialist recovery officer is a sound investment. He or she can maximise the time spent making arrangements to pay the bills without worrying about whether the new claims received tray is getting too full.

Secondly: notices. If you are to stand a chance of getting

taxpayers’ money back, this form of communication is vital. Historically, overpayment notices have had all the clarity of flat pack furniture instructions. The letter must be helpful and give a logical reasoning of how the overpayment happened and why the customer owes the debt. Reason codes

and simple text one-liners may be good for screen completion and speed of processing, but what we want is our money back. A little more thought and a decent explanation given in simple statements will give us a greater chance of success..

Thirdly: acting quickly. When we create the debt we should make decisions quickly, get notices and bills out straight away and offer the underlying entitlement calculations where necessary. I do not subscribe to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP’s) approach of waiting a month in case the customer disputes the overpayment. The sooner the customer knows what they owe, the sooner we can be making arrangements with them for repayment. This gives you a better chance of being fair to the taxpayer while recovering the money effectively.

Finally: maximising routes for recovery. We can achieve this by offering easier ways for the customer to pay. Busy landlords could use credit cards and debit cards online or over the phone. Make use of blameless tenant recovery for landlords with multiple payments. Remember that getting some money now is better than receiving no money or empty promises later. Agree with other councils (not just your neighbours) that you will take on-going benefit recovery for people moving into your area. It scares me how easily people can evade recovery at present simply by crossing local authority borders. Finally, before any write-offs, have you tried the DWP for recovery?

Get these factors right and overpayments work will start to get back on track, where it should be! n

BENEFITS


MONEY TO BURN?

David Hendy IRRV is an Independent

Trainer and Consultant

“ Historically, overpayment notices have had all the

clarity of flat pack furniture instructions”

Overpayments need to get back on track, says David Hendy

Alison Davison Barnsley Metropolitan Borough CouncilDominic Carr London Borough of BromleyBaljit Gill London Borough of GreenwichAlison Goldsmith London Borough of GreenwichGemma Trickett London Borough of HaveringStephen Younger London Borough of LambethSandy Williams London Borough of LambethMelinda Woodgate London Borough of RedbridgeHeather Crawford London Borough of SouthwarkWendy Daly London Borough of SouthwarkMichelle Feuillade London Borough of SouthwarkClive Lavagna London Borough of WandsworthMike O'Donoghue London Borough of WandsworthAbid Ali Vale of White Horse District CouncilJane Roberts Vale of White Horse District CouncilSuzanne Key Vale of White Horse District CouncilTracey Poppy Welwyn Hatfield District CouncilTracy McLorie West Lancashire District Council

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IBS OPENRevenues elevates Stockport MBC to a 4 Star Rating

Please call Jenny Davies on 01635 550088 or email [email protected]

www.ibsopensystems.com

OPENRevenues

“Since the introduction of the system from IBS, the results have been incredible”

“IBS has worked closely with us to understand our processes and apply a system which is flexible to build criteria into processing applications”

Alison Blount, Head of Revenues & Benefits, Stockport MBC

• Benefit processing times cut from 86 to 21 days

• Annual savings of £270,000 achieved

• Staff turnover reduced

• Sickness levels cut

OPENRevenues

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