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INSIGHT
INSIDE: Viewpoint • Non-domestic rates • Jim’s journals • Welfare reform • Reflections
December 2015 £6.50 www.irrv.net
ISSN
136
1-13
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Working ina fraudster’swonderlandNick Turner and IRRV strategic partnersINTEC are taking on the fight againstfraud, post SFIS
The monthly journal of the Institute of Revenues, Rating & Valuation
Your IRRV Council:
IRRV PResIdent Jim McCafferty IRRV (Hons)
senIoR VICe PResIdent Ian Ferguson IRRV (Hons)
HonoRaRy tReasuReR allan traynor FCCA IRRV (Hons)
Your IRRV Council:
John Clark FIRRV
Louise Freeth FIRRV
Richard Harbord MPhil CPFA FCCA IRRV (Hons) FIDP FBIM FRSA
andrew Hetherton MRICS IRRV (Hons)
Carla-Maria Heath BA IRRV (Hons)
Paul Mcdermott IRRV (Hons)
Maureen neave Tech IRRV
nick Rowe IRRV (Hons)
Peter scrafton FIRRV FCIArb MRSA (Hon)
alistair townsend IRRV (Hons) MCMI
alan Bronte FRICS IRRV (Hons)
Mary Hardman IRRV (Hons) FRICS MCMI
Kerry Macdermott IRRV (Hons)
Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS FIRRV MCIArb REV
Kevin stewart FIRRV MAAT MCMI
Bob trahern IRRV (Hons)
david Chapman IRRV (Hons)
angela storey Tech IRRV MCMI
JunIoR VICe PResIdent Gordon Heath BSc IRRV (Hons)
A message from the Deputy Chief Executive.
Log in to ‘magazines’ in themember area of www.irrv.net to hear the message online.
FeaturesIN
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©IRRV 2015. 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 theInstitute. 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.
Cover story 18Working in afraudster’s wonderlandNick Turner and IRRV strategic partners INTEC are taking on the fight against fraud, post SFIS
2 www.irrv.net • Forums • Conferences • Training Days • News • Online Training • Qualifications • Membership • Jobs • Council • Tel 0207 831 3505
IRRV InsIGHt
Managing Editor
John Roberts
Editorial Director
Lester Dinnie
Art Director
Don Tregartha
Designers
Clare Barker
Roddy Clenaghan
Copy Editor
Vicki Chastney
Publisher
Tregartha Dinnie
Ltd
IRRV
Chief executive David Magor OBE IRRV (Hons) Northumberland House 5th Floor 303-306 High Holborn London WC1V 7JZ T 020 7831 3505 E [email protected] W www.irrv.net
enquiries Membership 020 7691 8996 Conferences 020 7691 8987 Subscriptions 020 7691 8996
advertising T 020 7691 8979 E [email protected]
editorial John Roberts IRRV (Hons) T 07952 659 258 E [email protected]
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IRRV INSIgHT is produced by Tregartha Dinnie Ltd on behalf of the IRRV.
Unless otherwise indicated, copyright in this publication belongs to the IRRV.
December 2015 ISSN 1361-1305
Editor’s welcomeRegular items
John Roberts IRRV (Hons) is Managing Editor of the Institute’s magazines
Your Institute’s magazines are here to bring you the very latest news and views on all that happens in the increasingly busy world of local taxation, revenues, benefits, welfare reform and valuation and we aim to continue that in 2016 and beyond!
First, though, our 2015 ‘sign off ’ focuses on some key issues that you can’t afford to miss. A number of the Institute’s strategic partners have featured in our ‘cover story’ slot during the year and on this occasion we welcome Intec, who contribute to the debate with their vision as to how fraud detection and prevention should be pursued in tandem with new technology and leading edge innovation.
As ever, the varied strands of our profession are well represented. Geoff Fisher presents a handy 2017 revaluation timeline and Roger Messenger takes the stand with a roundup of valuation issues in the ‘Viewpoint’ feature. December is also the month when we produce our quarterly Valuer magazine, so don’t forget that as members you have the opportunity to browse through two magazines and well over sixty pages of key information designed to keep you informed and ahead of the crowd.
Benefits and welfare reform are the province of Geoff Fimister and Phil adlard on this occasion and the revenues agenda falls to andy Burton, Ross and Roberts and alistair townsend. Of course, there’s plenty more, including all the regular features chronicling the life of the IRRV and many more tackling subjects as diverse as partnership working, the application of technology and the effective use of social media.
Don’t forget, though, as the year races to a close, to enjoy a Happy Christmas and to prepare for a rewarding new year – read on and enjoy!
“Welcome to the final edition of Insight for another year.”
What’s in the next issue... •Scrafton’s Law returns with more
forthright opinion
•theworld of revenues and other things according to Andy Burton
•Andrew Stevens ‘nudges’ managers and leaders to try a new approach.
Chief Executive’s notes 05
News and events 06
Education and membership 09
The Associations 11
Daisy’s diary 12
From the archives 13
Faculty Board report 14
Revenues roundup 15
Valuation matters 16
Benefits bulletin 20
Credit notes 21
Collection & enforcement 22
Partnership working 24
Non-domestic rates 25
Reflections 26Tim Savill brings a whole new perspective to being sent to Coventry, as he reflects on a successful return to the local government fold
Management 29
Data analysis 30
Technology 31
Doherty’s despatch 32
Viewpoint 34IN
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Follow us on Twitter David Magor on Twitter Gary Watson on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Presidents Blog Follow us on Twitter David Magor on Twitter Gary Watson on Twitter Follow us on Facebook President’s Blog 3
IRRV Conferences 2016
T: 020 7691 8987
W: www.irrv.net/conferences
IRRV Annual Conference and Exhibition 18 – 20 October 2016 International Centre, Telford
The 2016 Annual Conference (and Exhibition) will take place in Telford from the 18 October to 20 October. The first day will consist entirely of plenary sessions whilst three separate streams (Local Taxation & Revenues, Benefits and Valuation) will be run on the second day. The final morning will provide delegates with a general update on everything that is happening within the Profession. The Performance Awards Gala Dinner 2015 will take place on the Wednesday evening where the winners will be announced. There will be range of packages to suit individual needs. A limited number of bedrooms will also be held in the local area for delegates attending the conference.
More information, including prices, will be made available on the IRRV website in due course: www.irrv.net/conferences
Special Offers:
Please keep an eye on the IRRV website for early bird special offers!
Prices Held For Another Year
IRRV Conferences 2016Special Offer: 3 for 2 for multiple delegates (This offer is valid on multiple bookings with a minimum of 3 delegates)
T: 020 7691 8987
W: www.irrv.net/conferences
Welfare and Benefits Seminar2 February 2016, Ambassadors Hotel, London
The Institute is again running its annual seminar on Welfare and Benefits in February at the Ambassadors Hotel in London. Last year, the programme looked ahead to what may result after the General Election in May. Speakers at this event will address the key issues on Welfare Reform and look in detail at the Government’s proposal for the months and years to come. The fees are as follows:
IRRV Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £165 plus VATBAS/Forum/Organisational Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . £195 plus VATNon Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £225 plus VATCommercial IRRV Member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £305 plus VATCommercial BAS/Forum/Organisational Member . . . . . . £335 plus VATCommercial Non Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £365 plus VAT
For more information please visit:
www.irrv.net/conferences
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David Magor OBE IRRV (Hons) is Chief Executive of the Institute
Other business taxes succumb to the first application of the
cream and if that fails a convenient plaster heals the wound!
The sticking plaster or the cream is generally in the form of a
well equipped tax advisor who has the ear of Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs, most likely because they used to
work there.
Such is the effectiveness of these remedies that the
payment of business taxes in the United Kingdom tend to be
optional and bear no relationship to the turnover or ‘real’ profit
of the entity. Of course the irritable rash known as the non-
domestic rate is hard to remove, to such an extent that it takes
the blame for every ill facing the ratepayer.
As we know, it is totally responsible for the demise of the
high street, which is nothing to do with sales on the internet
or out of town retail parks! It is also the reason for the failure
of major industries, whereas the dumping of cheap materials
and cheap labour from the emerging tiger economies is of no
consequence. I have it on good authority that the failure of
England to escape the group stages in the Rugby World Cup
was also the fault of the rating system, because of the players’
concern at the size of Twickenham’s rate bill!
Frankly enough is enough. The government need to publicly
declare that the non-domestic rate is an important fiscal
instrument which cannot be replaced or diluted without
creating mayhem for the Chancellor’s economic recovery plans.
The reality is that there is no easy route to reform, which has
been confirmed by the announcements at the Conservative
Party conference which secure the future of the rating system
for many years to come.
We now have live consultation on the future of non-
domestic rates in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. The features of the property tax which make it a
reliable fiscal tool are the very reasons why it is vulnerable
to unwarranted criticism. Those who believe in the role of a
recurring property tax in a modern economy must mount a
vigorous defence of the rating system.
The Institute is ready to meet this challenge.
Chief Executive’s notes
“ Of course the irritable rash known as the non-domestic rate is hard to remove, to such an extent that it takes the blame for every ill facing the ratepayer.”
It’s about time government recognised that an effective tax can be unpopular
...David Magor concludes
The non-domestic rate is a tax which is like the irritable rash that cannot be removed by the application of antiseptic cream, or by taking a magical tablet that cures all problems.
5IRRV Membership Become a member of the largest professional institution operating in the field of revenues, benefits and valuation www.irrv.net
David Magor on Twitter
Institute Junior Vice President announced At its November meeting, the Institute’s Council was pleased to announce the appointment of Gordon Heath to the role of Junior Vice President. Gordon will be well known to many of our
readers as a long-standing member of Council
and an independent revenues consultant,
as well as a regular contributor to the IRRV’s
magazines and conference speaker. Many
congratulations, Gordon!
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News and events
Institute news News of members
Fifty years of IRRV membership – time to celebrateAny person who has remained a member of the Institute for over 50 years is now awarded complimentary membership, irrespective of membership grade.The Institute has recently written to four of
its stalwarts who fall into that category –
Hugh Collum, Trevor Maddock,
Malcolm Pennycuick and Ian Williams –
congratulations to all!
Layla’s at it again!Fresh from a recent bout of skydiving, this is the latest feat for Institute member Layla Stephen, who has regularly featured in the pages of our magazine.Layla explains, “As you know I have been living
with and fighting NET cancer now for almost
seven years, and despite the scariness of it all –
the operations, the injections, the tests and the
worry about when and where new tumours will
appear – what I have done recently has got to
be up there with one of the most scary but also
the most exciting days of my life!”
The latest target for the PLANETS charity
was to import an IORT (Intra operative Radio
Therapy) machine from the USA over to
Southampton. This machine is PLANETS biggest
venture to date – £800,000 worth of kit – and
the first of its kind in the whole of the UK,
enabling radiotherapy to patients in theatre
immediately after removing their tumours to
reduce the risk of them coming back, by killing
any remaining microscopic cancer cells.
Layla adds, “This machine will really make a
difference to many lives. I am immensely proud
to be a part of this project and I hope after
reading this that you think it’s as worthwhile as
I do.” You can learn more about Layla’s charity on
www.planetscharity.org/layla-stephen-net/
Late news
Business rates review consultation announced for Northern IrelandFinance Minister Arlene Foster MLA today announced the start of a consultation period as part of her Department’s review of business rates in Northern Ireland.The consultation period will last for a period
of twelve weeks, during which stakeholders
will be invited to provide input on the future
direction of business rates in Northern Ireland.
The review will also seek views on alternative
forms of taxation as either replacements or
supplements to the existing rating system.
An ‘innovation lab’, or policy symposium,
on business rates was held in June. The lab
provided a forum for stakeholders, including
business, local government and the voluntary
sector, to put forward their views. This helped
to establish some key issues around the non-
domestic rating system, which are reflected in
the consultation document.
Launching the consultation, the Minister
said: “This review is a timely one, following the
non-domestic revaluation that took effect in
April. It’s something the business community
and other ratepayers have been pressing for
and the consultation paper, which sets out
the issues and the case for change, has been
shaped by business interests, as well as those
of the voluntary sector and local government.
“I encourage interested parties to
engage with the consultation process so
that we can consider ideas to improve the
current system
and any
alternatives
that might
present
themselves.”
6
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www.irrv.net • Forums • Conferences • Training Days • News • Online Training • Qualifications • Membership • Jobs • Council • Tel 0207 831 3505
Layla Stephen
A final ‘thank you’ from Kevin Stewart
Immediate Past President Kevin Stewart would like to thank everyone for their contributions to his personal choice of charity during his Presidential Year.
As many of you will know, his chosen charity was Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (now called Bloodwise) in memory of his late elder brother Murray, who died in March 1961. During the year, £2,732 was raised for the charity. Kevin has left the Just Giving webpage at https://www.justgiving.com/remember/148361/
Murray-Stewart open in case anyone wants to add to such a worthwhile charity, and adds his personal thanks to the current IRRV East Midlands Association President Ivan Carvath, who has made it his chosen charity for his year as Association President.
Jim’s Journals
Dear reader,People have asked me if my first month as Institute President has been busy and how am I coping. Well the answer is straightforward – and explained to me in advance by Immediate Past President, Kevin Stewart – not much happens in the first few weeks after the Annual Conference. It is a bit like Edinburgh after the Festival or Twickenham on the weekend following the Rugby World Cup Final.
Well not quite like either I suppose. What did happen is that I received messages of congratulations from many people and I am very grateful for their kind thoughts. Some of the messages were quite effusive in their praise of my abilities. These were clearly from people who either had mixed me up with somebody else or it ’s been a long while since our paths had crossed and their minds must have played tricks on them!
I also have my own work commitments to attend to but took a day off to attend the Nick Nairn Cook School to learn about rustic Italian cooking. So now I can make my own cannelloni and rattle out a multi-purpose tomato based sauce, which I think will be adapted for just about anything that I am likely to make. I think I will have to build myself up to a having an unsupervised go at making panna cota.
The other thing that happened is that my diary began to fill up as from November and I have been helped greatly by Rachel Toombs at HQ for her efforts in helping me to organise myself to respond to the various invites. I hope to get around to all the Associations within
the year, my first stop being one of my old ones, the East Midlands, where I attended their dinner dance on 21st November at Chesterfield. Here I met up with the Association Branch President, Ivan Carvath, a former colleague from our time at Melton Borough Council.
Before that I chaired my first IRRV Council meeting on 2nd November, and the Rating Surveyors’ Association event on 5th November. Added to this was the RICS Rating Diploma luncheon on 27th November, where the keynote speaker was another former colleague, Tony Masella, Chief Executive of the Valuation Tribunal Service.
One thing about all of this that does worry me is the amount of events that include food – I am but a weak man and have always had trouble turning a good meal down!
Whilst I’ve been writing this I have been listening to the work of the late great Rory Gallagher. I know anyone under the age of 40 will say ”who? ”, but YouTube him – you will not be disappointed.
All the best, JimCheck out Jim’s blog on: http://irrv-president.blogspot.co.uk/President’s Blog
7In order to continue receiving your online magazines don’t forget to keep your membership details up-to-date. Log on to www.irrv.net
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It’s caption time again... In the November edition of Insight, we sought caption entries for the shot which pitched together IRRV President Jim McCafferty and Institute education supremo Phil Round at the recent Annual Conference student awards presentation. Another bumper crop of entries provided the following winning (and by far the cleanest) entry – Terence Goodwin has Jim saying “Until 50% of our members are women I shall continue to improvise!”
Things then progressed steadily downwards this month, with Phil Adlard’s “Of course, nothing is worn under the kilt – it’s all in perfect working order”, and Andy King with “You put your right arm in, your right arm out...”. Andy Burton suggests “Confusion as Marty McFly and Doc Brown disappear from IRRV photo” (yes, that got me wondering too – Editor!) while Marshall Morris isn’t to be outdone, with Phil saying, “Before I left home this morning my wife warned me to keep away from anyone in a skirt” and “You wouldn’t believe that our President was once Sean Connery’s stunt double in the Bond films and on the more dangerous Scottish Independence Referendum hustings!”
This month, though, the depths are plumbed by Roy Parsons (sorry, Roy, but I did warn you I might publish it!) with Phil Round
Captions invited!
quizzing the students with “How can you tell which clan this man belongs to? If you lift up his kilt and reveal a quarter-pounder, then he’s a McDonald!”
Now we want your best caption suggestions for Past President and Honorary Treasurer Allan Traynor’s pose at the recent Institute AGM. Suggestions as usual to your Editor on [email protected] please!
Late news
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Conference report
News and events
IRRV Northern Ireland ConferenceThe 2015 IRRV Northern Ireland Conference was held on 1st October in the attractive parklands of Malone House, in south Belfast.This high profile IRRV event, held in
partnership with the Northern Ireland Local
Government Association, was billed as
‘Looking to the Future’ and considered
a range of business rates and other local
government issues, presented to delegates
from local authorities, Land and Property
Services (LPS), the Department of Finance and
Personnel (DF&P) and the University of Ulster.
Chairman and IRRV President Kevin Stewart
introduced David Stirling, Permanent Secretary to the Acting First Minister and Minister of Finance Arlene Foster, who delivered a wide ranging address
on behalf of the minister, covering the
reorganisation of Northern Ireland’s counties,
welfare reform, cuts in public spending and
business rates, including the revaluation.
Teresa Donaldson, Chief Executive of Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council then
spoke about the challenges of the county
reorganisation, including planning, performance
and accountability.
Colin Boyle, LPS Chief Executive,
introduced the new ‘2020 vision – the strategic road map for LPS’, with a hard
hitting outline of the changes ahead to deliver
a ‘joined-up LPS’ through year on year
improvements in business performance, ICT,
and the statutory development process. LPS
2020 is working in partnership with councils to
deliver integrated operations to the customer,
with accessible data being the lifeblood of the
organisation – an impressive Revaluation 2015
has of course already been delivered.
The DF&P’s Brian McClure focussed
on the forthcoming review of the non-domestic rating system, which included
an ‘innovation lab’, much analysis and
consideration of alternative taxes, with a report
to the NI Assembly in 2016, and then of
course the legislative process. Mark McBride, Head of Finance and Performance with Belfast City Council spoke on managing the rate product, with an overview of the
process, figures, and policy issues – the
Belfast non-domestic/domestic rates ratio
being 65%/35%, with district and region rates
providing the major part of external income.
Regeneration and investment strategies would
include direct investment and financing in
‘action areas’ to help increase rates income.
IRRV Chief Executive David Magor gave
a critical review entitled ‘Is land tax a real option for reform?’, detailing the attractions
and the disadvantages, concluding that it
would fail in Northern Ireland, although it
might be worth considering on vacant land
alongside the existing taxes, if only to spread
the tax base. Sean McAuley of A2B then
reviewed key issues of fraud prevention and whistleblowing.
The highly informative conference continued
with a panel session on rate reform and Revaluation 2015, with LPS Director of Valuation and Commissioner Alan Bronte and Brian McClure responding to questions
on the effects of the revaluation, policies on
rates incentives and reliefs, the frequency of
revaluations and the spread of rates across
the economy.
IRRV Past President Richard Harbord
gave the closing address on key issues facing local government in Northern Ireland, with a spirited yet realistic review of
the woes of local government in the current
environment, including transformation, ‘more for less’, innovation, financing and leadership.
This report was provided by Institute Past President
and regular magazine contributor Geoff Fisher.
State Pension OnlineFollowing on from recent Insight coverage on the new State Pension, the Operational Digital Services team (part of the Department for Work and Pensions) would like to focus on the State Pension Online service, which allows customers approaching State Pension age to make a claim online. State Pension Online puts the customer in
control when it comes to claiming their State
Pension. It can be accessed 24 hours a day,
seven days a week – so at a time and from
a place that is convenient and familiar, which
makes for a welcome change from hanging on
the phone.
Not only that, online claims can be
completed in multiple sittings. If they haven’t
got everything they need to hand, they can
simply save their online claim and return to it
within 30 days. They can also save and print
a copy of their claim to keep for reference.
Crucially, the service is secure and simple
to use.
This State Pension Online service is open to
everyone in the United Kingdom via gov.uk,
although customers living in Northern Ireland
access the service via a different route through
NI Direct. From December 2015, claims
under the new State Pension scheme can also
be made using this service.
Whether your interest is personal or you are
assisting your customers, further information
about the State Pension Online service is
available on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194WLjwXjco
or
https://www.youtube.com/user/PensionTube
NVQ IN LOCAL TAXATION
TITLE EMPLOYER
Stephen Booth Waltham Forest London Borough Council
LEVEL 3 QCF BENEFITS PATHWAY
TITLE EMPLOYER
Kane Burke North Devon District Council
Charlotte Hale Milton Keynes Council
LEVEL 3 QCF REVENuES PATHWAY
TITLE EMPLOYER
Laura Anderson Camden London Borough Council
Abba Odoi Camden London Borough Council
Russell Phillips Isle of Wight Council
Latest vocational qualification successes
Michael Hopkins is Qualifications and Membership
Manager with the IRRV. Contact him on
[email protected] or 020 7691 8978
New members
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StudeNt memberSNAME EMPLOYER
Lauren Appleby Newlyn Plc
Elizabeth Chambers Harborough District Council
Helen MacDonald Harborough District Council
Amanda Munro North West Leicestershire DC
Kaye Smith Hinckley & Bosworth BC
Hayley Delf Castle Point Borough Council
Daniel Rose Newlyn Plc
Lyndsey Mabbs Civica UK Limited
Sarah Martin Denbighshire County Council
Kathleen Ellis Sandwell Metropolitan BC
Steven Taylor Sandwell Metropolitan BC
Daniel Seasman Cassell Moore Solicitors
QCF memberS NAME EMPLOYER
Roger Burton Kettering Borough Council
Corporate memberS NAME EMPLOYER
John Allen Islington London BC
Duwaine Brown Islington London BC
Helen Fletcher Goodman Nash Ltd
HoNourS memberS NAME EMPLOYER
I E S de Mel Sunil Fernando & Associates
(PVT) Ltd
Lorna Greig Ryden LLP
James Lockhart Whitmarsh Lockhart LLP
orGaNISatIoNaL memberS NAME
Newbreed Ltd
The Institute’s Annual Conference, which
again took place in Telford in early October
this year, was, as always, a fine opportunity to
meet members and supporters, and discuss
matters of mutual interest. On the IRRV stand
we dealt with a range of enquiries to do with
membership, courses, qualifications and
publications, from both existing members and
from those outside of the Institute.
On the evening of the Performance
Awards Dinner, on the final night, it fell to
Jim McCafferty, Chair of the Education
and Membership Committee, and incoming
Institute President, and Phil Round, Chair
of the Qualifications Management Board, to
congratulate those students who attended. All
who had achieved a qualification in the last
year were invited. Some of the students were
prizewinners, and it was a privilege to meet
them and celebrate their achievements.
Following a photocall prior to the Institute’s
Performance Awards Dinner on the final
evening of the conference, the students were
honoured at the start of the dinner itself, and
the prizes were presented by the President,
Kevin Stewart.
The new academic year’s courses have started,
and as we head towards the December
examinations, we contemplate the changes to
the syllabus (covered in previous editions of
Insight). The syllabus has recently received its
final review, and is now operative as far as new
courses are concerned. The first examinations
will be in June 2016, with the usual closing
date for entries of 1st March 2016. Candidates
and potential candidates are reminded to
indicate if they have any specific requirements,
and any enquiries should be directed to
Another seasonal event is the annual
membership subscription renewal round,
and at the time of writing the 2016 renewal
letters to members are under preparation. We
encourage those who do not currently pay by
Direct Debit (DD) to make arrangements to do
so, as this is the easiest and most convenient
payment method. Both annual and monthly
DD payments are possible. Nevertheless, we
appreciate that some members prefer to make
a one-off payment, and in many cases the
employer pays the member’s subscription.
While we are on the subject of members and
communications, we would issue a reminder
that all members can check the information
we hold on them in their own confidential
website area. This is accessible from the
Institute home page, and members should
enter their username and password. Any
member who needs to refresh their memory
can contact the membership section for
password details.
Among the useful information and documents
on the Institute’s website is the Rating Consultancy Code, drawn up and adopted
jointly by the IRRV, the Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Rating
Surveyors’ Association (RSA). It was originally
produced in 2010, with an addendum dating
from 2013.
The Code sets out the standards of practice
that rating consultants must adopt in all cases
where they are either seeking instructions, or
are approached by a new or existing client,
to provide advice in relation to non-domestic
rating matters. It has mandatory application
in relation to rating consultancy work. The
Code can be found at http://www.irrv.net/documents/46/Rating_Consultancy_COP_3rd_Edition.pdf
A new year is soon upon us, says Michael Hopkins, as he lets readers know what that means from an IRRV education and membership perspective
9IRRV Annual Conference • 18 October 2016 - 20 October 2016 • Don’t miss out! Have you booked your seat yet? Log on to www.irrv.net
education and membership
We take the oppor tunity to direct enquirers
to this document from time to time, and
it is useful to be reminded that it is there
to guide consumers and help maintain
professional standards.
T: 020 7691 8987
IRRV Professional MeetingsSpecial Offer: 3 for 2 on multiple enrolments* (This offer is valid on multiple bookings with a minimum of 3 candidates)
www.irrv.net/conferences
Non-Domestic Rate: 20 Areas Billing Authorities Need To Focus On1 December: London – FULLY BOOKED • 14 December: London
The meeting is aimed at those working within Local Government. Since 1st April 2013, billing authorities have been faced with many challenges when administering and collecting the non-domestic rate. This will be a practical meeting with delegates considering a range of scenarios throughout the day. Areas to be covered will include:• Valuation(ratinglistsandrelationshipwiththevaluationofficer)• Liability(occupiedandunoccupiedrate,includingavoidance/evasion)• Reliefs(withparticularemphasisondiscretionaryreliefandpart-occupiedrelief)• Recovery(whatcanbedonetomaximiserecovery)ThismeetingwillbedeliveredbyGaryWatsonIRRV(Hons),DeputyChiefExecutive,IRRV.(Note:Asnumbersatanyonemeetingarelimited to 25, early booking is recommended)
Completion Notices3 December: Manchester – FULLY BOOKED • 15 December: Hinckley
SinceJune2014,theInstitutehasrun17ProfessionalMeetingsoncompletionnoticesinpartnershipwiththeVOA.Inthattime,wehave seen some key decisions in the courts. In addition, billing authorities are now increasingly looking to serve completion notices inrespectofbothCouncilTaxandNon-DomesticRate.Thelatestseriesofmeetings,aimedatthoseworkingwithinbothLocalGovernment and the Private Sector, will be of interest to practitioners irrespective of whether they attended the earlier meetings. ThemorningwillfocusontheimportanceofservingcompletionnoticesforCouncilTaxandNon-DomesticRate,when(andwhennot)theyareserved,howtheyareservedandtheoptionsthenavailabletotheowner,billingauthorityandvaluation/listingofficer.This will include looking in detail at recent case law. The afternoon will consist of a workshop where delegates will consider a series of case studies. In addition, delegates will review the format of completion notices and give consideration to what could be considered‘bestpractice’.ThismeetingwillagainbedeliveredbyGaryWatsonIRRV(Hons),DeputyChiefExecutive,IRRVandAlanOliver,RelationshipManager,RatesRetentionTeam,fromtheVOA.(Note:Asnumbersatanyonemeetingarelimitedto25,earlybooking is recommended)
Understanding Subsidy – Revenue, Risk, Remedy and Recovery*26 January: London • 4 February: London
This workshop is for Benefit Managers, Team Leaders and other relevant staff. The workshop will look at legitimate revenue maximisation.Itwillalsolookatsubsidypenaltiesandtherisktheyposetorevenuestreams.Itwillexplorehowtodecideandtakeeffectiveremedialactionandhowtomaximiserecoveryofoverpaidbenefittooptimiseyourcashflowandcompensatefortheassociatedlossofsubsidy.DWPhasbeeninvitedtocontributetothissession.Therewillbesomefacilitateddiscussionaroundmanagement checking to deliver continuous improvement and to provide local assurance around better compliance with the SubsidyOrder.Therewillalsobesomefacilitateddiscussionaroundhowtomaximiseoverpaymentrecovery.Finally,therewillbesome syndicate work to discuss how and when the learning from the day can be introduced back at the office. This meeting will be deliveredbyJohnGiblin,ManagementConsultant.(Note:Asnumbersarelimited,earlybookingisrecommended)
* The special offer does not apply to the ‘Understanding Subsidy’ meeting.
Fees:IRRV Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £135 plus VAT
BAS/Forum/Organisational Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £165 plus VAT
Non Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £195 plus VAT
The Associations
The IRRV has recently taken steps to address the two dormant associations with the co-operation of the London and Home Counties and Severnside Associations. In addition, the Institute has noted what Associations said in response to comments on the attachment of certain local authorities.
This revised Association map, together with the new make-up of each Association, is also available on the IRRV website. If clarification is needed on the location of any one local authority, members can contact the Deputy Chief Executive Gary Watson, on [email protected]
Members can also check their attachment to a particular Association through the members’ area of the Institute’s website.Log on to www.irrv.net
T: 020 7691 8987
IRRV Professional MeetingsSpecial Offer: 3 for 2 on multiple enrolments* (This offer is valid on multiple bookings with a minimum of 3 candidates)
www.irrv.net/conferences
Non-Domestic Rate: 20 Areas Billing Authorities Need To Focus On1 December: London – FULLY BOOKED • 14 December: London
The meeting is aimed at those working within Local Government. Since 1st April 2013, billing authorities have been faced with many challenges when administering and collecting the non-domestic rate. This will be a practical meeting with delegates considering a range of scenarios throughout the day. Areas to be covered will include:• Valuation(ratinglistsandrelationshipwiththevaluationofficer)• Liability(occupiedandunoccupiedrate,includingavoidance/evasion)• Reliefs(withparticularemphasisondiscretionaryreliefandpart-occupiedrelief)• Recovery(whatcanbedonetomaximiserecovery)ThismeetingwillbedeliveredbyGaryWatsonIRRV(Hons),DeputyChiefExecutive,IRRV.(Note:Asnumbersatanyonemeetingarelimited to 25, early booking is recommended)
Completion Notices3 December: Manchester – FULLY BOOKED • 15 December: Hinckley
SinceJune2014,theInstitutehasrun17ProfessionalMeetingsoncompletionnoticesinpartnershipwiththeVOA.Inthattime,wehave seen some key decisions in the courts. In addition, billing authorities are now increasingly looking to serve completion notices inrespectofbothCouncilTaxandNon-DomesticRate.Thelatestseriesofmeetings,aimedatthoseworkingwithinbothLocalGovernment and the Private Sector, will be of interest to practitioners irrespective of whether they attended the earlier meetings. ThemorningwillfocusontheimportanceofservingcompletionnoticesforCouncilTaxandNon-DomesticRate,when(andwhennot)theyareserved,howtheyareservedandtheoptionsthenavailabletotheowner,billingauthorityandvaluation/listingofficer.This will include looking in detail at recent case law. The afternoon will consist of a workshop where delegates will consider a series of case studies. In addition, delegates will review the format of completion notices and give consideration to what could be considered‘bestpractice’.ThismeetingwillagainbedeliveredbyGaryWatsonIRRV(Hons),DeputyChiefExecutive,IRRVandAlanOliver,RelationshipManager,RatesRetentionTeam,fromtheVOA.(Note:Asnumbersatanyonemeetingarelimitedto25,earlybooking is recommended)
Understanding Subsidy – Revenue, Risk, Remedy and Recovery*26 January: London • 4 February: London
This workshop is for Benefit Managers, Team Leaders and other relevant staff. The workshop will look at legitimate revenue maximisation.Itwillalsolookatsubsidypenaltiesandtherisktheyposetorevenuestreams.Itwillexplorehowtodecideandtakeeffectiveremedialactionandhowtomaximiserecoveryofoverpaidbenefittooptimiseyourcashflowandcompensatefortheassociatedlossofsubsidy.DWPhasbeeninvitedtocontributetothissession.Therewillbesomefacilitateddiscussionaroundmanagement checking to deliver continuous improvement and to provide local assurance around better compliance with the SubsidyOrder.Therewillalsobesomefacilitateddiscussionaroundhowtomaximiseoverpaymentrecovery.Finally,therewillbesome syndicate work to discuss how and when the learning from the day can be introduced back at the office. This meeting will be deliveredbyJohnGiblin,ManagementConsultant.(Note:Asnumbersarelimited,earlybookingisrecommended)
* The special offer does not apply to the ‘Understanding Subsidy’ meeting.
Fees:IRRV Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £135 plus VAT
BAS/Forum/Organisational Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £165 plus VAT
Non Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £195 plus VAT
In order to continue receiving your online magazines don’t forget to keep your membership details up-to-date. Log on to www.irrv.net
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12 www.irrv.net • Forums • Conferences • Training Days • News • Online Training • Qualifications • Membership • Jobs • Council • Tel 0207 831 3505
Daisy’s diary
Depending on your product, service or personal/professional needs, choose carefully between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. While Facebook and Instagram put an emphasis on people’s private lives, LinkedIn focuses on the corporate world and Twitter is very much in between. Therefore, concentrate on the one platform best suited to you and your industry and be selective where, what, when and how much you post, to ensure high quality, relevance and consistency!
The IRRV is represented on LinkedIn and Twitter, and if you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to engage with our exclusive content on both platforms. It does take time, commitment and endurance to build successful business relationships through networking and social media, but it ’s certainly worth the effort!
And don’t forget, for any queries regarding your IRRV membership, please continue to use [email protected] – many thanks!
Daisy Schubert is a Membership Officer with the IRRV
Hi everyone and welcome to Daisy’s Diary!
There are two essential marketing/professional development tools out there that for the most part cost you nothing but your time. Yet, as time is money, both need to be planned equally well – structured and focused on your end target.
Networking is often underestimated, maybe because meeting new people is just too much out of our comfort zone and a lit tle intimidating. Still, if you gave me the choice between cold calling a list of 100 potential clients or attending an informal networking event with 20 to 30 individuals in attendance, with two definite leads at the end of the evening, I’d say that networking is by far the smaller evil and a much softer approach to making contacts based on mutually beneficial relationships. Do plan carefully which networking meetings to attend, by thinking about the other attendees and if they could be of value to you or you to them. Why not attend your local IRRV Association meeting to get to know colleagues in your profession better?
Daisy Schubert helps readers make the best use of IRRV contacts through effective use of social media
IRRV Distance LearningSpecial Offer: 3 for 2 on multiple enrolments (This offer is valid on multiple bookings with a minimum of 3 candidates)
T: 020 7691 8984
W: www.distancelearning.org.uk
Achieve Your Potential with IRRV Distance Learning Courses
IRRV Certificate Level 3
This course is designed for those who wish to gain a professional qualification and further their careers.
Streams available:
Revenues and Welfare Benefits
Non-Domestic Rate
Valuation Tribunal
Fee: £1110.00 plus VAT
Syllabus:
www.irrv.net/education/page.asp?WAD=8
IRRV Professional Diploma
This course is designed for those who wish to progress to senior positions. The Professional Diploma leads to the highest level qualification, IRRV Honours.
Fee: £1210.00 plus VAT
Fees for individual subjects are available on request.
Members are invited to contribute towards the feature and come forward with their own personal
memories of the Institute. The Deputy Chief Executive is also happy to try and answer any questions on
the Institute’s history – contact him on [email protected] In addition, copies of previous articles
can be provided on request.
A fourth instalment of 1898 history of our predecessor body has kept the Association and Gary Watson busy
Gary Watson on Twitter
The Executive Committee next met at
Hemmans Hotel, 64 Cheapside in the City
of London on 4th June, with Mr W P Hunter
in the chair. The minutes from the previous
meeting were read and signed. The Honorary
Secretary read a letter from Mrs Alchin, the
widow of one of the Barnes and Mortlake
Collectors, announcing the death of her
husband. The Honorary Secretary reported
that he had written a letter to Mrs Alchin,
expressing the sympathy of the Association
with her bereavement; a course of action that
was endorsed by the committee. It was further
resolved that the Chairman be requested to
see Mrs Alchin and express in person, the
sympathy of the Association.
It was reported by the Honorary Secretary
that the sub-committee had met and agreed
the arrangements for the summer outing on
9th July. This would be a river trip and the
menu for the dinner was read out. The actions
of the sub-committee were approved.
Mr Aldridge of Chelsea drew attention to a
case of a brother collector of his, Mr Bradley,
who had been seriously ill for a long time
and he suggested it was a case in which the
benevolent fund of the Association be used. It
was resolved the Honorary Secretary apply to
the Honorary Treasurer of the Association for a
cheque for £15.15.0 from the benevolent fund
account, to be forwarded to Mr Bradley.
A cordial vote of thanks having been passed
to the Chairman for his able and impartial
conduct in the chair, the meeting then closed.
The Executive met again on 15th October
at the usual venue, with Mr Hunter in the
chair. The minutes from the last meeting were
read and signed. A letter was presented and
read from Mrs Alchin, the widow of the late
collector from Barnes and Mortlake, thanking
the Association for their vote of condolence
in her bereavement and committee’s offer to
be of assistance in obtaining her children such
education as she may require.
In accordance with the wish of the
Committee, the Chairman reported that he
had visited Mrs Alchin and was pleased to
state he had found her family in comfortable
circumstances but she was afraid her
children were too old to obtain admittance
to any Foundational Educational School. The
Chairman also stated that it did not appear, at
present, to be a case for the benevolent fund,
unless the suggestion came from Mrs Alchin.
It was resolved that Committee endorse the
former offering to do its best for the welfare
of Mrs Alchin and her family, should she be
advised to apply for a presentation to any
Foundational School or Asylum.
A letter from Mr Bradley (Chelsea) was
presented and read, thanking the Association
for their cheque of £15.15.0 from the
benevolent fund. In the letter, he stated it had
been the means of his taking a holiday to Bath
to recover his health and that he was now able
to resume his duties.
The Honorary Secretary presented a letter
from the Secretary to the Superannuation
Conference, stating that it was the intention
of such body to hold a meeting in London on
31st instant, to consider their future policy and
suggesting that this Association should send
delegates to that meeting. It was resolved
the Secretary be informed that the delegates
already appointed by this Association would
continue to act.
Attention of the Committee was then
drawn by the Chairman to the recent death
of Mr Paget, vestry clerk of St. James and
St. John Clerkenwell, who was also Secretary
to the Metropolitan Local Government
Officers Association – a kindred organisation
of our own. He stated that he knew he was
expressing the unanimous feeling of this
Association in moving a vote of condolence
with the family of Mrs Paget in their
severe bereavement.
It was resolved the meeting do place on
record its heartfelt sympathy with Mrs Paget
and her family on their sad bereavement.
The Association deeply regretted the demise
of a gentleman who had done so much for
local government generally but especially in
his endeavours to bring about a federation
of associations of officers connected with
metropolitan management, in which this
Association was included.
Discussion then turned to the next annual
general meeting (AGM) of the Association. It
was resolved unanimously that the next AGM
be held at the Trocadero Restaurant, Piccadilly
(the same location as this year) and a sub-
committee of the Executive was appointed to
arrange the formalities.
The Honorary Secretary then presented an
account for printing amounting to £5.1.0 and
it was resolved a cheque be drawn to settle
the account.
Having passed a cordial vote of thanks
to the Chairman for his able and impartial
conduct in the chair, the meeting then closed.
In advance of the Executive’s next meeting,
the sub-committee appointed to agree the
formalities for the AGM met on 31st October
at Hemmans Hotel. The draft menu was
presented from Messrs Lyons and it was
ordered this be returned for additions
omitted from this year’s programme. It was
also decided to leave the arrangements of
the music to the Honorary Secretary and
Mr Ricketts, while Mr Madge offered to
endeavour to obtain the services of a well
known gentleman for the comic portion of
the entrainment. A Victorian version of
Lee Hurst, perhaps?
Victorian joke:
Question: What is worse than raining cats
and dogs?
Answer: Hailing omnibuses.
From the
“ It was resolved unanimously that the next AGM be held at the Trocadero Restaurant, Piccadilly (the same location as this year) and a sub-committee of the Executive was appointed to arrange the formalities.”
Gary L Watson IRRV (Hons) is
Deputy Chief Executive of the Institute INSI
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Welcome proposals on data exchange Consultation in England has closed recently on
ways to facilitate improvements in the collection
and enforcement process in council tax.
The Better Business Compliance trial has
been running with Manchester City Council,
Salford Council, Greater Manchester Police,
HMRC and the Cabinet Office. This project
aims to reduce illegal working, with a focus
on capabilities, processes, enforcement and
securing good outcomes. As a result of this
project, several suggestions have been put
forward by the project team for increasing
efficiency in collection. Following discussions
with the group, the government proposes to
extend the data-sharing gateway which currently
exists between HMRC and local authorities.
Where a liability order has been obtained, the
council taxpayer will have 14 days to voluntarily
share employment information with the council,
to enable it to make an attachment to earnings.
If this does not happen, the government
proposes to allow HMRC to share employment
information with councils. This would help to
avoid further court action, would provide quicker
access to reliable information, and would not
impose any additional costs on the debtor.
The principle of this data sharing is already
well established for council taxpayers covered
by the local council tax support scheme, and it
would make the powers applying to all council
tax debtors consistent. Based on the results
of the Manchester/HMRC pilot, Manchester
estimate that £2.5m of debt could potentially be
recouped in their area alone.
At the time of writing, the Local Taxation
and Revenues Faculty Board is yet to finalise
its response to this consultation. It is likely
however that the Board will offer its full support
to this proposal, because the issue of opening
up the exchange of information between local
authorities and HMRC has been regularly
raised by the Institute with central government
departments over many years. The Institute’s
Committee of Inquiry published in 2007
made a similar recommendation. Institute
representations on council tax reform in 2011
stated that greater exchange of data between
HMRC and local authorities, particularly in
respect of employment and pay records, would
help to ensure accuracy in council tax data,
simplify the council tax enforcement systems in
billing authorities and reduce costs.
Given that there has been regularly applied
pressure for government to consider this over
the course of years, it is interesting that the
spark for change seems to have come from
HMRC and Cabinet Office, in discussion with
other parties. The Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) is the
sponsoring body for this consultation paper, but
the Department were not minded previously
to embrace this proposal whenever it was put
to them. Perhaps the “story within the story” is
how much ground HMRC has gained recently
in its direct influence on activities that have
traditionally fallen within the DCLG remit.
The Board is likely to agree therefore that
it would be beneficial to extend to all council
taxpayers the approach in which, following a
liability order, HMRC can share employment
data on a council taxpayer in arrears. It will also
explore whether there are other legislative or
data barriers to efficient council tax collection
that, if addressed, could reduce the burden
on council taxpayers; and whether there are
any data collection or sharing issues that the
government could usefully clarify or address.
The ability to capture information on second
homes and long-term empty properties will
probably be deemed worthy of consideration.
Likewise there may be changes to be
suggested around the provision of information
of changes in circumstances that affect
exemptions and discounts.
In early October, the Chancellor set out major
plans to devolve new powers from Whitehall
to local areas. By the end of the current
Parliament, local government in England will be
able to retain 100% of local taxes – including
all £26 billion of revenue from business rates.
The government will also abolish the Uniform
Business Rate and give local authorities the
power to cut business rates to boost enterprise
and economic activity in their areas. Local
areas which successfully promote growth and
attract businesses will keep all of the benefit
from increased business rate revenues. At the
same time, the core grant from Whitehall will be
phased out, and local government will take on
new responsibilities.
Those areas which choose to have city-wide
elected mayors will get even greater flexibilities,
also being given the power to increase rates for
spending on local infrastructure projects, as long
as they win the support of local business.
These new powers come with new
responsibilities, as well as phasing out the main
grant from Whitehall, to ensure the reforms are
fiscally neutral. Local government will contribute
to “fiscal consolidation” over this Parliament, and
the government will set out further details in the
November Spending Review.
Councils in Scotland have recently received
new powers to cut business rates. Since 31st
October, local authorities are now able to lower
rates bills for businesses in their areas, under
an order laid in the Scottish Parliament. The
order, which uses powers under the Community
Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 which
passed in June of this year, means councils will
be able to reduce rates bills based on criteria
they choose, such as the type of property, its
location, occupation or activity. In contrast to
the retention scheme announced for England,
Scottish Councils will be able to retain all the
business rates they collect.
“ Given that there has been regularly applied pressure for government to consider this over the course of years, it is interesting that the spark for change seems to have come from HMRC and Cabinet Office, in discussion with other parties.”
Faculty Board report
...have caught Moira Hepworth and the Local Taxation and Revenues Faculty Board’s eye this month
Moira Hepworth BA (Hons) is the Institute’s
Policy and Research Manager
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A long frustration suffered by revenues
practitioners has been the issue of the
Valuation Office Agency (VOA) sharing occupancy details with billing authorities.
The VOA has maintained for many years that
they are unable to share such information
due to the restrictions of their own legislation
and the lack of the rating legislation providing
the necessary empowerment. However, it
appears that this might now be addressed as
a small part of the Enterprise Bill, which is a
government sponsored Bill. The Bill originated
in the House of Lords and has completed both
its first and second readings and is, at the time
of writing, awaiting the Committee stage.
In addition to enabling provisions to be
amended in relation to appeals, Part 6 of
the Bill inserts a new section (Section 63A)
into the Local Government Finance Act 1988
(LGFA88) which states:
“(1) An officer of the Valuation Office of
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs may
disclose Revenue and Customs information
to a qualifying person for a qualifying
purpose.
(2) Information disclosed to a qualifying
person under this section may be retained
and used for any qualifying purpose.”
A ‘qualifying person’ is defined as:
“(a) a billing authority;
(b) a major precepting authority;
(c) a person authorised to exercise any
function of an authority within paragraph
(a) or (b) relating to non-domestic rating;
(d) a person providing services to an
authority within paragraph (a) or (b)
relating to non-domestic rating;
(e) the Secretary of State;
(f) the Welsh Ministers;
(g) a prescribed person.”
A ‘qualifying purpose’ is defined as:
“(a) enabling or assisting the qualifying
person to whom the disclosure is made, or
any other qualifying person, to carry out
any functions conferred by or under
this Part which are not functions of the
Secretary of State or the Welsh Ministers;
(b) enabling or assisting the Secretary of
State or the Welsh Ministers to carry out
functions conferred by or under section 53
or 54 (central non-domestic rating), or by
or under Schedule 9 so far as relating to
central non-domestic rating lists.”
Since this Section will be inserted in LGFA88,
‘this Part’ will be Part III of the LGFA88,
namely non-domestic rating.
A further element of this amendment
is that it provides restrictions on onward
disclosure and makes it a personal offence
(including imprisonment or fine) if such
restrictions are breached.
Whilst I very much welcome this change, it
is important that the legislature ensure that the
wording used achieves the intended purpose.
For instance, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and the process for
developing a BID proposal or administering the
levy are not a function conferred by or under
Part III LGFA88 – they are a function conferred
by or under the Local Government Act 2003.
If the wording of the Bill does not change,
it appears likely that any information provided
by the VOA which is used for rating liability
purposes cannot be shared for the purposes
of proposing or administering a BID. An
added complication is that billing authorities
do not routinely keep easily extractable information regarding the source of ratepayer
details. It would take a considerable amount
of work to individually check this information
and, as such, it would appear that the only way
to ensure that information provided under this
section is not further disclosed would be to
not provide such information at all.
In addition to this apparent unintended
consequence, I can foresee another, as I
would not be at all surprised if this level of
individual checking of accounts would exceed
the Freedom of Information Act cost limit,
thereby meaning that such information is not
required to be provided.
The Institute, through both the Valuers’
Association and the Local Taxation and
Revenues Faculty Board, is in communication
with the legislature in order that such matters
can be addressed in the draft stage. As a
government sponsored Bill, it appears likely
that this will become law – however, in its
current form, it could cause more problems
than it solves.
“It would take a considerable amount of work to individually check this information and, as such, it would appear that the only way to ensure that information provided under this section is not further disclosed would be to not provide such information at all.”
Revenues roundup
Will legislation to release Valuation Office Agency data provide relief for local authorities, Alistair Townsend questions, or will there be yet more unintended consequences
Alistair Townsend FIRRV, CMgr MCMI
is a national IRRV Council member and
Chair of the Local Taxation and Revenues
Faculty Board
Causing more problems than it solves
GENERAL PRACTICE The New UK National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) is charged with offering unbiased analysis of the UK’s long term infrastructure needs, led by Lord Adonis as its first chairman. This is part of the Chancellor’s four point plan to change the way vital infrastructure projects are planned, determined and funded. Other proposals include removal of planning rules on brownfield sites, right to buy for housing association tenants, the pooling of the exising 89 local authority pension funds into half a dozen ‘British Wealth’ funds, and bringing forward sales of land, assets, etc., with the funds from these sales to be recycled to help fund new infrastructure projects. The NIC’s initial focus will be on a plan to transform the connectivity of the northern cities, including HS3, priorities for further large scale investment in London’s public transport infrastructure and ensuring efficient investment in energy infrastructure to meet future demands. Go tohttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/national-infrastructure-commission https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-announces-major-plan-to-get-britain-building
In a surprise move, the Office for National Statistics has concluded that English housing associations are part of the public sector for the purposes of national accounts, following various changes introduced, including the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, which means that their debts are counted as public borrowing. See http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2015/10/housing-associations-classified-public-bodies
The Housing and Planning Bill includes various CPO reforms which are being studied by the Compulsory Purchase Association (CPA). See http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/housingandplanning.html The CPA held their AGM and Tony Johnson Memorial Lecture 2015 on 12th October, the latter being on The Case for Accreditation (to promote best practice and high professional standards in CPO work). Go to www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org
VALuATIoN offICE AGENCy CoNTACT LIsT uPdATEd The Excel based VOA contact list has once again been updated. The purpose of the list is to facilitate contact between agents and VO caseworkers pursuant to the resolution of rating proposals/appeals. It should not be used for mass communications to more than one case worker.
To receive the list please contact the Institute’s Deputy Chief Exective, Gary Watson, on [email protected]
This month, Geoff Fisher adds a handy 2017 revaluation timeline to his regular valuation roundup
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REVAL 2017 CouNTdoWN ...whilst maintenance of 2010 Lists continues with VONs post 1st April 2016 having restricted backdating. The Valuation Office Agency’s task:To revalue 1.9m properties, in 348 Local Rating Lists (England & Wales), as at 1st April 2015*, to be published by 30th September 2016. These include some 1.331m ‘bulk classes’, including 500,000 shops, 367,000 offices, and 464,000 industrials and warehouses which will have Summary Valuations online on 1st October 2016.*but with physical circumstances as at 1st April 2017.
Timeline:2014/2016 VOA issues Forms of Return and assembles the rental Information
April 2014 VOA adjustment and analysis of rental information onwards (VOA Market Knowledge team reports assist)
1st April 2015 Antecedent Valuation Date
Summer 2015 VOA weighting of evidence and formation of valuation scales etc. Late 2015 Announcement as to 2017 List Statutory De-capitalisation Rates England and Wales (Northern Ireland Reval 2015 is 4% (AVD April 2013)
Early 2016 Majority of draft valuations produced by VOA – most produced by May
30th Sept 2016 Publication of Draft 2017 Lists
1st Oct 2016 Summary Valuations, majority online, and VOA Help Desk Open
Late 2016/ DCLG and Welsh Govt. decides on early 2017 Uniform Business Rate for 2017/18 Feb/March 2017 Billing authorities issue rate demands based on draft 2017 List RVs
1st April 2017 Statutory Local Lists published for billing authorities – England & Wales and statutory Central Lists published for Sec. of State DCLG and Welsh Govt. ? Start of new appeals procedures – ‘Check, challenge, appeal’? Note – meanwhile, Assessors produce revaluations 2017 for Scotland – see http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/local-overnment/17999/11199/Archive/NDR
Don’t forget that you can view the latest edition of the IRRV’s Valuer magazine by logging on to the member area and clicking on ‘magazines’. In this month’s issue we feature the following:
• Simon Tivey’s in the hot seat when it comes to end of
life properties
• Krzystok Grzesik and the TEGoVA team make a
welcome appearance to tell of matters European
• all the latest news from the Valuation Office Agency and the
Valuation Tribunal Service
• more forthright opinion from Tom Dixon in ‘From the trenches’
• IRRV Valuer Day success is reported from the 2015 Telford Annual
Conference
• the RICS Rating Diploma Holders get into the mind of the hypothetical tenant
• another pair of compensation cases are unpicked by Peter Brown
• a compendium of rating valuation issues are analysed by Gordon Heath
• an academic view of business rate retention from Northumbria University
• ...and a humorous look at the ‘ABC of rating’ from Patrick Bond.
Valuers’ Association Monthly Page
Geoff Fisher FRICS (Dip.Rating) IRRV (Hons) REV is a Past President of the Institute and a Rating Diploma Holder.
The views in case summaries are the author’s and should not be accepted as a legal opinion.
Valuers’ Association Monthly PageV@MP
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RATING
Check, challenge, appeal – the DCLG have produced their proposals for reforming business rates appeals by introducing a complicated two stage process, with a challenge leading to a VO Decision Notice before allowing the ratepayer to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal for decision. The challenge would be similar to the current proposals, rights and restrictions, but would only arise after VO notification of agreement of facts and any revision of the List, or VO notification of facts still disputed, and any revision of the List. The challenge must include grounds, substantial reasons, evidence, and an alternative valuation both supported by evidence, and submitted within four months of the VO’s notification. The VO will issue a decision notice with reasons and a summary of agreed matters, and the ratepayer can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal England within four months, with reasons and evidence presented at the challenge stage, and payment of fees proposed in the region of £100 to £300. The eight week consultation expires on 4th January 2016 and legislation is proposed to be included in the Enterprise Bill. See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472695/151029_Business_rates_appeals_consultation_document_-_final_version.pdf
An Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decision in Dog and Gun Ltd v C Howarth VO concerned a Transitional Certificate on a pub/restaurant assessment. The pub had become a pub/restaurant in 2007, following extensions including a restaurant and kitchen and following receipt of FOR trading information in 2011, which increased in 2013 the 2010 List RV to £77,000 with a 2013 effective date (plus a Reg 14 certificate). The VO then issued a Reg 15 certificate at the 2005 List figure with effect from 31st March 2010, thus considerably increasing the rate liability. In 2014 an appeal was made against the Reg 15 certificate but the VTE confirmed the certificate. The Upper Tribunal considered various aspects of the regulations, criticised the VO for delay in issuing the Reg 15 certificate, but found (with concern) that it did not have jurisdiction to alter or order the withdrawal of the certificate because of the delay. Nevertheless, they reviewed the certificate RV of £77,000 and 2005 List comparables and directed the VO to substitute the Reg 15 certificate at £77,000 RV with a new 31st March 2010 certificate at £41,000. See http://www.landstribunal.gov.uk/ Aspx/view.aspx?id=1201
Agricultural exemption was considered in Wootton v S Gill VO. The large retail warehouse was used for a temporary period for storage of agricultural machinery, fertiliser and silage produced on the adjoining land and the Tribunal considered ‘contrivance’ and whether it was used together with agricultural land and solely in connection with agricultural operations. The appeal was allowed and the assessment directed to be deleted from the Rating List as exempt for a two year period
before it was reoccupied commercially. Go to http://www.landstribunal.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=1200
Newbigin VO v Monk – repairs again! The Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) Patrick Bond gave a talk to the Rating Surveyors’ Association (RSA) on the Agency’s interpretation of the Court of Appeal decision. As the Supreme Court has granted the ratepayer leave to appeal the Court of Appeal decision, appeals to the Valuation Tribunal in relation to repair issues are being stayed by the VTE – see VT VIP38.
Woolway VO v Mazars - hereditaments again! At the IRRV London and Home Counties Association meeting on 26th November at IRRV HQ, Cain Ormondroyd gave a talk on the identification of a hereditament following the Mazars case. Valuation Tribunal Valuation in Practice VIP38 is now published and includes various Upper Tribunal decisions summarised in previous V@MP pages. See http://www.valuationtribunal.gov.uk/vip_newsletter.aspx
Interesting VTE decisions - dentists’ surgeries valued on rental evidence, unlike the GP surgeries valued on contractors test in Gallagher VO v Drs Read & Poyser 2015 for want of untainted evidence (appeal number 033517106835/537N10). Wyevale Nurseries – the VO accepted the horticultural activity, being a nursery ground and therefore exempt, but not the office as it was not an agricultural building, nor the lorry park [not agricultural land]. However the VTE President found that the office was exempt as an agricultural building – Farmer VO and Hambledon DC v Buxted Poultry Ltd 1991 quoted – although confirmed that the lorry and trailer park could not meet the definition of agricultural land (appeal number 185023881488/54N10).
The VOA has moved its central London operational offices to Lloyds Chambers, 1 Portsoken Street, E1. These modern offices are just inside the City of London and between Aldgate and Tower Hill stations (VOA Tower Hamlets office in Whitechapel has closed and three floors of the VOA’s offices at Wingate House, Shaftesbury Avenue, are to let).
The RICS Rating Diploma Holders Section held their 61st annual lunch (hosted by Chairman Colin Brook) on 27th November at the RAF Club, Piccadilly, when Diplomas were presented to eight successful candidates by the RICS’s Fiona Grant, and Billy Joss became the new Section chairman. The lunch was preceded by the AGM, and a Professional Meeting when Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) member Peter McCrea FRICS gave an illuminating talk on the role of the expert witness. Some 220 had attended the September 2015 Rating Diploma conference ‘Exploring the hypothesis – Rating Valuation examined’ and a full report will appearin the January/February edition of Insight. Next year’s conference will be held on 15th September 2016.
The Rating Surveyors Association (RSA) Past Presidents’ Dinner was held at the Lansdowne Club, central London, on 21st.October, hosted by President Robert Brown. Photo above courtesy of Richard Guy The RSA Guest Dinner was held on 5th November at One Whitehall Place, Whitehall Court, London, with guest speaker Paul Sanderson. Patrick Bond presents a free CPD lecture on ‘Rating case law update’ in Manchester on 3rd December. Go to http://www.ratingsurveyorsassociation.org/
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Working ina fraudster’swonderland
Local government has been fighting fraud
ever since the tools and resources became
available. The frauds have changed and the
goalposts have moved, but the will of the
fraudster has never diminished. What may have
started out as an opportunistic gain of a little
extra cash has often turned into an organised
attack on the honest taxpayer. The public
purse is being affected massively, with huge
reductions being forced upon public spending.
Government has been working to combat
fraud at both central and local level. Significant
change has challenged the way in which
fraud needs to be tackled. A shift in priorities
within local government has seen a more
collaborative and calculated approach.
Teaming up with other local authorities, better
engagement with the third sector and closer
working with private organisations has been
seen as the way forward. Technology is now a
major tool in the armoury of any counter fraud
team. With efficiencies that have been created
within government, there is the need to
supplement the well trained fraud team with
effective software.
TEICCAF and the PPPRecent reports from The European Institute for
Combatting Corruption and Fraud (TEICCAF),
which carried out a national survey of fraud
detected by English councils, found that new
trends within fraud have emerged that will
require continued efforts by local authorities
and their partners.
Nationally, £207 million of fraud was
detected by authorities in 2014/15, an 11%
year-on-year increase and the most ever
reported in the 25 years that such information
has been collected. Detected benefit fraud
cases fell by more than half, reflecting the
impact that the transition of local authority
investigations to the Single Fraud Investigation
Service (SFIS) is starting to have. The value of
corporate (non-benefit) fraud has taken a big
leap forward, with a 63% increase year-on-year
to £97 million. In London, the overall detected
fraud value increased by more than 46% to
£73 million, which equates to around 17,000
detected cases.
The recent Protecting the English Public
Purse 2015 (PPP) report suggests that
counter fraud capacity is the biggest issue
facing councils in tackling fraud, followed
closely by capability. To aid this, the need
for effective technology to work side by side
with those staff is imperative in the modern
digital world. Cybercrime is a huge concern
across the globe. The medium of technology
is increasingly being used as an enabler by
the fraudsters, which is also ultimately the
downfall of the perpetrator.
Tenancy fraud continues to be a significant
risk. Research that was previously undertaken
by the Audit Commission suggests that at
least 4% of London social properties and
at least 2% outside of London are subject
to some form of housing fraud. This is the
government’s accepted estimate of the
scale of such fraud and equates to nearly
100,000 council and housing association
properties across England. This year the first
proxy indicator measuring the scale of such
fraud has been developed, which has found
that at least 3% of applications in London
are potentially fraudulent and at least 1.5%
outside of London.
Emerging fraudsRight To Buy (RTB) fraud is now emerging
as one of the most significant corporate
fraud areas affecting councils. Its value
has increased by nearly 145% in just
one year, totalling more than £30 million.
New legislation to extend RTB to housing
associations, organisations with often limited
counter fraud capacity, could put hundreds of
millions of pounds of public housing assets at
risk of loss to fraud every year.
The PPP report noted that internal migration
in London sees a turnover rate of 53 people
“The medium of technology is increasingly being used as an enabler by the fraudsters, which is also ultimately the downfall of the perpetrator.”
Nick Turner and IRRV strategic partners INTEC are taking on the fight against fraud, post SFIS
Cover story
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Working ina fraudster’swonderland
per 1,000 residents. This will inevitably
lead to higher demand on public housing,
resulting in further tenancy fraud and right
to buy issues. When you talk of such high
turnover rates across a mass population, you
immediately begin to wonder how to process
this information. We have helped with the
processing of tens of thousands of properties
in order to effectively detect these frauds
and yet we continue to strive to find new
ways to tackle new and emerging issues. ‘No
Recourse to Public funds’ is one such area that
is growing and requires more improved ways
to combat it.
Members must play their partIn the post-SFIS world, where money no
longer grows on the DWP tree, the revenue
generating fraud teams of years gone by are a
thing of the past. Over the years, fraud teams
would create a financial profit and would see
staff numbers swell to cope with demand.
Now it seems that fraud prevention and
investigations are sometimes shunned and are
no longer required.
The role of audit can now be seen to
encompass the reactive work in the authority
and is used to just keep an eye on fraud,
whereas really fraud has not gone away but
merely changed and adapted, requiring all of
us to adapt with it. Key stakeholders within
an authority need to buy in to the need to
prevent fraud and tackle it in equal measure.
The Audit Commission had previously
stated that the best way to tackle social
housing fraud was to prevent it. So having
the support of elected members is crucial to
ensure that fraud inside and outside of the
authority is monitored and therefore adapted
to when needed. Having no significant fraud
presence means that the frauds will become
rooted within the organisation, making them
harder to get out.
Fraud prevention and technologyINTEC have been assisting local authorities
to tackle fraud for a long time now – this is
our 20th year of business. Together with our
customers, we have created a ‘fraud app’ for
smartphones, which was considered innovative
enough to receive DCLG funding for around 50
local authorities.
We have diversified to provide solutions that
target getting in front of the problems faced,
just as much as resolving the problems once
they are found.
To give some ideas of why:
• UK consumers glance at their phones over
one billion times a day
• 76% of UK adults now own a smart phone
• every month around 2.5 million smart
phones are sold in the UK.
We understand the results of this evolution
and are working to bring together local
authorities and registered providers to utilise
the national tenancy checker system called
‘ilatch’. This gives local authorities, letting
agents and members of the public the
ability to go online and check the availability
of properties in order to prevent illegal
subletting. By identifying that a property is
not available to the letting agent or potential
tenant, this stops the property from entering
the market and breaks the potential chain of
lettings to follow.
Data protectionLocal authorities are seeking more embracing
ways to share their data. The traditional
approach that viewed the Data Protection Act
as a barrier is now being replaced with a new
found embrace of the lawful means by which
the Act facilitates information sharing. Across
the country, local authorities are joining forces
in matching their data in order to help identify,
and more importantly prevent, fraud. DCLG
funding has been used across Leicestershire,
Hertfordshire and Yorkshire in order to
facilitate their work in preventing fraud through
matching data and joint working. The results
of these teams will certainly influence the way
in which other authorities set out their fraud
prevention strategies.
AwarenessApps and online checking are just some of
the ways that authorities can work with the
public to drive out the frauds from entering the
system. Fraud awareness training is an integral
part of any local authority strategy for the
prevention of fraud. However this is internal
training and doesn’t integrate the needs of
the public. What if we are all taught how to
look out for fraud and how to prevent it -
wouldn’t that be a big help? If the public were
continually reminded of the negative effects
that fraud has socially as well as economically,
surely they would do more to tackle it. We all
know what the effects of fraud are through
research and statistics but maybe the generally
honest member of the public doesn’t.
“Fraud awareness training is an integral part of any local authority strategy for the prevention of fraud.”
Nick Turner is a Director at INTEC for
Business. To find out more about their
projects and find out how they can help
you then visit their website at
www.intecforbusiness.com or
contact them direct on 0161 9764222.
Use it or lose it!
Now that the dust has settled after the IRRV
Annual Conference and the good people
of Telford can get back to their normal lives
after seeing their town over-run by hordes of
local government officers (not forgetting our
colleagues in the valuation profession), it’s time
for reflection as we focus on what is yet to come.
One issue highlighted at the event, and
one that I was questioned about during my
presentation, was that figures from the DWP
showed that for 2014/15, one third of local
authorities failed to spend their full allocation of
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP).
My first reaction was to think of such an
underspend as bordering on the criminal.
However, mindful of the saying that there are
lies, damned lies and statistics, it is worth looking
closer at the figures to try to discover the story
behind the headlines.
The following table shows the percentage of
allocation spend per authority in Great Britain,
excluding Scotland:
I have deliberately not included Scotland as the
picture north of the border is entirely different,
with all 32 authorities’ spend exceeding their
allocation.
Taking into account the fact that many
authorities will not have the necessary finances
to be able to support a ‘top-up’ to the DHP
allocation, it is perhaps not surprising to see
that 140 have spent between 90% and 100%
of their allocation. What is not clear from these
figures is, of those, what was their actual spend?
Was it 91% or 98%?
If it was in the high nineties, then this
would appear to be a case of effective budget
management, finding a fine balance between
the needs of the community and the
resources available.
However, that aside, the fact that 93 out of
the 346 authorities that submitted a return
had at least 10% of their allocation unspent
is of concern. My worry is that the temptation
is there for the paymasters to apply their own
interpretation and come up with the
decision that a reduction in discretionary
funding is entirely justified on the grounds
that ‘large chunks’ of it are unspent.
So what is the story behind the apparent
underspend? Well, dare I suggest that it
is in a number of cases down to adopting
a pragmatic approach to the use of
discretionary funds. In researching this
article, I contacted colleagues to see what
their stories were.
One authority (they will know who they
are!) had an allocation of £515,000 to
spend and managed to spend £464,904
– 90% of their grant. Their approach
was that they would not intend to spend
everything. Their intention was to use
DHP effectively to help people to get into
a situation where they can afford the rent
themselves. They cite that out of 226
‘benefit cap’ cases they had during that
year, they have managed to reduce this
to only 61 live cases, pointing out that 73
cases moved into work as a direct consequence
of their proactive efforts and using DHP to
underpin that action.
As a counter to this, another authority, and I
suspect they may not be alone, admitted that
they spent all of their allocation but found that
towards the end of the financial year awards were
being made just to use up the funds.
I think that those authorities that still hang on
to the notion of ‘exceptional circumstances’ need to think again. Let’s not forget that particular
requirement has not existed for the past 14
years! The scheme exists to help those that need
additional support with their housing costs. We
have the discretion to use the funds for these
purposes as we see fit – subject to equality
requirements and recent case law. Our policies
to support this should not be restrictive and I
would caution against the excessive use
of conditionality.
Many authorities may take the view that “we
will pay £10 per week whilst you apply for five
jobs a week”. I think this is dangerous ground,
as it places conditions on an award that I am not
comfortable are permitted within the regulations.
However, to make a payment whilst effective
support is provided, perhaps to assist them
to attend a training course that may result in
employment is an entirely different matter. This
would I believe be more productive in the long
run, overcoming any obstacles at an early stage,
and would be easier to justify if challenged.
I still believe that we need to look carefully
at how we use these discretionary funds. David
Magor suggested at the conference that he could
see that in the near future DHP would become
a ‘mini housing benefit scheme’, with each
award means tested. I’m not sure how far his
tongue was in his cheek with that but I do see
that the future use of DHP will need to change to
meet upcoming challenges.
“ My worry is that the temptation is there for the paymasters to apply their own interpretation and come up with the decision that a reduction in discretionary funding is entirely justified on the grounds that ‘large chunks’ of it are unspent.”
Benefit bulletin
The Discretionary Housing Payment budget still has a major role to play, says Phil Adlard
Phil Adlard Tech IRRV MInstLM MCMI is
Vice Chair of the IRRV Benefits Faculty
Percentage of allocation
spent (%)
Number of LAs
Cumulative number LAs
Percentage of LAs
Cumulative percentage
of LAs
10<20 1 1 0 0
20<30 0 1 0 0
30<40 2 3 1 1
40<50 6 9 2 3
50<60 9 18 3 5
60<70 10 28 3 8
70<80 24 52 7 15
80<90 41 93 12 27
90<100 125 218 36 63
100 15 233 4 67
100<110 80 313 23 90
110<120 15 328 4 95
120<130 4 332 1 96
130<140 6 338 2 98
140<150 4 342 1 99
150<160 1 343 0 99
160<170 1 344 0 99
170<180 0 344 0 99
180<190 1 345 0 100
190<200 0 345 0 100
200+ 1 346 0 100INSI
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More trouble on the way, in or out of work One of the striking features of the ups and downs
of the UK economy in recent years has been
the way in which recession and turbulence have
manifested themselves less in unemployment
than in a growing problem of low pay. This has
been reflected in increasing in-work poverty and
receipt of in-work benefits.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has
recently contributed to this discussion by pointing
out1 that the proportion of children in poverty in
a family where at least one person is in paid work
rose from 54% in 2009/10 to 63% by 2013/14.
Ministers and Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP) spokespersons have long, by
accident or design, appeared not to be aware that
many recipients of means-tested benefits are in
employment. Notably, a completely confused
distinction is often drawn between people
receiving housing benefit (HB) and people
in work.
Take, for example, recent figures obtained by
Sadiq Khan MP, illustrating the exodus of large
numbers of low income families from inner
London. A DWP spokesperson, questioned by a
Guardian journalist on the role of benefit cuts in
this phenomenon, replied that:
“Families in work make decisions on where
to live based on what they can afford every day,
and it’s fair that households on benefits face
those same decisions.2”
Rising rents, combined with growing HB
shortfalls, are of course a key cause of the
increasing inability of low-paid workers to live in
the capital – a trend with serious implications for
the London economy as well as for the families
affected. Nor will the upcoming increase to
national minimum wages turn this around, being
accompanied by cuts to tax credits, Universal Credit (UC) and HB.
The above quotation is thus a heady blend
of complacency and an apparent lack of
understanding of important aspects of the
benefit system.
It is unlikely that the knowledgeable and
sensible DWP civil servants that I meet are
responsible for this stuff – it is obviously
politically packaged before being inflicted on the
public – but it really isn’t good enough.
Below stairsMeanwhile, London’s rental market grows
increasingly bizarre. The Metro freesheet recently
featured a photograph of a broom cupboard
under some stairs in a house in Clapham, with
just enough room for a mattress, a couple of
plastic boxes and some coat hangers – a bargain
at £500 per month3.
The advert on the London2let website
enthused:
“We are looking for a friendly, open-minded
and outgoing person to join our houseshare.
We’re a good bunch and like to chill out a lot
together – not looking for somebody that just
wants to stay in their room.”
And a good job too – it could be seriously
claustrophobic. But with a sufficiently friendly,
open-minded and outgoing tenant – and
potentially HB or UC to help with the rent – all
will no doubt be well in the small but possibly
growing ‘cupboard living’ niche of the housing
policy world.
UC and PIPIn the run-up to the Conservative Party
Conference, the Guardian carried an interview
with Iain Duncan Smith4. There seemed to
be some contradictory thinking regarding
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The Secretary of State complained that:
“...you have a [situation in] which people know
they would like to stay in touch with the world of
work, but at the same time fear that to express
any such thing immediately makes them not
sick enough.”
Which is precisely the problem that the
Welfare Reform and Work Bill is set greatly
to exacerbate by increasing the £7 per week
differential between the Work-Related Activity Group and Support Group to £36 –
a huge disincentive to go anywhere near work-
related activity.
The Secretary of State went on to speculate
on possible options for Work Capability
Assessments and the future of ESA and Personal
Independence Payment (PIP):
“He is... looking at the idea of merging ESA
(paid to those out of work) with Disability Living
Allowance (DLA – paid to fund the costs of
disabled people who are both in work and out
of work) under Universal Credit. Alternatively, he
might just merge the two tests for the benefits.”
For DLA, we should of course read PIP, which
is replacing it.
A couple of days later, I got an email from a
worried PIP claimant – if ESA and PIP are merged
within UC, would PIP become taxable?
I was able to reassure her on the taxation
point, although the public can be forgiven for
being confused. There are two different versions
of ESA. Contributory ESA is taxed, means-tested
ESA is not – and it is the latter that is being
absorbed into UC.
So taxation does not seem to be a threat –
but means-testing certainly is. Unlike DLA-PIP,
UC is of course means-tested. Disabled people
above the means-test level (or who don’t claim)
would be adversely affected, potentially losing
an important support for independent living,
whether in or out of work.
By the time you read this, we may know
more – and some of us may be embroiled in a
campaign to protect PIP from means-testing. And
just merging the two tests, without combining
the benefits, could be problematic enough in
itself, if the most restrictive elements of each are
brought together. 1 ‘Nearly two thirds of children in poverty live in
working families’, press release, IFS, 16/7/15. 2 ‘Figures point to ‘social cleansing’ of the poor from
inner city London’, Matthew Taylor, Guardian, 29/8/15.
3 ‘£500 a month – for room under stairs’, Metro, 1/10/15.
4 Guardian, 3/10/15.
“ It is unlikely that the knowledgeable and sensible DWP civil servants that I meet are responsible for this stuff – it is obviously politically packaged before being inflicted on the public – but it really isn’t good enough.”
Credit notes
Geoff Fimister considers in-work poverty, a bizarre tale from the London rental market and new threats to disability benefits
Geoff Fimister is Campaigns Officer
(Incomes) with the Royal National Institute of
Blind People and a writer on benefit issues.
Collection & enforcement
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growth and some local authorities may have the
power to increase business rates to spend on
local infrastructure projects.
Whether this will just mean a new process
which redistributes existing grants and income
but with local authorities taking the responsibility
for justifying the benefits of business rates to
chargepayers, we will have to wait and see!
However, the announcement will inevitably
throw up a number of questions, amongst
which are:
• what will the transitional arrangement look like
for losers and gainers?
• will there be a cap for both reducing and
increasing business rates?
• what effect will backdated reductions of
rateable value have?
We will have to wait to see the devil in the detail,
which will be published later in the spending
The importance of business rate collection
continues to gain momentum and importance
for local authorities. Gone are the days when
local authorities put most of their resources
and focus on the collection of general rates,
community charge and now council tax and
applying themselves just as an agent of central
government when collecting business rates.
5th October 2015 may be a defining moment
for business rate collection, when the Chancellor
first set out plans to devolve powers from
Whitehall to local government, enabling them
to keep £26 billion of revenues raised by
business rates.
As readers will no doubt be aware, it is
proposed that by the end of this Parliament, local
authorities will be able to use these monies to
boost local growth, attract new business and
create local employment. Local authorities will
have the power to cut business rates to promote
Amanda Reynolds is Business Development
Manager with Ross and Roberts
Amanda Reynolds predicts the importance of business rate collection escalating as localisation takes hold
review. Councillors will have a keen interest in
this new initiative too, as it will be seen as a way
of regenerating the high street and reducing
void properties and they will need to ensure
future policy integrates with their own
parking strategies.
At Ross & Roberts we have already out
in place bespoke business rate collection
teams with specialist trained staff, new tracing
techniques and different processes at compliance
and enforcement stages. These new teams are
delivering excellent collection results and are
increasing collection rates for our clients.
Local authorities must not take their eye off
the ball on business rate collection, as speed of
process and collection is paramount and a fall in
the collection rate is not always easy to rectify.
The Scottish Local Taxation Symposium Local Taxation at the Crossroads
T: 01382 456029
W: www.irrvscotland.org.uk
Leapark Hotel, GrangemouthFriday 12 February 2016IRRV Scotland is delighted to announce the details of this important event, being run to consider the implications of the impending report of the Commission on Local Tax Reform, which has brought together local and national politicians from different political parties and a range of professional and technical expertise from across Scotland to look at ways of developing a fairer system of local taxation.
With the Commission’s report due to be published in the very near future, the symposium will feature keynote presentations from several members of the Commission, together with presentations from other leading experts in the field.
We are delighted to announce the attendance of key speakers, including Marco Biagi MSP, Co-Chair of the Commission and Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment.
For more information and booking please email [email protected]
Special Offer:
Reduced charge where delegate is third from the same organisation –applies to lowest cost place.
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“We don’t claim to be in partnership with Royal Mail simply because we use the postal service, or with the local CAB because we have their logo on council tax reminders.”
Use of descretion
Services to develop an IT-based product. This
used intelligent tick box questions to seek out
from the customer a financial picture of their
employment, training, debt and entitlement.
This assisted service led to a tailored printout
of where to get help with the potential of
automatic appointments, for example with
DWP, housing benefits, debt recovery, CAB,
etc. As a prototype, we registered the domain
tellmeonce.co.uk.
Tellmeonce had potential which I couldn’t
fulfil. However, similar approaches are now
established and entrenched in revenues
and benefits. For example, look no further
than BDC in the present day. Since leaving,
I had not hitherto been back to my former
employers. I was however powerless to resist
the siren lure of the old office a few weeks
ago. Curious about developments at BDC with
the local DWP, I wanted to see the outcome
of work I was a small part of in 2013 – that is
relocating the Worksop Jobcentre Plus (JCP)
into the council offices. We have heard of
DWP thresholds in Circulars – what about
DWP crossing the council office threshold
lock, stock and barrel? That’s a new one.
The idea to co-locate DWP was heavily
sponsored by the current Bassetlaw Chief
Executive, who made it possible. Two
years on, I recently witnessed around 35
JCP customer agents in super brand new
customer-facing positions at the far end of the
former BDC cash hall, in what used to be the
‘staff only’ housing benefit offices.
Although a triumph of modern joined
up thinking and customer service design,
this development cannot be acclaimed as
a strategic shared partnership unless the
customer is getting added value. It ’s not
enough for respective managers to have
meetings now and then. There needs to be a
review of process, customer input to improve
I read an article recently which suggested that
the 1990s are back! Evidence of this included
the return of ‘TFI Friday’, coupled with the
new surge in the popularity of Chris Evans.
Also in the mix was Brit pop band ‘Blur’
reforming, the return of the ‘Crystal Maze’
and an England football team doing well in a
World Cup (well done the lionesses, bronze
for Lucy Bronze). Pity we didn’t have a lioness
called ‘Gold’! So it all makes sense, doesn’t it?
We’re back in the 1990s. Case proven – fire
up the DeLorean!
Of course, this is all nonsense. What will
they fill their pages with next? It made me
search for a word that sums up a situation
where somewhat related events connect
loosely with another, but are plainly
misdirected. I couldn’t find that word, but the
phrase ‘smoke and mirrors’ helped.
This made me think of revenues and
benefits... but in a good way. In our evolution
from General Rates through poll tax to now,
we have successfully delivered enormous
change. Part of that is properly working with
partners. We don’t claim to be in partnership
with Royal Mail simply because we use the
postal service, or with the local CAB because
we have their logo on council tax reminders.
What we are really good at is the emphasis on
strategic development of shared partnership
based services.
It ’s not enough merely locating the CAB,
Credit Union, local housing provider/ALMO,
etc., within reach of the revenues or benefits
office, be they in the same corridor or just
down the road. That would be convenient
for the customer but it is smoke and mirrors
to claim that the customer is getting a better
integrated service.
In my previous life at Bassetlaw District
Council (BDC) up to late 2013, I worked on
a Circle of Need with Aperia Government
Collection & enforcement
Andy Burton is a revenues and benefits
specialist who can be contacted on
Revenues and benefits has moved on, discovers Andy Burton, as he transports himself to former pastures
Back to the future?
the journey and multi-partnership buy-in for
such a change to be relevant and effective.
I am convinced that Bassetlaw and the
DWP have a formula for the future here. It ’s
early days and too soon to judge that all
JobSeeker ’s Allowance (JSA) and fledgling
Universal Credit (UC) customers are bet ter
served but the signs are clear. Barely
four months into live operation, JSA/UC
claimants are put through for a council tax
reduction claim in the same process and
personal budgeting as well as job search
advice is on hand. Existing well established
links to Credit Union, CAB, ALMO and food
bank referrals are accessible on site. Fraud
teams are also to co-exist in the same
building for joint operations.
The potential for a ‘Circle of Need’ without
the necessity for an IT-based screening
system is clearly the vision. This is the shape
of service to come, when the government
implement fur ther benefit cutbacks, yet at
the same time expect claimants who are
most cash strapped to receive the best
holistic support.
Who needs a trip back to the 1990s,
the Poll Tax and all that? Revenues and
benefits practitioners have moved on
and have continued to deliver innovative
and transformational service improvement
ever since.
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There’s a slow revolution at work in local government
The economic case for partnering to cut fraud
and reduce costs has become stronger for
councils – but then so do the tools at their
disposal. A recent opinion piece in a leading
daily paper predicted mixed futures for dealing
with rogue landlords in the council.
Yes, UK councils now have greater legal
means to combat fraud, so the argument
went, but after years of austerity how many
still have the teams or the time to enforce it?
It ’s an interesting perspective, and one not
without merits – it ’s no secret that council
resources are often stretched. Yet it ’s not the
full picture.
We’re seeing a slow revolution at work in
local government. Interest in partnering with
the private sector has never been greater.
But bringing in agency staff is typically too
expensive, particularly where you can get a
team of experienced industry specialists for
far less. This is why central government’s
push towards greater online collaboration and
improved efficiency is being met by resource
strapped councils with tough, innovative
private sector contracts that directly increase
revenues and decrease fraud.
Sandwell Council Last year, Northgate Public Services worked with
Sandwell Council on an empty properties review.
About one in every seven of the properties it
reviewed were found to be occupied, when they
had been claimed to be empty.
Regarding the ‘empty’ properties, this could
be fraud, or it could be a mistake. What’s
certain is that not doing the empty property
review would have led to substantially reduced
revenues for the council, at a time when the
words ‘local’ and ‘government’ are constantly
being followed by their unbeloved siblings,
‘budget’ and ‘cuts’.
In the case of Sandwell, a special team
came in and worked almost as an extension to
the council’s team. It looked at market leading
credit reference data, then it managed the
review process, including handling all customer
contacts, system updates and, where required,
carrying out physical property inspections. This
was delivered without up-front fees, and on a
risk and reward basis.
The entire review was carried out in ten
weeks. It ended up generating an additional
£1.8 million in revenue for the council.
The first of its typeTower Hamlets has engaged in an innovative
solution that looks well beyond the narrow
boundaries of its borough. Last year they
helped create a framework agreement that can
be used by any London council. It creates an
ongoing, working agreement that enables a
council to engage a ‘virtual’ team to help with
benefits processing.
Currently, the team of close to 20
is dealing with some 4,000 benefits
cases a month, typically for change
of circumstances. It works directly
to prevent the overpayment of
benefits, for example in childcare
and non-dependent costs. To be
on the team you need a minimum
of two years’ benefits experience,
though some have been working in
the area for 15 years.
While figures aren’t yet available,
it ’s clear the work is helping reduce
fraud and the overpayment of
benefits – more than this, it ’s
flexible, giving the council an option
to flex the size of the team up or
down depending on the needs of
the council.
Because of the way the framework
was established, new councils are
able to join the framework and enjoy
the services without going through
the pain of a separate procurement
process. Waltham Forest has joined, and is
currently supported by a team of 12, as have
Greenwich with a team of 18.
The futureSome councils are unsure whether it ’s worth
their while partnering – in a world with finite
resources, they don’t know if their problem is
big enough to make it worth their while fixing.
Others are unsure how much it would cost, or
they’re already feeling stretched in terms of
time and resources.
These are serious questions, and there’s
no one size fits all response. It ’s clear that in
some areas it simply may not be cost effective
for the council to keep things in-house.
Ultimately, councils should look carefully at
the issues facing them and put their resources
in the places that benefit them best – but
there are real economic wins for many
councils out there.
“It looked at market leading credit reference data, then it managed the review process, including handling all customer contacts, system updates and, where required, carrying out physical property inspections.”
Partnership working
Councils are beginning to take partnering to cut fraud and error seriously, says Nigel Blair
Nigel Blair IRRV (Hons) is Head of Product
Management and Innovation with Northgate
Public Services
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There seems to be no end in sight for
spending cuts to local government. This means
that local authorities are increasingly uncertain
about their future financing and urgently
need to generate as much certain income as
possible from other sources in order to protect
key services and to plan effectively for the
future. As a result, income streams outside
of council tax and direct government support
have become increasingly important. Nowhere
is this more true than with business rates.
In the UK business rates raise over £22
billion a year for local authorities, and have
come to be seen as a key metric of economic
performance in a local area. For many local
authorities, reliance on business rates has
been increasing – but at the same time,
uncertainty about the future of their reliability
has grown. In order to understand what can
be done to improve this situation, I hosted a
workshop for local authority teams with Capita
earlier this year, which saw presentations from
– amongst others – the Local Government
Association and the Greater London Authority
on the subject of the future of business rates.
Many of the attendees felt that the current
business rates system suffered from a
number of key issues, including the lack of
predictability and reliability of income, the
growth in complexity of different schemes
and exceptions, and that there was too
much reliability on a small number of larger
ratepayers – which meant single delays could
have significant impact on receipts. They
also felt that a lack of good data meant that
it was too difficult to forecast the impact
of successful appeals and local authorities
didn’t have any insight into the impact of new
properties or changes to property status.
There were many good lessons and forward-
looking ideas that came out of the workshop
session. However, the clearest message
was that closer collaboration between local
authorities and the Valuation Office Agency
(VOA) was absolutely crucial to ensure that
business rates continued to be a viable source
of revenue for councils. Higher quality data
sharing with the VOA was seen as crucial to
opening up better forecasting opportunities,
ensuring that councils were able to track their
predicted revenues.
Other potential solutions included moves
to limit the number of appeals, particularly
those with little merit – both achieved by
capping the amount that solicitors could
charge for appeals through legislation and by
introducing a charging system for businesses
to prevent ‘fishing’ appeals. Overall, it was
felt that collective working between the VOA,
stakeholders like the LGA and local authorities
should be able to develop better processes
that ensure valuations are ‘right first time’,
significantly reducing the number of appeals
and the demand on local authority officers.
The workshop also saw a number of
best practice examples given where local
authorities – like my own, Southwark,
supported by Capita’s revenues and benefits
team – have adopted approaches that had
improved their business rate collection.
These included the use of multi-channel
communications on business rates, using text
messages, email and even social media to
prompt quicker responses and payments from
businesses. Building these into other council
communications – taking a holistic approach –
could also be effective.
Use of insight and analytics was also
suggested, reviewing tenancy trends to target
repeat offenders and allowing resources to be
directed more effectively. Specific recovery
approaches for SMEs were considered a good
way to ensure that rate collection worked
without damaging an SME economy, that
many councils are working hard to protect and
encourage. All these options can be combined
with the use of the ‘nudge’ theory, using
behavioural science to iteratively test changes
in the approach to rate collection to establish
the most effective method.
Although many of the innovations described
have been successfully introduced in other
areas of local authority work, business rate
collection has historically not changed much
and has not been the subject of this kind
of innovative thinking. I firmly believe that
adoption of some of these practices could
make a real difference. Many of them also
have the benefit of only requiring unilateral
local authority policy change, rather than
sector-wide collaboration.
“They also felt that a lack of good data meant that it was too difficult to forecast the impact of successful appeals and local authorities didn’t have any insight into the impact of new properties or changes to property status.”
Business rates
Local authority business rate administration still has a bit of catching up to do, says Dominic Cain, when it comes to thinking outside the box
Dominic Cain MBA IRRV (Hons) is Assistant
Director (Revenues, Benefits and Financial
Transactions) with the London Borough of
Southwark and President of the Institute’s
London and Home Counties Association
No end in sightfor spending cuts
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Reflections...Some people may think there is justice
in being made redundant from the
Audit Commission (heading-up benefit
inspections) and being ‘sent to Coventry’ ! But I can honestly say it has worked out
very well. The return to ‘operational’ work
from ‘inspecting’ has proved a positive
experience for me. Benefits work gets right
to the hear t of why many of us work in local
government – providing suppor t for those
who need it when faced with dif f iculties.
In June 2011, following the demise
of the Audit Commission, Coventry City
Council gave me the oppor tunity to return
to managing a benefit service. Ten years
with the Commission stood between this
and my previous role as Benefits Manager
at Southampton City Council. So, four years
on is a good time to reflect on what has
changed and the story behind the signif icant
improvements in the service.
Coventry is a large unitary council –
the tenth largest outside London, with a
population of 330,000. Nearly a f if th of
people reside in neighbourhoods amongst
the most deprived 10% in England.
Around one in three households rely
on the council ’s benefit service to help
them through dif f icult times. The city and
council has ambition and it was an exciting
challenge for me to contribute towards this
in a new role.
I found the analy tical skills I had acquired
with the Commission very useful, and
my early days were spent conducting a
thorough review of the benefit service at
Coventry. You could say I was inspecting
my own council ! My conclusions did not
show a very positive picture of the service.
Despite the ef for ts of very commit ted and
caring staf f, people were waiting too long
for the benefit to be paid. Many of the tools
to suppor t a good service were not in
place, including:
• robust performance management
• modern IT
• control of customer contact
• an ‘inward looking’ culture – not
benefitting from learning from others, and
• mixed relationships with key stakeholders.
So much of the early work was around laying
the foundations from which improvements
could be made. This included a real focus
on get ting the right information to share
with managers and staf f so they could see
their contribution making a dif ference.
Information technology – some of which
was ‘sitting on the shelf ’ – was used as
a real driver for change. The first step was
to move to online claiming, suppor ted by
risk based verif ication. A slow star t, initially
working with the major RSLs (there is no
council housing stock in the city) leading to
the removal of all paper forms around three
years ago.
Get ting control of our customers has also
been vital. A proactive approach to obtaining
information through phoning customers, text
messaging and receiving proofs by email/
smar t phones has helped. Appointments for
all customers have been very successful.
Landlords access their information
themselves and no paper schedules are sent
any more. We now have more control – and
our customers value that too.
A number of staf f restructures have
helped to ensure the right people are in
place to deliver a challenging agenda.
This has helped to provide consistent
improvements in per formance at a reduced
cost to the council.
So, what dif ference has this made to our
housing benefit per formance? New claims
have shown a steady improvement, and for
a large city, per formance compares very well
with others:
• 2011/12 – 26.7 days
• 2012/13 – 24.8 days
• 2013/14 – 23.3 days
“ My conclusions did not show a very positive picture of the service. Despite the efforts of very committed and caring staff, people were waiting too long for the benefit to be paid.”
Tim Savill brings a whole new perspective to being sent to Coventry, as he reflects on a successful return to the local government fold
Reflections
Reflections...
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• 2014/15 – 21.4 days
• 2015/16 – 19.4 days (Q2).
Processing of changes of circumstances has
shown a similar improvement trend, with
current per formance now around 9.2 days,
from a high of around 18 days in 2011/12.
Par tnerships have signif icantly contributed
to success. One of my early experiences
in Coventry was for my new housing
colleagues to throw me in as the ’Aunt Sally ’ at a meeting with around 50 very
challenging private landlords. Over time, as
improvements in per formance took place,
the meetings have become much calmer –
to the extent that they have ceased owing
to poor at tendance and a lack of concerns
around the service.
An ef fective par tnership was also
developed between the service and
stakeholders on the back of the many recent
welfare reforms. A ‘working together’ group was formed between the council,
RSLs, advice agencies, the food bank and
others. Monthly meetings are still in place
and the group has grown as par tners
have all seen the benefits of maximising
our resources. This ef fective par tnership
working helped to ensure the impact of
the reforms has been managed as well
as possible.
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
recognised the impact of the ef fective
par tnership working with the work
showcased on their website, ‘Making welfare work locally ’. In recognition of
this, the CAB stated, “We were specifically
impressed with how Coventry City Council
worked with local partners to plan and
communicate the changes. In relation to
Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)
policy we were also pleased to see how
the council were keen to evaluate why they
hadn’t spent all the budget and to seek
feedback from stakeholders to understand
what changes could be made to improve
access to support for people facing
housing benefit short falls and in financial
dif ficulties.”
Not surprisingly, one outcome is that
Coventry was amongst only 38% of councils
which spent its full DHP allocation in
2014/15 – a continuing trend for the city
since DHPs were introduced.
Local welfare provision was a fur ther
reform which Coventry (along with most
other single tiered councils) introduced
very successfully within some challenging
timescales. Our par tnership working has
been vital in developing and enhancing
the scheme over the last three years.
Coventry ’s scheme – Community Suppor t
Grants – like many others, moved away
from a cash based system. We put in place
arrangements for a spending card (with a
national supermarket chain) for shor t term
awards for food and other essential items.
A similar arrangement was put in place,
largely to help people re-set tle into
the local community. This includes the
provision of household essentials such as
‘white goods’, beds and bedding, etc.
The arrangements have been enhanced to
improve value for money and reduce the
risk of fraudulent claims. This has resulted
in our scheme meeting local need at less
than 20% of the cost of the previous DWP
Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans in
the city.
None of this has been rocket science,
but lots of tweaks have made a dif ference.
‘The aggregation of marginal gains’ was seen as the key to the success of the
British cyclists at the 2012 Olympics. Much
can be said of that principle as a means to a
successful benefit service.
And my ‘reward’ for this? Around a year
ago, a management restructure resulted
in me inheriting the management of the
revenues service. Similar principles are
being applied and with new structures in
place some ‘green shoots’ are already
appearing. Direct debit take-up has gone
up by around 10,000 accounts when
compared to a year ago. This is helping the
revenues service to have a stronger focus
on the remaining collection challenges.
Outstanding work has reduced by around
10,000 items compared to a year ago. Work
is up to date, meaning that people receive
their council tax bill quickly, and maximising
the oppor tunity to keep their payments up
to date. Early days, but encouraging signs
as we move to fur ther welfare reforms and
many associated challenges for revenues
collection. It was, af ter all, a protest on
local taxes which resulted in Lady Godiva’s
famous ride through the City!
“ Local welfare provision was a further reform which Coventry (along with most other single tiered councils) introduced very successfully within some challenging timescales.”
Tim Savill is Head of Revenues and Benefits
with Coventry City Council
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•
IRRV Training Days Early booking advised!
SpecialOffer:3for2onmultipleenrolments(This offer is valid on multiple bookings with a minimum of 3 candidates)
T: 020 7691 8987
W: www.irrv.net/trainingdays
• IntroductiontoBusinessRates–Janet Alexander IRRV (Hons)
8February,London
• IntroductiontoCouncilTax–Janet Alexander IRRV (Hons)
17December,London/22February,London
• RoleoftheCouncilattheMagistratesCourt–Gary Watson IRRV (Hons)
26January,Hinkley/2February,London
• BusinessRatesMasterClass–Janet Alexander IRRV (Hons)
11–12January,London/29February–1March,London
• CouncilTaxMasterClass–Janet Alexander IRRV (Hons)
18-19January,London/7&8March,London
• AuthenticManagementDevelopmentWorkshops*–IRRV / John Giblin
14January,London/21January,London/9February,London/25February,London
3March,London
*3for2offernotvalidforthiscourse.
Fees: Introduction MasterClass
IRRV Member £125 plus VAT £240 plus VAT
BAS/Forum/Organisational Member £155 plus VAT £300 plus VAT
Non Member £185 plus VAT £360 plus VAT
ManageMent Workshops –
authentic Management DevelopmentEach workshop is set within a revenues and Benefits context and will comprise 8 to 10 delegates. The workshops are designed for managers wanting a refresh as well as staff on their first management development journey. Although there are five in total, each is stand-alone so you can sign up for them all or simply dip in and out.
John giblin will deliver the workshops out of our London HQ between January and March 2016. If you have the numbers locally we will gladly take the events to you.
For more details of dates and how to book please visit our website on:
www.irrv.net
Workshop 1 – strategic ManagementWorkshop one provides a practical introduction to strategic management; environmental scanning;
setting out a vision and developing core values. It also provides a practical overview to managing
change, project management, and risk management.
Workshop 2 – operational planning and performance Management Workshop two provides a practical introduction on to how better understand the type of value-
adding demands that operational plans need to deliver. It will also look at how human resources
might best be structured. Finally it will provide a practical overview of how balanced performance
management can be used to provide assurance and also inform continuous improvement.
Workshop 3 – Messy problem solving and solution Finding, option appraisal and Delivering a Business CaseEven the best plans go awry. Workshop three provides a practical introduction into how a range
of problem solving techniques might be best used to understand why performance might not be
in line with expectations. Additionally it will provide an overview on how you might establish a
preferred option and present a business case around it.
Workshop 4 – Customer First processes - Improving process and proceduresIf your problem analysis is indicating a problem with your process or procedures, workshop four is
for you. It provides a practical introduction to understanding how the needs of the customer must
be central to your process/procedures. It explores the extent to which double handling; waste;
delays; rework and over-processing negatively affect the customer experience.
Workshop 5 – Leading people, Managing teams and Improving people performance ManagementIt is extremely rare for performance failings to be remedied simply by fixing the process. Workshop
five provides a practical introduction to understanding how the best leaders engage with their
people to get the most from them. It will also provide some helpful insight into how teams might
better perform. Finally the workshop will provide a practical overview of how and when to best
tackle individual performance deficiencies.
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Going theextra mileIt has become accepted practice in local
government to try to improve the performance
of employees by setting performance targets
each year. It has meant an increased focus on
outputs and outcomes and on the need to be
more people-centred.
The targets in themselves do not explain
how to improve performance. Targets will
only work if people think they can reach
them. It is important therefore that these
targets are not seen as unrealistic or
irrelevant. The danger is that targets become
the only measure of performance or of
success. Before any discussion with the
employee, consideration should be given
to whether the targets might encourage or
discourage team working and unity. Will the
results be better by getting people to work
against each other in competition or by
working together in co-operation?
It is important not to confuse measurement
of performance with target-setting, as the
most powerful results come from a few clear
targets, as opposed to many that just become
confusing. The target should not be purely
something that is easy to measure – it needs to
be something that is systematically important.
For most employees in most situations,
managers should be adopting the Douglas
McGregor ‘Theory Y’ view of the world that is
their role to inspire and support, rather than
dictate. Local government needs to achieve
more with less and this can only be achieved
by getting employees to contribute more
widely to performance.
The benefits of teamwork are clear –
increased productivity, improved customer
service, more flexible systems and employee
empowerment. One of the impacts of cost
cutting in the public sector is that teams have
become more important in maintaining and
delivering services. The team leader’s role is
crucial in the team achieving its objectives, so
it is essential that the role is clearly defined.
An effective leader must maintain a team’s
focus whilst maintaining positive relations with
team members.
So should managers in local government be
setting team or individual targets?
team:• fosters a collaborative approach
• enhances a focus on the customer’s needs
• removes the need to give sole credit to
certain individuals
• fails to identify the difference between high
and low performers
• hinders management in identifying
poor performers.
Individual:• differentiates between high and
low performers
• hinders team behaviour
• helps managers identify poor performers
and recognise that an individual is
responsible for improvement
• recognises that the individual’s performance
may be unfair when other members of the
team may have contributed.
The standard argument in favour of individual
targets is that the individual will see the
benefit of giving their full commitment to the
task, whereas they may not choose to put
in the extra effort if they feel it may not be
reflected in the team’s performance.
Everybody needs to be recognised for
their individual accomplishments by the
people around them, and especially above
them. Team members are inherently
motivated – it is the anticipation of the
recognition they will receive for the
completion of a task that motivates them
internally to ‘go the extra mile’.
If targets are set on an individual level, they
can be fixed in a dialogue with the manager.
The individual can then feel that he or she
is participating in setting the targets that
are to be achieved. This can increase the
motivational factor, as the individual does not
want to let down the manager, nor him or
herself. In this dialogue it is also easier to find
a balanced level, where the individual feels
that the target is achievable.
When setting targets for the whole
team, consideration needs to be given to
the contribution each team member must
make and how these contributions can be
measured. The task should be split evenly,
where possible, so that if one person misses
the target but everyone else achieves it,
there is still a good chance that the team will
achieve its aim. Managers should take every
opportunity to praise staff who are achieving
their targets.
Where the team’s performance consists of
every individual’s performance intertwined
together, it can become difficult for each
member to see how his or her own performance
has contributed to the final outcome.
In conclusion, it may well be the best
approach is to adopt a combination of these
targets, to try to get the advantages of
both while hopefully eliminating the
disadvantages identified.
“Local government needs to achieve more with less and this can only be achieved by getting employees to contribute more widely to performance.”
Management
Ian Nisbet explores the importance of targets, and achieving the right balance between team and individual performance
Ian nisbet is Subsidy and Overpayments
Officer with Agilisys’s Enhanced Revenue
Collection programme, in partnership with
LB Hammersmith and Fulham. Contact him
Peter Brown was formerly Professor of Property
Taxation at Liverpool John Moores University
In a previous article, Peter Brown examined how to group data into months and years. In this article he looks at grouping values into groups of our own specification.
Data analysis
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In the press recently there have been
discussions with regard to how the new Stamp
Duty Land Tax rates have impacted on the
sales of property, especially in the higher value
bands. This article will demonstrate how we
can calculate how many transactions have
occurred in each of the tax bands.
With effect from the 3rd December 2014,
the tax bands were changed to:
<£125,000 0%
£125,001 - £250,000 2%
£250,001 - £925,000 5%
£925,001 - £1,500,000 10%
>£1,500,000 12%
In order to undertake this analysis, we will
need to download the relevant data from the
Land Registry website, or if you have already
done this to extract the relevant data. To make
things easier the data in Excel format can be
downloaded from the Institute’s website.
Warning – undertaking this analysis can
stretch many computer systems. Even with a
powerful computer, you may find that some of
the processes can take a considerable period
of time (over an hour in some instances)
and you may feel that the computer has
‘hung’ and you may see a message that
the computer is not responding. Avoid the
temptation to quit the program, as often Excel
is working in the background even though it
may appear to be frozen.
STAGE 1The first stage of the process is to
import the data into Excel or to use the
‘Article 6’ spreadsheet available from the
Institute’s website.
If you are importing the raw data from the
Land Registry you will need to ensure you
insert column headings for the data, otherwise
Excel will give an error message.
STAGE 2From the ‘Insert’ menu, select ‘Pivot Table’ and accept the default values.
STAGE 3Drag the ‘Price’ field to the ‘rows’ box. This
will result in a long list of all the sales prices.
Now select the prices from the lowest value
up to and including £125,000. With the figures
selected, right click the mouse button and
choose the ‘Group’ menu option.
Warning – the actual grouping of the data
may take a considerable time (see previous
warning). Once the grouping has been
completed, you will see the heading ‘Group 1’ and a list of all the values in that group.
Adjacent to the ‘Group 1’ heading is a
small ‘-’, which if you click will hide all the
individual values. At this stage, change the
‘Group 1’ heading to ‘<£125,000’, which is
more meaningful.
Repeat the process for each of the four other
tax bands.
STAGE 4With any cell within the pivot table selected,
now drag the ‘Post Code’ field to the
‘Values’ box. Select any of the values in the
post code column and right click. Select the
‘Value field settings...’ and make sure the
‘Count’ option is selected.
STAGE 5An additional column has been inserted to
show the ‘%’ transactions that fall into each
tax band. To do this, repeat the steps in Stage
4 above. Right click as before, but this time
also click the ‘Show Values As’ tab and select
the ‘% of Grand Total’ option.
The final stage is to tidy up the headings so
they have more meaning.
Stamp Duty Land Tax – with effect from 3rd December 2014
STAGE 6Ideally we now need to repeat the whole
exercise again for the previous tax bands
and this will be covered in an extended
article which can be downloaded from the
Institute’s website.
Tax bands Number of transactions
%
<£125,000 130,136 21.09%
£125,001 - £250,000 267,167 43.31%
£250.001 - £925,000 205,964 33.39%
£925,001 - £1,500,000 10,750 1.74%
>£1,500,001 2,910 0.47%
Grand total 616,927 100.00%
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With the need for local authorities to find
financial savings and the ever impending full
introduction of Universal Credit (UC), there
has never been a more important time to help
people to get online. Once digitally enabled,
the theory is that people will be able to self-
serve, thereby reducing the support required
from local authorities and consequently
reducing costs.
But people trying to get online face many
challenges, which have been identified as:
• the cost, in that technology isn’t
always cheap
• lack of skills in both digital awareness
and literacy, together with confidence to
get online
• lack of motivation, by not understanding the
financial and social benefits of being online
• a fear or lack of trust with all the scare
of identity theft, poor online security and
trouble identifying trusted sites that are
not scams.
How to help with all of these challenges is
an issue for local authorities, as they find
themselves trying to help people get online,
if not for UC, then for improving the digital
skills of their residents. Milton Keynes Council
is piloting a scheme that it believes will
remove many if not all of these challenges.
Partnering with Argos, the authority has
developed a ‘tablet and training’ scheme.
The council has already been successfully
running a recycled PC rental scheme since
2008, which whilst being very popular, does
not provide internet access, although advice
and guidance on fixed and mobile broadband
is readily available.
The Argos tablet and training scheme has
plugged a gap between the renting out of
machines and the ability to get online. The
scheme ensures that not only are people
given a tablet but they are trained in the
use of it as well. The tablet is an entry level
tablet – a seven inch Proscan model which
uses the android operating system and comes
preloaded with some help videos. The Argos
training sessions cover how to switch on the
tablet and how to connect to the internet, as
well as searching, emailing, using social media
and shopping. The sessions are 90 minutes
long, so training is not meant to be in depth
but learners are guaranteed to get a taste of
each topic. The training is backed up by a
professional manual that covers everything
the attendee has learnt. A £30 admission fee
is required to join the sessions but in many
instances this is paid by third parties, such
as the Department for Work and Pensions,
local welfare provision or the council’s
Neighbourhood Employment Programme.
Importantly, all the training is held at the
Argos Milton Keynes store, as it has good
wi-fi, staff that can deliver the training, and it
has a training room. The store also provides a
welcoming friendly and neutral venue, which is
conducive to productive informal training.
Why tablets? Because the technological
trend is to move towards tablets, which are
now outselling PCs. Tablets provide a ‘go anywhere’ device without the overhead of
operating system updates or worries about
viruses. Whilst no broadband is offered, there
are many free wi-fi spots in and around the
Milton Keynes area, including public libraries,
in which to use the tablets.
Getting the right people on to the course
is important, as the authority needs to make
sure the most benefit is gained from the
training sessions. A set of screening questions
is asked to ensure that those people who
attend are those that will get the most benefit
from the sessions and use of the tablet. These
screening questions identify whether the
applicants can:
• send and receive emails
• use a search engine
• safely browse online
• complete online forms
• buy and sell online.
Those identified with the least skills are
selected for the sessions and tablet. Attendees
were initially being selected from working age
people (for UC purposes) that were known to
the authority via ConnectMK and who were
renting a PC and maintaining payments as
agreed. However, since running the scheme,
the authority has found that this group of
possible attendees has had to be widened
because there is a demand from unemployed
people who require internet access to seek
and apply for work. The authority works closely
with the local job centre, local welfare provision
and its own Neighbourhood Employment
Programme, in identifying individuals that
would benefit from the scheme.
At the end of the course, attendees have to
complete an online survey on their tablet. This
not only ensures that they can use the tablet
but also provides valuable data indicating
whether the course aims are being achieved.
To date the results are impressive, with users
showing 100% increase in digital skills such
as use of emails or surfing the internet.
Importantly, the survey asks what they will use
the tablet for, with many responding that they
will use it to look for work, claim benefits and
even browse the council’s website!
“ How to help with all of these challenges is an issue for local authorities, as they find themselves trying to help people get online, if not for UC, then for improving the digital skills of their residents.”
Technology
...exclaims Simon Bailey, as he identifies the use of this technology to bring hard to reach customers online
Simon Bailey IRRV (Hons) is a
Director of ISCAS – contact him on
[email protected] (www.iscas.co.uk)
Keep taking the tablets...
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Check, challenge, appeal...
Consultation on reforming the business rates appeals systemAccording to the government, there is
widespread agreement that the business
rates appeals system is in need of reform –
so states the consultation paper issued by
the Department for Communities and Local
Government on 30th October. The paper says:
• that businesses need:
(i) to have a better understanding of how
their properties have been valued
(ii) to be confident that valuations are
correct, and
(iii) to be confident that they are paying the
right amount of business rates.
Where this is not the case, it needs to be put
right more quickly – businesses need refunds
which are due to them as soon as possible.
The system needs to be clear and easy to
navigate so that businesses of all sizes can
easily use it. Scarce public resources need
to be used more efficiently in focusing on
legitimate cases
• while progress has been made in resolving
outstanding appeals, there is still more to do.
Currently too many rating appeals are made
with little supporting evidence. When that
evidence is provided, it regularly comes late
in the process, often leading to long delays
for ratepayers. Many appeals are made as a
matter of routine, and the majority of appeals
do not result in either an appeal hearing or a
change to the Rating List
• the government has built on earlier
consultations to develop a system that
allows factual and valuation issues to be
dealt with in a timely and efficient way.
The new system consists of three stages: check, challenge, appeal
• the check stage will ensure that relevant
facts are validated by the ratepayer and
agreed as far as possible. If necessary the
Rating List will be corrected to reflect the
facts. Where facts cannot be agreed, the
differences will be clearly established
• the challenge stage allows a ratepayer to
challenge the Rating List entry. They will set
out their reason for the challenge, and put
forward an alternative Rating List entry (which
will include an alternative valuation if that
is the reason for the challenge), backed by
supporting evidence. If necessary, there will
then be an opportunity for further discussion
between the parties. The Valuation Office
Agency (VOA) will issue a decision on
whether the Rating List will be altered and
the level of any revised valuation
• the appeal stage allows a ratepayer to
appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunal
for England. The Tribunal will consider
whether the VOA has made the correct
decision in respect of the challenge, based
on the evidence put forward and exchanged
at the challenge stage. If the Tribunal
disagrees with the VOA’s decision, it may
conclude that the ratepayer’s proposed
Rating List entry is correct, or alternatively it
may substitute its own
• the guiding principles for reform are
that ratepayers should set out their issues
fully and clearly at the start of each stage,
so that the VOA can respond quickly and
ratepayers can make an informed decision
about whether they need to proceed to the
next stage. There should be a structured and
transparent approach with clear expectations
on all sides about timescales, requirements
and action. The system will strongly promote
early engagement by all parties at all stages
so that cases can be resolved as soon as
possible. Routine or speculative challenges
which are not supported by a robust case will
be identified and dealt with swiftly, and this
will have benefits for ratepayers who raise
genuine issues – they will see their case
considered, and any necessary amendments
made to the Rating List, more quickly.
The aim of the system overall is to provide a
streamlined and efficient system in which the
key issues are identified by the ratepayer early,
and are resolved as quickly as possible as the
case proceeds. The VOA will provide clearer
and simpler information about the valuation
process on its website.
The grounds on which a challenge may be
made will be in line with the grounds on which
a proposal may currently be made. Only one
‘check, challenge, appeal’ may be made per
ratepayer per list, on each of the grounds,
unless there has been a physical change to the
property or locality.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, primary
legislation amending existing enabling powers
will be enacted in the current session’s
Enterprise Bill, and regulations will then be
brought forward setting out the details of the
various stages, based on the ideas in this
consultation paper. The intention is that the
reformed system will apply when the new
Rating List comes into effect in April 2017.
There are currently over 850,000 appeals
being made on property valuations by the VOA
but 70% of these result in no change to the
rateable value and less than 2% proceed to a
tribunal hearing. The government are intending
to introduce a fee which would be refundable
“ I have lost count of the number of changes that have been made to the appeals process and the number of working parties that I was involved in to overcome the perceived problem – and nothing much changed!”
Doherty’s despatch
Public Accounts Committee activity has caught Pat Doherty’s eye, as well as the hardy annual of business rate appeal reform
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if appeals are successful and will be set at
between £100 to £300, similar to fees charged
by other tribunals, such as tax tribunals.
It will be interesting to see if a new appeals
process does in fact improve the timescales.
I have lost count of the number of changes
that have been made to the appeals process
and the number of working parties that I
was involved in to overcome the perceived
problem – and nothing much changed!
Responses to the consultation paper must
be made by 4th January 2016.
Public Accounts Committee – fraud and error stocktakeAccording to the fourth Fraud and Error
Stocktake report from the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC), published at the end
of October, high levels of benefits and tax
credits fraud and error remain unacceptable.
Overpayments cost every household in the UK
around £200 per year and waste money that
government could spend on other things.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and
the Department for Work for Pensions (DWP)
have made some progress in tackling fraud
and error but both departments have shown a
paucity of ambition.
HMRC has reduced fraud and error, but
does not fully understand how it has achieved
this, or how much further it can go. DWP did
not meet its 2014/15 target for reducing fraud
and error, and is relying on welfare reforms to
make future improvements. These reforms will
not solve all the problems and DWP expects
fraud and error to still be £5.8 billion in
2020/21, once Universal Credit has been fully
rolled out.
While the departments can recover some
of the money overpaid, this can create
huge difficulties for people, as they struggle
to pay back money paid to them in error.
During the next few years both departments
must improve their understanding of what
reductions are possible, and increase their
focus on preventing both underpayments and
overpayments due to fraud and error. The PAC
made a number of recommendations:
• DWP should build on its development of
individual strategies by publishing targets
for reducing fraud and error for each major
benefit, having assessed what level of further
reductions is achievable, and set out clear
operational plans to deliver this
• DWP must set out how it will target the
causes of fraud and error that will remain
after the introduction of welfare reforms,
and update the Committee each year with
clear forward projections for fraud and error,
based on the latest information available, so
that (the PAC) can assess its performance.
The departments should have a strategy in
place to identify and minimise the key risks
of fraud and error arising from implementing
and operating major reforms, including
setting targets for what levels of fraud and
error will arise
• both departments should improve their
understanding of the reasons why claimants
make mistakes, and use this to develop
stronger preventative measures – and set
targets for reducing underpayments, in order
to galvanise efforts to tackle this neglected
issue. They should report back to the
Committee in six months on progress they
have made in relation to initiatives exploiting
third party data
• HMRC should work with the government-
wide Fraud, Error and Debt Steering Group
to commission an independent review of
claimants’ experience of the tax credits
process. The review should include the
impact of using its private sector contractor
and identify ways to reduce unnecessary
burdens on people
• DWP should assess the impact of its
enforcement approach, including modelling
and reviewing evidence on the deterrence
effects of its penalty regime, to establish
how effectiveness could be improved.
The PAC states that it intends to return to the
issue often during the current Parliament.
“HMRC failing UK taxpayers” – PACFollowing on from the previous report,
the PAC now says that HMRC is ‘still failing
UK taxpayers’.
It believes the quality of HMRC customer
service ‘could be considered a genuine threat
to tax collection’. In the first half of 2015,
HMRC contact centres answered only half of
calls, and only 39% within five minutes.
HMRC responded that it had now recruited
3,000 more staff but that the customer service
issues had not affected its ability to collect tax.
The Chair of the PAC said HMRC must
‘rapidly improve its customer service,
previously described by the PAC as abysmal
and now even worse’. In 2014, 72% of calls
had been answered.
Perhaps local authorities could provide HMRC
with a few lessons on good customer care?
“The review should include the impact of using its
private sector contractor and identify ways to reduce
unnecessary burdens on people.”
Pat Doherty FIRRV CPFA is an
independent consultant and a Past President
of the IRRV. If you wish to comment on
anything in this article please email him at
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Never say never? Who knows...
Business ratesAt the time of writing, we have had the second
reading of the Enterprise Bill, which introduces
new concepts in the administration of business
rates. The Chancellor’s statement at the
Conservative Party Conference is also concurrent.
What does this mean? From 2017 ratepayers
will have a new way of checking and
challenging their rates assessment without
lodging a formal appeal and by 2020 local
authorities are forecast to retain 100% of their
business rates income.
Inevitably both measures are very short
on the detail, which is to be by secondary
legislation in the case of the Enterprise Bill.
What the measures do not contain is a
commitment to disclose information to the
ratepayer or their agent on how the assessment
was carried out and with what evidence.
In my view this is a fundamental right of a
taxpayer and no amount of reinvention of the
administration of business rates will streamline
the appeals or challenging system, because
until the information is disclosed, the challenger
will need to continue through its various stages,
including an appeal.
At present the Enterprise Bill indicates a
much greater flow of information between
the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and the
billing authorities (BA), which is welcome,
but the absence of reciprocal information to
the ratepayer is in my view unlikely to mend
the system. BAs are becoming a much larger
stakeholder in the system and arguably have
second rate rights over intervention in the
Rating List. Historic rights of full intervention
perhaps need restoring to be consistent with the
greater level of engagement and the supreme
importance that business rates will take on as a
contribution to local authority funds, to enable
the continued provision of services.
The backlog of current List (2010) appeals
and the work for the revaluation inevitably
puts VOA resources under pressure. The Local
Government Association has suggested a
radical reform including self-assessment, to
remove a lot of burden from the VOA. With the
closure of many VOA offices and the resultant
lack of ‘local’ service to BA areas, these calls
for change will no doubt gain pace.
Finally, there is a threat at the appeal stage
that changes may be made to register appeals.
In a scenario where there is little transparency
in how the taxing authority arrived at their
assessment and there is a change to challenge it,
this seems to me to have moved in a retrograde
way to the dis-benefit of the taxpayer.
Other valuer topicsThe European Mortgage Credit Directive for
implementation in 2016 continues to exercise
valuers and the banking industry.
The concept of a Mortgage Lending Value in addition to Market Value is foreign
to the UK markets and much work is being
undertaken about how best to implement a
long term sustainable value to the process and
for the valuer to be able to provide this. Existing
implementation models in some parts of Europe
would not sit comfortably with the UK residential
market or the commercial property sector.
Looking for an effective solution is a top priority,
assuming that a change is in fact necessary.
This is not an easy concept for valuers who
have been told for very many years, not least as
a protection from being sued, that forecasting
of values should be avoided. Some would say a
Mortgage Lending Value is not a forecast but a
value to a different set of parameters from that
of Market Value but on the same day. Whether
that is right or not, the intention is that valuers
should provide this new additional advice,
which is intended by its very nature to have a
much longer potential shelf life than its Market
Value counterpart. It will probably run and run
– but not for much longer when the statutory
timetable is considered of April 2016 for the
implementation of the European Mortgage
Credit Directive.
All this of course is against a background of
very low fees offered for bank lending valuation
by panels or panel managers, and here we are
discussing a new layer of advice required,
but no mention so far of commensurate
additional remuneration.
We are a service industry to our clients, but
the time, effort, expertise and risk do need to be
reflected in fee remuneration. Watch this space!
Development and planningThe drive to build new homes by the
government is supported by a planning system
which has largely still not determined enough
local plans to derive a coherent local policy.
Developers have been attempting to gain
permission on sites which have never been
part of any development area, even on ‘green belt’ land, and some are saying that they are
exploiting the current policy vacuum.
It is clear to me that to meet housing targets
the previously taboo subject of green belt and
similar sites will need to be visited to reach the
forecast requested by government.
Local authorities have had their budgets
cut to such an extent that completing the
policy work for most of them is a real resource
struggle. All the time that continues there will
be many attempts at speculative development
on land – some of which may be wholly
unsuitable. Government national policy
implemented locally by locally set policies is a
real challenge.
The planning system is still in disarray, with
no signs of an immediate cure or improvement.
For the valuer looking at potential values of
alternative use, the door is open for speculative
views, and valuations! My advice to my fellow
valuer is proceed with caution, but perhaps
never say never – who knows?
“What the measures do not contain is a commitment to disclose information to the ratepayer or their agent on how the assessment was carried out and with what evidence.”
Viewpoint
Valuer Roger Messenger takes his place on the Viewpoint podium and takes his turn to deliver a wide ranging commentary on his chosen profession
Roger Messenger BSc. (Est.Man) FRICS
FIRRV MCIArb REV Hon CAAV is Senior Partner
with Wilks Head and Eve and a Past President
of the Institute
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IRRV Jobs Online
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The IRRV is please to announce its ‘Revenues Publications Winter Special Offer Package’, available when purchasing the four revenues publications listed below. The promotion price is £650**, saving you a total of £130** off the normal retail price. The four publications included in the offer are:
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IRRV Training
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PhoneCoach In-House TrainingThe IRRV are please to announce our new in-house training tool for local taxation & revenues and customer care – PhoneCoach – the market leading training tool for staff using the telephone.
With this new training tool, we will come to your offices and provide instruction for your staff on all matters of local taxa-tion and revenues as well as improving overall customer service.
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The courses are limited to 12 people to ensure a thorough understanding and increased knowledge of each topic.
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