Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
INSIGHT
INSIDE: Enforcement special • News & events • • LGA focus • Collection focus • Viewpoint •
DECEMBER 2011 £5.50 www.irrv.net
ISSN
136
1-13
05
Shared enthusiasmHow sharing can be good for you
The monthly journal of the Institute of Revenues, Rating & Valuation
Chief Executive’s notes 05Now is the time for real council tax reform, says David Magor
News and events 06
Running the Institute 08This month’s staff spotlight focuses on Rowena Hunter
Education & membership 09
Letter to the editor 10
Alternative revenues 25Local authorities can benefit when collection of business rates becomes direct income, argues Richard Kerr. Insight reports…
LGO update 27
LGA focus 28
Management 29
Technology 30The cloud is gathering as Mel Poluck encourages public services to link in to the latest IT initiative
Doherty’s despatch 32
Viewpoint 34As BlackBerry falters, it’s not good to put all your eggs in one Universal Basket, says John Frost
Cover story
Shared enthusiasm 18Sharing can be good for you, says Kevin Stewart, as he starts to see the benefits of the new way of working
Enforcement special 20Totally transparent bailiffs... ...surely not? But Alan Wood believes technology is on its way to providing the answer. Insight also investigates whether the gap is narrowing between The Citizen’s Advice Bureau and the bailiff industry. Christine Eva gives her views. Newham’s tough approach to council tax evaders is there to complement the Olympic host borough’s high profile, Insight discovers. Council tax arrears are just one part of a growing problem, but help is at hand, explains Caroline Hamilton
Billing & collection 26Insight finds out how Ashford Borough Council has improved its business processes and made significant savings on the management of its daily outgoing council tax and benefit notifications.
Regular items Features
2
INsI
GH
t w
ww
.irrv
.net
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 8996 E [email protected]
Editorial John Roberts IRRV (Hons) T 07952 659 258 E [email protected]
Tregartha Dinnie Ltd Ibex House, 5 Keller Close, Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes MK11 3LL T 01908 306500 W www.tregartha-dinnie.co.uk
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 2011 ISSN 1361-1305
© IRRV 2011. Reproduction in whole or in part of any article is prohibited without prior written consent. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute. Whilst all due care is taken regarding the accuracy of information, no responsibility can be accepted for errors. Any advice given does not constitute a legal opinion.
IRRV Council: IRRV President Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV (Hons) MCIArb REV; Senior Vice-President David Chapman IRRV (Hons); Junior Vice-President Richard Harbord MPhil CPFA FCCA IRRV (Hons) FIDP FBIM FRSA; Honorary Treasurer Allan Traynor FCCA IRRV (Hons); Phil Adlard Tech IRRV MlnstLM MCMI; Alan Bronte FRICS IRRV
(Hons); Robert Brown BSc FRICS IRRV (Hons); Tracy Crowe CPFA IRRV (Hons); Carol Cutler IRRV (Hons); Tom Dixon RD BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV (Hons); Ian Ferguson IRRV (Hons); Geoff Fisher FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV (Hons) REV; Richard Guy FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV (Hons) MCIArb; Mary Hardman IRRV (Hons) FRICS MCMI; Gordon Heath BSc IRRV (Hons); Julie Holden IRRV (Hons) MCMI CMg; Caroline Hopkins IRRV (Hons); Kerry Macdermott IRRV (Hons); Tony Masella MRICS MCIOB IRRV (Hons) AFA F.Inst.AM; Jim MaCafferty IRRV (Hons); Maureen Neave Tech IRRV; Nick Rowe IRRV (Hons); Graham Ryall FRICS IRRV (Hons); Peter Scrafton IRRV (Hons) FCIArb MRSA (Hons); Angela Storey Tech IRRV MCMI; Bob Trahern IRRV (Hons).
Editor’s welcome
What’s in the next issue ... – Ibrahim Hasan analyses the latest
data exchange issues – Professor Cleverley’s problem page– Universal Credit and the future of
benefits administration
Faculty report 11Peter Scrafton’s Valuation Faculty Board contribute to the debate once more as consultation is the order of the day
Case law update 12Deborah Davies’ eagle eye has spotted some activity on the freedom of information front this month
Benefits bulletin 13The welfare reform changes continue to struggle to gain approval, discovers Maureen Neave
Valuation matters 14Another compilation of key valuation issues
Student corner 16Self-help for students is vital whatever you’re studying for, says Bill Lovell
Faculty review
John Roberts IRRV (Hons)
Managing Editor
“Welcome to our final edition of Insight for 2011.”
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
3
I shall attempt to avoid the old clichés about the speed with which the year has flown (true as that is, I’m sure!) and get straight down to business as we head for another New Year. This month’s Insight brings together as usual the strands of
our Institute’s portfolio, as we combine contributions detailing
the views of our Valuation Faculty with an update on the ever-
changing world of benefits and the latest news and views from
the enforcement industry.
We also welcome new contributors this month, on the back
of the highly successful September Annual Conference in
Telford. Insolvency specialists Greenhalgh Kerr and Virtual
Mailroom are two of the more recent additions to the
significant number of exhibitors who recognise the value of
a presence at key IRRV events. We encourage them to offer
professional opinion from their field of expertise, to broaden
the content of our magazines.
Amongst the regular offerings, which this month include
a summary of the Local Government Ombudsman’s latest
observations and some more top tips on leadership skills
from Mark Davies of the Holistic Company, we introduce
another newcomer – Consumer Credit Counselling Service are
introducing their work in supporting those in financial difficulty,
in what we hope will become another regular feature.
Insight will be back in February, as we take our usual January
break from production, so all that remains is for the editorial
team to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a profitable and
trouble-free New Year!
“You can take it from me, my dear...
Equita really is yournatural choice”
To find out more contact:Rob Andrews, Business Development Director, M: 07920 877725, E: [email protected] or Steve Brown, Business Development Director (London), M: 07920 274141, E: [email protected]
Equita, 42/44 Henry Street, Northampton NN1 4BZ
Experienced Resourced Innovative National
As the market and the economic climate changes and evolves, so must we. Equita has an established reputation at the forefront of the enforcement industry and continues to lead the way, innovate and adapt to changing times. Equita is the oldest and most experienced company in the enforcement & debt recovery market, and the only one with a truly national infrastructure. Also, with an annual turnover in excess of £21 million, Equita is unique in being able to offer its clients firm financial security and peace of mind.
Equita Final Ads 2010_set 2.indd 1 24/1/11 09:16:10
In the recent consultation document excitingly named ‘Technical reforms of Council Tax’, we are told that, “Setting the agenda for decentralisation and localism is one of the coalition government’s core objectives. The goal is a radical redistribution of power and funding from government to local people to deliver what they want for their communities. Council tax is a local tax, and it is therefore natural that, as part of its broad agenda, the government should look for changes that further empower local communities.”
There is no doubt that we would all support this objective,
but if the consultation paper is the coalition government’s
best effort at a radical redistribution and modernisation of the
council tax, then we are in serious trouble!
This consultation is a perfect opportunity to modernise the
council tax and give local government real control over local taxation. Dabbling at the edges with changes to a
couple of discounts and trying to stimulate the occupation of
empty dwellings simply is not enough, although the ability to
deliver data in support of the council tax demand notice
online is most welcome.
We all realise in these difficult times that it is essential to
keep the overall level of council tax down – we understand
the need to manage pressures on the council tax. Local
government has reluctantly accepted the necessity to impose
tight finance settlements for the next three years, to assist
in the elimination of the fiscal deficit. Local government has
supported the government and is in the process of delivering
dramatic reductions in expenditure. There have been
numerous progressive changes in administration to reduce
cost. This consultation gives the government the opportunity
to reward local government for its support, by modernising the
council tax and sweeping away the misguided policy areas that
“ Now is the time for real council tax reform”,
says David Magor
were associated with the demise of the community charge.
There are three major elements that need to be addressed
as a matter of urgency:
the removal or modernisation of the • single person discounta • revaluation of the tax base, and
a redistribution of the tax burden by • reviewing the bands
and changing the banding ratio.
The modernisation of the single person discount would remove
the regressive nature of this relief. Linking the modernisation
of the discount with the ‘support for council tax’ would give
the government a real opportunity to introduce an effective
scheme to replace council tax benefit.
A revaluation is long overdue – it is not acceptable to have an
ad valorem property tax levied on a tax base that is almost
twenty years out of date. I am sure the Valuation Office Agency
still has the data from the abortive intended revaluation.
It would be a disaster to allow this work to be wasted. A
revaluation would not create a dramatic shift in burden, but it
would enable the public to understand and relate the valuation
process to the real world, rather than an historic list of relativity.
With a modern valuation list, the government could then
take the brave step to really localise the council tax by making
the relativity a decision of the local authority. That would be
real localism!
Now is the time for the radical overhaul of council tax.
Chief Executive’s notes
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
5David Magor OBE IRRV (Hons) is Chief Executive of
the Institute
“This consultation gives the government the opportunity to reward local government for its support.”
6
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
News and events
Excessive business rates rise threatens local resource plans, says BRCThe benefit of offering local authorities the
opportunity to retain some locally raised
business rates risks being negated by the
rates themselves rising in an unaffordable
way, retailers are warning. The British Retail
Consortium (BRC) has published its response
to the Local Government Resource Review.
Whilst the BRC supports the principle of
incentivising councils to encourage business
growth by allowing them to keep a share of
the tax income, the body is concerned the
proposed reforms will fail to benefit either
retailers or councils as much as they should if
the government goes ahead with an RPI-linked
business rates increase in April 2012 of over
five per cent.
Scottish Government compulsory purchase guidance revealed The Scottish Government has published
two new planning circulars on compulsory purchase orders, which contains new
guidance for acquiring authorities. This is the
first time in over 30 years that the guidance
has been updated. An easy read guide for
members of the public endorsed with a
Crystalmark by the Plain English Campaign
accompanies the update, explaining the
process, how long it should take, the rights
people have and where they can go for advice.
Both circulars and the easy read guide can be
downloaded at www.scotland.gov.uk/cpo.
Latest Audit Commission report released In late November, the Audit Commission
announced its latest ‘Protecting the Public Purse’ report, which includes an updated
single person discount webtool. The report
can be found on http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/fraud/protecting-the-public-purse/Pages/ppp2011.aspx.
The Commission’s report will be featured in
the next edition of Insight.
LATEST NEWS
Your views needed again! More consultation on council tax
As reported elsewhere in this edition of
Insight, the Department for Communities and
Local Government has begun consultation
on a series of council tax measures. The
consultation paper, Technical reforms of council tax, follows the Local Government
Resource Review’s commitment to consider
what flexibilities local authorities should have
to help keep overall council tax levels down.
Amongst the proposals, scope is given for
councils to:
cut council tax by giving councils the •
flexibility to remove council tax relief on
second homes and empty homes and
use the money to keep overall council tax
bills down
ensure that banks pay their fair share. •
Under the proposed changes a bank or
building society which repossesses an
empty home will be liable for the council tax
on that property.
The consultation also proposes changes to
modernise the council tax system and address
potentially unfair future charges, including:
more flexibility on payments, giving local •
residents a new right to pay their council
tax bills in 12 monthly payments, rather
than 10 instalments over a year. This could
make it easier for local taxpayers to manage
their payments, especially those on fixed
incomes, like pensioners
encouraging the take-up of electronic billing •
by reviewing the documents that have to
be supplied in hard copy with council tax
demand notices
stopping the ‘sun tax’ on solar panels – •
ensuring there are no increases in the
council tax liabilities of homes as a result
of domestic scale photovoltaic solar panels
being installed by a
third party supplier
under a ‘rent a roof’
scheme. These
changes will avoid the
imposition of a ‘sun
tax’ and the need for
inspections of homes
with solar panels
reviewing the ‘double •
taxation’ of self-
contained annexes
to family homes.
Currently, such annexes are treated as a
separate property, meaning families can be
charged twice for the same single property
they occupy.
The consultation, which closes on
29th December 2011, can be found on:
www.communities.gov.uk/publications/ localgovernment/technicalreform counciltax. In addition, the Scottish
Government proposes to develop and bring
forward to the Scottish Parliament draft
legislation which will cover the following key
housing finance proposals which both relate to
making better use of our housing resources:
proposals to allow councils the discretion to •
increase council tax charges for homes that
are left empty for longer than six months in
order to encourage owners to make their
homes available for rent or sale
proposals to remove the legislation which •
currently requires the Scottish Government
to provide funds through a ‘Housing Support
Grant’ to local authorities whose housing
debts reach a certain level. This will make
sure that the Scottish Government’s funding
can be targeted at supporting key housing
priorities, such as building new affordable
housing, and that local authorities only
borrow funding for housing where they are
confident they can afford to repay it.
The paper detailing the Scottish consultation,
which closes on 12th January 2012, can
be found at http://scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/10/17105007/0.
Key 2012 IRRV events announced
The Institute has now released details of its 2012 event programme. To book, and to find out further information, go to www.irrv.net
Monkeying around in Telford reaps benefits!During this year’s IRRV Annual Conference in Telford, Equita
raised money for its nominated
charity, the Alzheimer’s Society.
In exchange for a charitable
donation, visitors to the stand
took home the event’s ‘must
have’ giveaway (see photo)!
Huge thanks go to everyone
who donated – £707.77 was raised, and Equita matched the
amount, bringing the total donation to the Alzheimer’s Society
to £1,415.54.
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
7
News and events
More success celebrated at the 2011 Annual Conference
Pictured are the successful IRRV examination students (top)
and the lucky winners of the Gandlake bursaries (bottom),
which formed part of the celebrations at the Institute’s Annual
Conference in Telford.
News of MeMbers
Congratulations are offered to Institute Council member, Ian Ferguson, pictured here following his graduation from Northumbria University in June for his MA in Management Development.
And more congratulations are offered to John Farrell IRRV (Hons), who has been appointed Business Development Associate with Dukes Bailiffs. John takes with him 36 years’ experience in revenues, benefits and finance services, including his last role as Head of Corporate Finance and ICT at Sefton MBC, and two spells as President of the Institute’s Lancashire and Cheshire Association.
Latest N/SVQ successes
Congratulationsto everyone!!
NAmE EmPLOYER QUALIFICATION
Kylie Weightman Amber Valley BC HCTB
Linda Bishop Anglia Revenues HCTB
Viv Kanharn Anglia Revenues HCTB
A Ballard Oxford CC HCTB
Rachael Massey Congleton BC HCTB
Jenny Scovell Isle of Wight Council HCTB
Lisette Staines King’s Lynn & West Norfolk BC HCTB
Lyndsey Clark Erewash BC HCTB
P Bradley Kirklees MBC HCTB
Fraser Haines Milton Keynes Council HCTB
Zoe Goodman Tech IRRV Tewkesbury BC HCTB
Sarah Stokes Darlington BC HCTB
Christian Kay Darlington BC HCTB
Paul Stokes Darlington BC HCTB
Asma Nureen Kirklees MBC HCTB
Jane Jackson Flintshire CC HCTB
Jean Robertson West Lothian Council HCTB
J Cooper Castle Point DC HCTB
Peter Lowne Camden LB LT
Sue Davis Rother DC LT
Lynne Wainwright Dagenham and Redbridge LB LT
Helen Prangley Isle of Wight Council LT
Gurdip Singh Waltham Forest LB LT
Andrew Mackie St Albans DC LT
Nicky Edwards Eastbourne BC LT
Cathy Shaw Milton Keynes Council LT
Lynn Field Eastbourne BC LT
Chris Peggie Edinburgh Council LT
Phillip McAusland Edinburgh Council LT
Fiona McGarry Edinburgh Council LT
Rachel Greenwood Wycombe BC HCTB
On last month’s issue of Insight a technical problem at the
mailing house caused some errors with how the publication was
addressed; we apologise to anyone who was affected by this.
8
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Running the Institute
Running the Institute
Gary L Watson IRRV (Hons) is Deputy Chief Executive
with the IRRV
1 Once the impact of the Local Government Act 1948 on the Institute had been fully realised, specific efforts were then made to attract rating valuers in private practice and qualified accountants in local government. At first, only a trickle of distinguished practitioners joined, but with their special talents, the status of the Institute had already been enhanced. A further relaxation of the entry requirements was then agreed, to ensure the Institute became even more influential, significant and effective.
2 In looking to strengthen and diversify the membership
base, thought was given to changing the name from the Incorporated Association of Rating and Valuation Officers. The title betrayed the historic origins where conditions of service formed a large proportion of the activities. In changing the name to the Rating and Valuation Association in 1952, the links with bodies active in the conditions of service sphere (apart from those that related to the examinations) were severed. New grades were created, and attention now given to growing membership in Scotland, Northern Ireland and oversees.
3. With membership having dropped in 1950 to only 1,434,
the new measures resulted in numbers exceeding 2,000 in 1958, 3,000 in 1963, 4,000 in 1969 and 5,000 in 1972. The reorganisation of local government throughout the 1970s had little impact on the membership numbers, and a peak was finally reached in the period 1990 to 1993 with the introduction of the Community Charge.
4. Today, membership fluctuates around 4,000, with
numbers generally higher at year end (as students embark on a course of study) and fall-back later in the year as members are lapsed through non-payment. A difficult balance has always to be struck between wanting to retain members with the need to take action where they do not pay their membership fee yet are still receiving the benefits of membership (i.e. receipt of Insight, use of designatory letters etc.).
5. The membership fees have been held for 2012, and with the changes agreed at the AGM in September, a key aim for next year is to increase membership both in Great Britain and overseas. At the same time, the retention of members is equally important, as the profession faces up to the challenges that lie ahead. Never has there been a better time to be a member of the Institute.
Note: Unless members already do so, they should take time to view the secure part of the IRRV website, where they can view their own membership records and update these without having to approach IRRV HQ by telephone or post.
Getting to know your Institute (no.17)
Gary Watson is back with the third part of his feature on the Institute’s membership over the years
Rowena Hunter is one of two
Subscription Services Officers at the
IRRV. A graduate of Newcastle University,
she has led a varied life in both the UK
and Africa. Here she talks to Insight
about life and work at the IRRV.
What did you do before you joined the IRRV?After growing up in Yorkshire, I moved
to London about 20 years ago after
graduating from Newcastle University
with a degree in Consumer Sciences,
which covered Food, Textile Science,
Marketing and Management. I worked
for BT, then for a charity called
Contact a Family, and also with the
ODPM and Islington Council.
So did that public sector job lead you on to work with the IRRV?Actually, no! From 2003 to 2008 I
went to live and work in Botswana. I
taught English Language to Chinese
students, and I was also doing
voluntary work with my church. It was
the most fantastic experience and I
enjoyed every minute of it.
Your faith is very important to you then?Yes, it is. I joined my church while at
University. I had been taking time to read
the Bible and it all made sense to me.
I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
while still a student. I’ve continued to be
involved with my voluntary work since
coming back to England, and also enjoy
other interests such as baking, reading
and fell walking... although not all at the
same time!
How did you come to join the IRRV?I came back to the UK in 2008, and
although it was at the height of the
recession, I found a temporary job
in the membership section of the
Institute. Initially it was to be for a
few months, but then I was offered a
permanent position as Subscription
Services Officer.
And what does that entail?Subscription Services covers
membership, the Benefits Advisory
Service, Jobs-on-Line, magazine
subscriptions, distance learning,
advertising, the Forum Service and
London-based IRRV courses.
In particular, I take care of arranging
our training days and the in-house
bespoke training. It includes so many
things that help our members get the
most from being part of the Institute.
What’s the most enjoyable part of the job?It ’s a varied role, busy but very
enjoyable, and a great team to work
in. The move to our new offices in
Holborn has been good, and means
we have more opportunities to meet
with students and Forum members. I
also went to Harrogate and Crieff this
year for IRRV conferences – Crieff in
particular was really brilliant, with a
great atmosphere.
How do you think your work might change in the future?I think we can become even
more valuable to our members by
continuing to expand and improve
Subscription Services. For example,
we are now using webinars to deliver
more training to our members. We’d
like to develop our membership base
both nationally and internationally,
and we’ll continue to support our
members in every way we can.
This month’s staff spotlight focuses on Rowena Hunter
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
9
Education & membership
Educationupdate
Diploma transition – your final opportunity!Students who previously passed either Level 1 or Level 2 of the former Full Professional Qualification (FPQ) , or Parts II or III of the older scheme, have been enabled to move to the
Professional Diploma by means of transitional arrangements. Entry to the scheme will cease at the end of June 2012, though, so members with Full Professional passes on their record who wish to take advantage of the transition to Diploma process should make their entry for the Diploma Management examinations by the 1st March entry date, and for the assignments, where applicable, as soon as possible. Members who completed Level 1 must pass two elective assignments and the Diploma Management subject (two examination papers) – members who completed Level 2 must pass the Management subject only.
Any enquiries regarding the transitional scheme should be directed to the Institute as below.
Examination dates – summer 2012A further reminder that the June 2012 examination round will be held between the 11th and 13th June – a week later than normal, because of the Jubilee celebrations and half-term holidays the week before.
Vocational qualifications in ScotlandHaving introduced revised vocational qualifications in England and Wales at Level 3 under the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) , the Institute is now planning a parallel approach in Scotland. The Scottish Vocational Qualification will cease to be offered at the end of 2011, and the QCF units will be submitted for use in Scotland from 2012. The units have been conceived and worded so as to be applicable in England, Scotland and Wales, and will be assessed according to local circumstances. The Scottish regulator (SQA) requires a new submission of the units, including assignment of a level and credit rating to each unit (credit rating indicates the likely time spent in studying the unit content). It is probable that the SQA will agree to the existing credit rating, and the equivalent Scottish level (6).
Full Professional qualification (FPQ) – an appreciationAs noted previously, the FPQ has now been
replaced by the Diploma and Honours qualifications, and its passing should not go
unremarked. The FPQ evolved considerably
over its lifetime in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
Here are some highlights:
its four parts became three levels•
the Management components were •
enhanced, in recognition of the increasing
importance of management skills in
the workplace
assignments were introduced, so that •
candidates could study specific topics in
greater depth
the syllabus was standardised to the •
maximum degree possible over the UK
subjects were taken on a modular basis, •
to allow greater flexibility of entry.
These changes did not lessen the demands
made on the students – the FPQ was
always a major challenge to students, and
the examinations were demanding. Anyone
who passed had thoroughly deserved their
professional membership status, and any
employer could take on a qualified member in
the knowledge that this person possessed a
wide range of knowledge and skills to do the
job. The new qualifications will continue to
provide that guarantee.
Michael Hopkins presents his regular round-up of education issues
Michael Hopkins is Head of Professional
Services with the IRRV
All enquiries should be directed to [email protected] or telephone
020 7691 8995/8981/8978.
10
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Education & membership
Student members Name employer
Jane Clayton Oadby & Wigston Borough Council
Richard Chamberlain Cheshire East Council
Alistair Cooper Cheshire East Council
Simon Dutton Lancaster City Council
Charlotte Langley Cheshire East Council
Francesca Magari Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
Mohammed Mukhtar Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Ian Newton Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Gareth Thompson Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Rebecca Green Sutton London Borough Council
David Johnathan Watford Borough Council
Victoria Malomo Islington London Borough Council
Kevin Murphy Barnet London Borough Council
Victoria Ralph Southwark London Borough Council
Jan Smith Chelmsford Borough Council
Gareth Treamer Southwark London Borough Council
Andrew Daley East Dunbartonshire Council
Mark Donaldson West Lothian Council
Gillian Mann Fife Council
Richard McFarlane Falkirk Council
Shona Muir Glasgow City Council
Alan O’Donnell Midlothian Council
Suzanne Richardson East Dunbartonshire Council
Elspeth Rodger West Lothian Council
Scott Shephard Glasgow City Council
Annette Apperley Herefordshire Council
Kate Darlington Wolverhampton City Council
Suzanne Hill East Staffordshire Borough Council
Technician members Name employer
Sharon Greatorex City of Edinburgh Council
Declan Kelly Eastleigh Borough Council
Diploma members Name employer
Christopher Hynes Bolton Office Valuation Tribunal Service
Honours members Name employer
Andrew Tough Strathkeen Property Services
N/SVQ members Name employer
Scott Evans Kings Lynn & West Norfolk BC
Hayley Hart Torridge District Council
Rachel Brogie Leeds City Council
Andrew Dixon Leeds City Council
Carol Matthews Leeds City Council
Martin Rulson Leeds City Council
Tania Ryder Leeds City Council
Organisational members Name
Abraham Adam & Co Ltd
New members
Dear Editor,In his Chief Executive’s notes in
October’s Insight, David Magor calls
for clarity and long term strategy
in the government’s approach to
reform of welfare benefits and local
government finance. However, cynics
and conspiracy theorists would
argue that what Mr Magor calls the
‘initiative fog’ is nothing less than
cover for a strategy to finally dismantle
the three great post-war settlements
– the creation of the welfare state
that flowed from the 1942 Beveridge
report, the remaining vestiges of the
1944 Butler education act and
the cradle to grave, free at point of
delivery National Health Service.
The latter two are strictly outside
the scope of the Institute’s activities,
although it is worth noting that current
education ‘reforms’ encourage the
establishment of schools, many by
religious groups, that will militate
against an inclusive society and
increase social inequality (and
presumably the schools concerned
will have charitable status carrying
entitlement to rate relief). The
Institute’s involvement in the first of
these – social security reform – is
reviewed in the same issue by Pat
Doherty and Maureen Neave. Here,
in the guise of ‘localism’, it seems
that a reduced amount of government
money will be given to councils for
them to devise their own schemes
of what we now know as council
tax benefit. The new schemes will
be so ‘local’ that we expect national
guidelines to be prescribed and
pensioners to be outside the scope of
local discretion, enabling government
to take credit for protecting their
position while benefit payments to
non-pensioners are reduced even
more disproportionally. To implement
this, the government, egged on by a
rabid tabloid press, is deploying two
of its most effective weapons – the
demonisation of ‘benefit scroungers’
and public sector workers with their
‘gold plated’ pensions. As Pat Doherty
says, the professionalism of (depleted
and pay frozen) Institute members will
probably shine through but any failure
to have the new postcode lottery up
and running efficiently by 2013 will
only show that more councils should
be amalgamating those hotbeds of
waste and inefficiency, their back
offices, and of course there is always
that other panacea, the mutualisation
of public services, that will allow local
people who know nothing about it but
who could have done the job much
better to come in and take over
the service.
Pat Doherty asks what planet the
Local Government Minister has come
down from. Well – actually – both the
Minister (Bob Neill) and the Secretary
of State (Eric Pickles) have come
down from planet local government
– they both established their careers
as successful local politicians before
going on to gain national positions
that now enable them to oversee
implementation of the fourth arm
of the covert strategy: the further
dismantling of local government in the
guise of ‘localism’. Before you call me
paranoid, I haven’t even mentioned
the financial sleight of hand implicit
in the council tax freeze and the epic
restoration of weekly bin collections.
Michael Clayton, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
LETTER TO THEED
ITOR
FACULTY REPORT
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
11
Peter Scrafton’s Valuation Faculty Board contributes to the debate once more as consultation is the order of the day
Peter Scrafton IRRV (Hons) FCIArb MRSA
(Hon) Solicitor (Non-Practising) and
Accredited Mediator is a legal and valuation
consultant and member of the IRRV Council
amount. He then has to appear in court to seek
to defend the action by showing why he is not
liable for the amount demanded.
Our response pointed out that many
ratepayers do not want to have to go through
this refusal-to-pay route, nor risk having to pay
the additional court costs, and therefore pay the
amount demanded, but once the bill has been
paid then there is no easy route to challenge the
amount. We have advocated a fast track appeal
process by which ratepayers can challenge their
rates bill and have liability determined judicially.
The Institute is open minded as to which body
would determine the appeal if it were not
capable of resolution between the parties.
We also suggested that change is required
to the time that ratepayers are allowed to
discharge any backdated liabilities. A Valuation Officer can backdate RV increases for up to
nearly six years – for instance if an extension
was built to a property which is not reflected
in the assessment – yet when the VO alters
the list, the local authority can demand that
the full amount of the backdated liability is
settled the following month. We suggested
that in such circumstances the ratepayer should
be allowed to discharge such increases over
the same number of months as the liability
has been backdated, so long as the effective
date of that increase is in a prior rate year. We
acknowledged that this could cause problems
to the local authority if it has to pay the
levy regardless of income, unless there is a
mechanism to adjust their tariff accordingly.
We have other matters in hand, not least
of all that of valuer education and new
professional qualifications – but these will be
the subject of a future report. You can contact
me on Valuation Faculty Board matters, via
Mattersin hand
and to be supported. Multi-year billing is also
proposed, although it has to be acknowledged
that a significant proportion of rate demands
are currently so complex in layout that recipient
ratepayers have great difficulty in understanding
the derivation of the bill. This matter has been
raised previously in round table discussions,
and the issue still remains. We therefore
suggested that the logical and understandable
formatting of single-year rates bills needs to be
successfully introduced before the complexities
of including more than one year on a bill
is considered.
It is also proposed to allow local authorities to
offset liabilities before paying refunds.
We suggested that is acceptable to the
ratepayer only if the proposal relates to an
individual hereditament. We would not support
any change which would allow the utilisation of
refunds due for one property to meet liabilities
on a different property.
We also highlighted that there needs to be
a review of the appeals process to enable a
ratepayer to challenge rates bills received.
Presently, there is no formal process by which
a ratepayer can appeal against a rates bill – the
only way he can do so is to refuse to pay (or
just to pay the amount he thinks is due) and he
will then be summonsed for not paying the full
It is always good to receive positive feedback
regarding Institute initiatives. I am particularly
pleased to have received so many
complimentary comments about the Valuer Day programme, run in conjunction with the
RICS ‘Dip Rats’, during the September Annual
Conference in Telford. The programme was
widely regarded as well balanced, thought
provoking and informative, and around 150
delegates contributed to the healthy debate
that followed the sessions.
Two members of the Valuation Faculty Board
have stepped down from their Board positions
recently. They are Malcolm Buckland, Clerk to
the Essex (North and South), Hertfordshire and
Suffolk Valuation Tribunal, and Ian Ballance,
recently retired Depute Assessor for Central
Scotland Assessors. On behalf of the Board,
I thank both Malcolm and Ian for their valued
contributions and service to the Board over
several years. I am pleased to report that
Graham Ryall, having recently stood down as
a member of the National Council, has been
elected as a co-opted Board member, and
Antonio Masella has been elected as Vice-
Chairman to succeed Graham in this role.
The original thirty-three questions raised in
the July ‘business rates retention’ consultation
paper rose to an astonishing ninety-six, once
the eight technical papers were released in
mid-August. The full fourteen page response
can be found on the IRRV website, but I
will highlight some of the VFB led points, as
follows. The Local Taxation and Revenues Faculty Board dealt with the majority of
the questions which fell within their remit,
but the VFB provided comment as they saw
matters in respect of several proposals. The
ability to provide comment on such technical
papers from both the valuation and revenues
perspectives continues to be a key strength of
the Institute.
The proposal to allow online publication of
supporting information normally issued with
rates bills in hard copy is in our view logical,
“We therefore suggested that the logical and understandable formatting of single- year rates bills needs to be successfully introduced before the complexities of including more than one year on a bill is considered.”
CASE LAW UpdAtE
12
deborah davies’s eagle eye has spotted some activity on the freedom of information front this month
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Deborah Davies IRRV (Hons) is
Customer and Benefit Services Manager with
Craven District Council. Contact her
Mr Voyias appealed to the Tribunal in January
2011. Camden confirmed that they were
relying upon the “would be likely to prejudice”
element of s31(1) , the argument being that
disclosing the list of empty properties would
result in an increased likelihood of damage
and vandalism to those properties. The
Tribunal considered that squatting is not in
itself a crime, and that it could not be said to
follow that there would be an increase in the
number of anti-social crimes. The Tribunal
also considered whether or not the number
of squatters would increase as a result of
having a list of empty properties available to
them. Camden had argued that a similar list
produced in Lambeth led to almost double
the number of squatters. The Tribunal was not
convinced that there was a direct correlation,
but did express the view that there was likely
to be an increase in the number of properties
occupied by squatters. The Tribunal also took
into account drug-taking, the ‘stripping’ of
properties and other opportunistic crimes,
and found that s31(1)(a) was engaged, in
that “the list would be of use to organised
squatters and that this type of squatting is
associated with the types of criminal activity
set out above... the list would be of use for the
criminal purposes of organised criminals”.
The Tribunal then went on to state that
s31 FOIA is a qualified exemption, and under
s31(1)(b) requires a balancing exercise
between the public interest in maintaining
the exclusion and the public interest in
disclosure. The Tribunal felt that disclosure
would promote openness, transparency and
accountability in local government, and that
the empty homes debate would be given
a new impetus, resulting in a proportion of
void properties being brought back into use
earlier than would otherwise be the case – it
therefore found in favour of the appellant, and
required Camden to disclose the information
within 28 days.
Mr Voyias complained to the Information Commissioner in March 2010. During
the Commissioner’s investigation, Camden
withdrew their reliance upon sections 43(2),
12(1) and 21(1) FOIA and instead cited s31(1)(a) FOIA, which states that “information which
is not exempt information by virtue of section
30 [information held for the purposes of
investigations and proceedings conducted by
public authorities] is exempt information if its
disclosure under this Act would, or would be
likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection
of crime”.
The appellant confirmed that his definition
of ‘void’ included properties that were not
being resided in for even short periods of
time, and that ‘material interest’ was used
to ensure that housing associations were
caught in the request. The Commissioner
noted that the council’s arguments in support
of the exemption focused primarily on its
knowledge of Mr Voyias, and his possible
motivation for making the request. However,
in his Decision Notice dated December 2010,
the Commissioner found that s31(1)(a) FOIA
was engaged, and that the public interest in
avoiding prejudice to the prevention of crime
outweighed the public interest in disclosure,
and that consequently there was no breach
of s1(1) FOIA .
“Freedom of Information. Three harmless
words. I look at those words as I write them,
and feel like shaking my head till it drops off
my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish,
irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no
description of stupidity, no matter how vivid,
that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it.”
Not my words, but those of Tony Blair, who
went on to explain that he was disillusioned
with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
because, “the FOI Act isn’t used, for the most
part, by the people. It’s used by journalists”.
As local authority practitioners know, it ’s also
used extensively by rating agents, and now we
can add squatters to the list!
Yiannis Voyias, a member of the Advisory Service for Squatters, wrote to Camden
LBC Council in August 2009 asking for “the
address of every void property in the LB
Camden, in which a non individual is listed as
either being the owner or as having a material
interest in the property”.
Camden clarified that the request only
related to residential properties, and refused
the request in September 2009 relying upon
s43(2) FOIA, under which information is
exempt information if its disclosure under
this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it).
This decision was confirmed following an
internal review – at this stage Camden also
relied upon the exemptions under s12(1) FOIA
(a public authority does not have to comply
with a request for information if the authority
estimates that the cost of complying with the
request would exceed the appropriate limit)
and 21(1)FOIA (information which is
reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise
than under section 1 is exempt information).
“the tribunal was not convinced that there was a direct correlation, but did express the view that there was likely to be an increase in the number of properties occupied by squatters.”
FREEDOM OF
INFORMATIONThree harmless words
BENEFITS BULLETIN
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
13
The welfare reform changes continue to struggle to gain approval, discovers Maureen Neave
Maureen Neave MBA IRRV (Tech)
is Benefits Manager with Vale of
Glamorgan Council
on the government to reconsider the cuts to
housing benefit, which will disproportionately
affect those in greatest need. This includes
homeless and vulnerable families, those in
need of housing related support, people with
physical and mental health problems, and
children living in poverty – all of which could
lead to greater long term economic and social
costs for local authorities, housing associations
and government.
The House of Lords debated the Welfare
Reform Bill on 13 October, which has broken
with tradition by forcing the Bill into the
Grand Committee. It came as a shock to
campaigners, because it was moved from
the main chambers of the Lords, as there are
issues with space and access. If a Bill passes
through Committee it involves detailed line
by line examination, every clause of the Bill
must be agreed, and amendments voted on.
However, in a Grand Committee there is no
voting on amendments – the Committee must
agree unanimously, so is not fully scrutinised.
It has been reported that by the government
moving the bill to the Grand Committee, it
shows they are concerned by the level of
opposition there is to the Bill, as they
obviously wanted to place it where they hoped
it would pass with less opposition. Committee
stage continues, when further amendments
will be discussed. As a result of the number
of queries, it is now likely that Royal Assent will be received in January 2012, and not
November 2011 as first thought.
a chance at getting a job, as there are so
many experienced people looking for work.
In addition, the great hike in tuition fees will
deter people from studying, so it will be even
harder for some to find work, as jobs are likely
to go to the most qualified. With the future
looking gloomy, the British Chamber of Commerce has warned that unemployment
will continue to rise.
Talking of job situations, where are we with
the Welfare Reform Bill, which provides
for the introduction of the UC? The first and
second reading was received in the House of Lords.
The second reading on 13 September gave
the first opportunity for members to debate
the main principles and purpose of the Bill, to
make any amendments needed. At the second
reading, a debate on the general principles of
the Bill took place, and it was reported that
more than 50 members of the Lords took part,
including members with first hand experience
of benefit systems.
A petition from Community Housing Cymru on behalf of the UK housing
federations and other Welsh charities with
regards to housing benefit was presented
to the House of Lords before the second
reading debate. This is the first petition to be
presented to the Lords in over ten years. The
petition requested that the House urgently call
The National Audit Office has warned that
the welfare reform programme faces major
risks, and the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee has called
the plan “a train crash waiting to happen.” It
has been reported that there are fears within
Whitehall that Universal Credit (UC) will not
be delivered on time, as HM Revenues and
Customs chiefs have expressed their concerns
with the very tight timetable to deliver the IT
system on time.
Much of the concerns relate to the real
time system which delivery of UC will rely on
to track earnings. As I write this article it has
been reported that George Osborne has
been warned of the serious danger of the
welfare reforms not arriving on time and being
billions of pounds over budget. Also, there
have been concerns expressed by a whole
host of independent observers that this project
is “doomed to fail.” This is a major factor –
George Osborne is now taking a personal
interest in this, and apparently it has moved
to the top of his warning list of projects that
could fail, as if all goes wrong it will pose a
threat to his party. But the DWP continue to
state that the delivery of UC is running on time
and on budget.
There is still so much uncertainty as to
whether HMRC will deliver their new real time
system on time, which is a critical part of UC,
with the main core of the reforms based on
work must pay. Iain Duncan Smith is the
man to give the poor back their work ethic,
stating that work must pay and is the best
route out of poverty. Obviously finding a job
at the moment is very difficult, with jobless
figures at their highest in 17 years, with 2.56 million unemployed. The hardest hit are
the under 25s, with unemployment rising to
991,000, and predicted to rise way over the
million mark. Iain Duncan Smith is right to
be concerned about generations of workless
families which he could be creating, because
at present the younger element don’t stand
“At the second reading, a debate on the general principles of the Bill took place, and it was reported that more than 50 members of the Lords took part.”
A train crash waiting to happen
VALUATION MATTERS
14
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Let’s keep the pressure up!
Legacy’ report in September on the
effectiveness of Legacy planning following
RICS/University of Westminster research
which includes comparison of the 2012
Legacy delivery plans with those of other
major sporting events around the world. Go to
http://www.rics.org/site/scripts/press_article.aspx?pressreleaseID=640
The latest Legacy property advertised for
disposal is the Press and Broadcasting centres at Hackney Wick which will be
available for occupation from Spring 2013.
The Olympic Legacy Company had hoped to
attract the BBC as anchor tenant including
production of ‘Eastenders’, but other interested
parties are for a UK Fashion Hub (offering
manufacturing and wholesaling facilities),
a sporting retail hub, but the premises are
offered as commercial accommodation.
IKEA is developing ‘Stratford East’ housing
area just to the south of the Olympic site –
housing will be built for sale, not flat packed!
VIP 22 the latest Valuation Tribunal ‘Valuation in Practice’ Update is on the
VT website, together with notes on the VTE
President’s important new Supplement to
the A7 Practice Note on disclosure and
exchange on rating appeals, which also
includes a reminder that the time deadline
for submission of Statement of Case is
5pm. The VIP includes summaries of VT rating
decisions on valuation of pubs, the rateability
of an agricultural workshop, an invalidity
appeal, church exemption for a cafe, validity
of a completion notice, and the valuation
of a kitchen and a ramp in a shop, as well
as summaries of council tax decisions on a
farmhouse ‘composite’, Class H exemption.
See the VT website for their latest
newsletter, Valuation in Practice No. 22,
at http://www.valuationtribunal.gov.uk/vip_newsletter.aspx.
Olympic update The opening of ‘Westfield Stratford’ at
Stratford City on 13 September 2011 – the
largest urban shopping centre in Europe – has
grabbed the headlines and is dramatically
reshaping East London shopping. The
Valuation Officer has already assessed the
shops at Zone As of up to £2,500 pm², and
the larger shops valued over, e.g. John Lewis
department store at £2.31m RV (24,742m²
@ £90). Also, ‘All Stars’ bowling alley,
‘Vue’ cinema, three hotels, and ‘Aspers’ casino
to come!
This has given a foretaste of the crowds
which will flock to the Olympics next year
– the shopping centre is a main entry point
for the Olympic site. Westfield’s post code is
the new E20 district of Olympics Park and Stratford City. The new Docklands Light Railway Extension to Stratford International
Station (north end of the shops) opened on
31 August.
The RICS presented ‘The Regeneration
The Olympic velodrome
Olympic update is prepared by Geoff Fisher,
an IRRV Past President and professional
consultant at Strettons chartered surveyors.
Contact him on [email protected]
The Olympic media and broadcasting centre
Richard Taylor is the Institute’s
European consultant
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
15
selection of criteria for evaluation. •
These criteria are to be the same for
each country and are agreed by the testing,
evaluation, valorisation and dissemination
working group
the modules are presented to the selected •
organisations. They will supervise closely
the beneficiary trainees who will review the
proposed modules in conjunction with
their employers
the selected organisations will feed back •
to the partner responsible for their
respective countries and the information
will be collated and reviewed by the
working group
the Working Group will then report back to •
the module development group with
requests for changes and amendments.
It is expected that in some cases substantial
changes may be required. In this eventuality
the modules will be revised, and then the
above process will be repeated so that the
potential users are satisfied that they meet
their needs.
In the case of valuer training, national
practices vary considerably from one Member
State to another. However, substantial changes
in practice are well under way and are taking
into account developments at a European
level – the training aspect is a related angle
to these developments and will be an integral
part of these changes. Change always creates
uncertainty and difficulties. However all
parties involved in IRRV Leonardo projects see
the benefit of this Transfer of Innovation
project, and are committed to a successful
outcome and implementation, essential if the
pilot work carried out during this project is to
achieve widespread acceptance.
In the last in his current series of articles, Richard Taylor looks at the testing and evaluation phase of Leonardo funded projects
This is the fourth and final article in my
recent series reviewing several important
aspects of the delivery of a Leonardo pilot project, in the context of valuer training in
the 21st century. The previous article looked
at the development of the training product.
This fourth article reviews the testing and evaluation phase.
The testing and evaluation phase is in
many ways the most challenging phase of
the project. It is in this phase that the training
materials, now developed and ready for
evaluation, are presented to potential users of
the training for their review. It is in this phase
that the various main ‘linkages’ between the
different parties are for the first time put to
the test. In other words, in this phase of the
project the partners are in direct contact
conducting discussions on the usability of the
material with the beneficiary organisations
– so crucial to the future success of the
project after the period of EU intervention. It
is challenging because the management of
this transition from draft modules to finished
product, alongside discussions with users, is
the most difficult aspect of the project.
Testing and evaluation consists of a number
of different phases:
selection of appropriate organisations •
to undertake the testing and evaluation.
Partner organisations undertake this
selection based on their suitability for
pilot project work and their interest in
the proposed new methods of
undertaking training
A timely reminder... ...if one is needed! With all the cut and thrust
of debate surrounding the localisation of
business rates, we could be forgiven for taking
our eyes of the ‘old chestnut’ of council tax revaluation, and the need for regular
property revaluations in general.
Your editor makes no apology for digging
out from his archives an article from the
Daily Mail (sent by an IRRV colleague who is
a friend of the author, of course!) of a year
ago. The willing author, who found himself
challenging misplaced views often expounded
by this literary gem, was no other than
Nigel Woods FRICS IRRV (Hons) , Visiting
Professor with the University of Ulster, and
retired Commissioner and Chief Executive of
the former Valuation and Lands Agency in
Northern Ireland.
Nigel wrote, “The idea that people
have been saved from a great injustice by
cancellation of any revaluation of properties
for council tax is misleading. For any property
tax, a revaluation of properties is all about
improving the fairness and equity of the
tax. It has nothing to do with raising more
revenue – the amount collected by council
tax is budget-driven, the valuations merely
distribute the liability between the taxpayers.
While we continue to have a property tax,
the only fair way to maintain the system is
to have regular revaluations. How fair would
income tax be if it were based on 1991, or
even 2001 earnings? Nearly all advanced
countries’ governments have arrived at the
conclusion that a basket of taxes, including a
property tax, is the best solution, rather than
concentrating taxing only a few domestic
elements such as income and spending.
In countries such as Australia, Canada and
the US, which rely heavily on a property tax
to fund local government, revaluations are
often carried out annually – the idea of not
revaluing property for over 20 years would be
seen as indefensible.
International comparisons, however,
suggest council tax at an effective rate
of 1 per cent of the capital value of the
average house price in England is too high.
In Australia, rates are less than half the
average bill for a band D property, and in the
US, property tax bills are similar to those in
Britain, but the amount can be offset against
income tax”.
Truer words have never been found in a
daily newspaper... let’s keep the pressure up!
€
16
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
STUDENT CORNER
Self-help for students is vital whatever you’re studying for, says Bill Lovell
IRRV Honorary Member Bill Lovell is a
former examiner and member of the
Institute’s Examinations and Assessment
Board. He is a freelance local government
consultant and trainer.
be gathered from study material and other
sources, but whether you can learn from
doing or whether from reading, gaining the
information tends to dominate any period of
study. It is right that it should, as what you
know matters hugely in a test, but it isn’t the
only thing that matters. You must also be
able to get information over to the assessor
or examiner in such a way that they will
understand just how much you know.
The availability of information is one thing,
but committing it to memory is another –
information in is of less value unless it ’s
matched with information out. If you doubt
your capacity to memorise all the facts you
have access to, remind yourself that you have
already proved your ability, with the huge
reservoir of knowledge and information about
so many things in life that you are able to call
on every day without much trouble. Your task
as an IRRV student is to add to that reservoir
of knowledge and to be interested enough to
want to be able to recall it and demonstrate
what you know.
This is where self-help comes in. There are
techniques that can operate alongside learning
and reading to keep you interested. Let’s look
at a few:
Any organisation offering a qualification
needs to test its students on what they have
learnt and the abilities they can demonstrate.
This applies to vocational qualifications just
as it does to universities and colleges, but
the methods of assessment might vary. There
may be work place assessments, tests of
various kinds, or traditional examinations,
but a common factor is the need to acquire
knowledge and information in the first
place so that it can be demonstrated later.
All of us have been taking in information
since the day we were born. Many of us are
experts on all sorts of topics, mostly unrelated
to the work we do. This means that when we
set out for a qualification, we are not learning
for the first time, we are just learning some
things that may be new. That does not mean
that setting out for a qualification from a
professional institute is easy. In life we tend
to learn more readily the things that we are
interested in, need or enjoy. If we compare
this with vocational learning, it is true that an
IRRV student may not have decided to study
because it seemed like a fun thing to do, but
there will be a reason that each person has for
deciding that it is worth doing. This is what we
would call motivation, something that any
student should keep in mind throughout
their studies.
Learning usually includes a need for
technical information. When learning
to ride a bike we have to know how the
machine works. Even to watch TV we have
to know what the buttons are for on the
remote. Preparing for an IRRV assessment or
examination has the same need for technical
information. Some may be around you in
the workplace, and some might have to
“You must also be able to get information over to the assessor or examiner in such a way that they will understand just how much you know. ”
Studying... the detail
motivation – remind yourself of why
you took the decision to study and then
think about some of the benefits that have
already come. Recall one good learning
experience, something that you found
enjoyable or effective as a result of what you
have learned. Then think about something
less enjoyable and consider why one was
effective and the other was not.
organising study – it is easy to be
disorganised and just get on with it, but it
will be more effective if you set out your
rules. Decide the methods of study, and if
you need guidance, ask other students or
past students, and if you have a tutor seek
their advice.
the study plan – this should cover the
whole period that you will be learning.
Allocate time to each part of the course or
each topic. Build in time for any intermediate
tests or assignments, but be ready to adjust
the plan if necessary as things proceed.
the learning diary – keep a record of
what you are doing, both private work and
any group studying. Note the aspects of the
course you covered, what skills you used,
and how effective you feel a study session
has been. Consider how you can make the
next session more effective.
interaction with other students –
find two or three people doing the same
studying as you who are interested in
forming a study group. IRRV or your tutor,
if you have one, may be able to help. Use
the study group to compare
progress, to test out projects
or assignments and simply
for moral support!
No-one ever said that
studying would be easy, but
there are things you can do
to make it less
difficult, and
helping yourself
is one way.
Annotated Council Tax Legislation 2011
Annotated Council Tax Legislation is a comprehensive 3 volume set, containing all the relevant parts of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as well as appropriate sections and schedules from the Local Government Acts of 1999 and 2003, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Greater London Authority Act 1999.
All statutory instruments from 1992 to the publication date are included, and all amendments brought about by these regulations and orders have been made to the originating text.
It is supplied in hard copy format together with an electronic PDF version, with a multi-user licence for users within your organisation.
New Subscription Price: £495.00*Update Price: £95.00*
* Prices exclusive of VAT plus £7.50 p&p per copy.
Please order online via the IRRV’s website: www.irrv.org.uk
Rating Law and Practice 2011
Rating Law and Practice is the authoritative guide to non-domestic rating legislation and its operation.
An essential reference for anyone working in the field, it is designed to make the legislation easier to understand.
The book includes comprehensive footnotes to assist in the cross-referencing and location of the legislation itself.
Rating Law and Practice is supplied in hard copy format together with a fully bookmarked and hyperlinked electronic PDF version, with a multi-user licence for users within your organisation.
New Subscription Price: £275.00*Update Price: £95.00*
* Prices exclusive of VAT plus £3.00 p&p per copy.
Please order online via the IRRV’s website: www.irrv.org.uk
OUTNOW
18
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
was via two networks, and that the councils had
two sets of different forms. Also, the councils
have two different sets of political masters,
and whilst they had been very brave in embracing
shared services, they rightly set different
parameters. An example of this is that Three
Rivers currently only give a 10 per cent discount
for second homes, whereas Watford still allow
a 50 per cent discount.
It was evident to me that the revenues teams here want shared services to work,
and they have given me their full support since
I started. We have all worked hard towards this
goal, and we are starting to make improvements,
although there are many challenges that still
lay ahead.
Collection after the first six months of
2011/12 was up for both council tax and
business rates at both councils, with a 2.4 per
cent improvement in council tax collection at
Three Rivers Council compared to the same
time last year. At Watford Borough Council,
there was a 2.3 per cent improvement in
business rates collection, as well as almost
a 1 per cent increase in council tax at the
same council. This illustrates that we are
going in the right direction, but does not give
us the full story.
To improve the collection rates we have set
up a full timetable for the recovery programme
for the year. The service is keeping to this
timetable vigorously, and trying to maintain
Shared enthusiasm
Cover story
Sharing can be good for you, says Kevin Stewart, as he starts to see the benefits of the new way of working
After leaving Amber Valley Borough Council in
2006, I have led a somewhat nomadic work
existence – first as Head of Revenues, Benefits
and Exchequer Services at Bedford Borough
Council, then joining the Audit Commission as
a Performance Specialist – Benefits in early
2009, and then moving on to my current job
as Revenues Manager at Watford and Three
Rivers Councils Shared Services in early
January 2011.
The job at the Audit Commission was the
most varied of all of the jobs I have had in my
career to date. There were so many different
things to do, from inspecting benefit services,
auditing benefit claims through to assessing
for Corporate Performance Assessment or
managing performance. This role allowed
me to amass a wealth of knowledge over the
two years I was employed there, but the new
coalition government brought in change, and it
was time for me to move on again, this time
from the Audit Commission. The current
financial climate is starting to bite, and
councils are looking at innovative ways of service delivery. This of course includes
the sharing of services, and my current
employers are no different from the rest in
trying to embrace this innovative way of service
delivery for its revenues and benefits teams.
Watford and Three Rivers Councils both
lie in Hertfordshire, and have about 36,000
domestic properties each. That’s about where
the similarities end, as the demographics in
Watford are very different to Three Rivers.
When I first started my new job I quickly
realised what a big challenge it was. The first
realisation was that revenues staff from the
two councils had harmonised incredibly well,
despite all moving to Watford Town Hall,
where staff have to pay for parking their car at
work, whereas it was previously provided free
to staff at Three Rivers!
The most interesting aspect was how different the two councils really were.
I found when I arrived that access to systems
“The councils have two different sets of political masters, and whilst they had been very brave in embracing shared services, they rightly set different parameters.”
Kevin Stewart IRRV (Hons) MAAT MCMI is
Revenues Manager (Revenues and Benefits
Shared Service) with Watford Borough and
Three Rivers District Councils
Shared enthusiasm
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
19
the recent improvements in collection. Greater
controls have been brought in, and we are
trying to make full use of our computer
systems to help us.
Moving to a shared service has impacted
on our service delivery, with the services
initially suffering from such a massive change.
This was of course to be expected, but we are
determined as a team to continue to turn the
service around.
The team is working hard in supporting
me in tackling a number of key issues. They
are working regular overtime and have a real
‘can do’ attitude. We have adopted new procedures, and as well as tackling the current work outstanding, we are now
taking steps to identify and trace taxpayers
with outstanding arrears, which is only fair
to all those who do pay on time across the
two districts. Only when we are certain
that we cannot recover the debt do we
seek authorisation for writing it off. A new
harmonised write off policy has been
approved by both councils across the whole
remit of council tax, business rates, sundry
debts and housing benefit overpayments.
When I first arrived we had two sets of write
off policies, but the new unified policy allows
senior officers to authorise the writing off
of debts up to £3,000, with members of
Committee authorising the writing off of
uncollectable debts of £3,001 or more.
Dealing with members of the public is
certainly interesting. At Three Rivers Council
we have a Customer Services Centre that
handles all telephone customer enquiries, and
we get very few passed on to the ‘back office’.
With prescribed procedures they even make
arrangements with taxpayers. For Watford
Borough Council, however, my revenues team
handle most customer enquiries, which is a
challenge in itself, as the structure set up for
shared services does not fully take this into
account. We are though, taking steps to
change this by working with the Watford
Customer Service Centre, so that in future
they will be able to take the majority of
customer enquiries.
One of the other steps we are taking now is
to improve the quality of our data. We have
been conducting reviews of our discounts and
exemptions. We are also about to see the
biggest single person discount (SPD) review
in years for council tax, with all the councils in
Hertfordshire participating in the initiative, and
with the county and the police paying their
part. This exercise will have started by the time
this article is published, with a full tender process
that was led by Welwyn Hatfield Council seeing the work for this county exercise awarded
to Datatank. I am hopeful that we are going
to see between 4 to 6 per cent of SPD that
have been awarded at both councils cancelled,
as with the introduction of shared services we
have not conducted a review for a number of
years. But what should also be considered is
that there are also a number of taxpayers who
are not claiming the discounts that they are
entitled to. For example, in Watford’s area, in
the latest ‘Protecting the Public Purse’
report that was published recently by the
Audit Commission (in November 2011) it
was highlighted that at least nearly 3 per cent
of council tax payers were not claiming the
SPD that they were entitled to. This calculation
is based on a range of demographic data,
such as deprivation and benefit statistics.
The main challenge I have had since I started
my current job is to raise the confidence of the
team, and to try and give them the tools to do
the job I am sure that they are capable of
doing. I have also tried to lead them from the
front and roll up my sleeves and show them
that I am part of the team! I’d never ask them
to do something I would not do myself, and
whilst we still face many challenges, and there
are always lessons to learn, we are now
starting to build up momentum in revenues.
As I have highlighted already in this article,
revenues collection is well ahead of the same
period from last year across the board, as at
the 30 September, and we are starting to now
do things that we thought were not possible
months ago. Management support is of course
vital, and I am very lucky to have this at both
councils at a very senior level, but in my view
the support of colleagues in your own
immediate section is even more vital. Without
them – the most vital resource – you would
not have been reading about the
improvements to date.
In terms of what we still have to do, I see
ongoing staff training as key, as well as
improvements in technology. My team
at the moment still has to access the two
different networks and the two sets of
processes – at the same time as the creation
of the shared service, Watford was converting
from a different computer system, which
added to the challenge given to the team
at the time. We are currently working on
harmonising these two systems, to enable us
to be more efficient and see the full benefit
of being a shared service. We need to build
on the work to date to ensure that we achieve
the full benefits and efficiencies that shared
services are designed to deliver. With the
commitment of all, it will in my view certainly
be achievable, but we need further work and
more support yet to make sure we make the
dream become a reality!
Cover story
“In terms of what we still have to do, I see ongoing staff training as key, as well as improvements in technology.”
20
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
make for good dinner party or pub talk, so
versions of events are nearly always exaggerated.
The trouble is we don’t have the mechanisms in
place to truly know what each of our enforcement
agents are saying at each visit – this is where the
‘he said, she said’ element comes in.
Five years ago I would have said the greatest
threat to an enforcement agent was the threat of
actual physical violence, but today I believe it to
be false verbal accusations, very often made
days or weeks after the visit has been made. This
results in that ‘he said, she said’ situation, and it
falls to a local authority to try and ascertain what
really happened, often with nothing more to go
on than a gut feeling. Complaints relating to an
enforcement agent visit are often derived from
not what was said, but how it was said.
So has technology progressed enough to truly
address the problem? Personal video devices,
sometimes called body warn cameras, have
been used in on street enforcement (parking
tickets) for a few years now, and as technology
becomes smaller and more reliable, the buzz
surrounding video audio recording equipment
and its potential use within the bailiff sector has
started to intensify.
The benefits of being able to replay each and
every visit and listen to the conversations that
took place will transform how we are perceived
by the clients, but more importantly how we are
treated by the public we meet – your customer!
Totally transparent bailiffs
...surely not? But Alan Wood believes technology is on its way to providing the answer
In October Insight, Dave Chapman said
how there was little or no evidence to suggest
that the aggressive bailiff exists, because there
has been no evidence of any successful action
being taken against an enforcement agent who
has been proven to have acted with any form
of aggression.
So does that mean because we have never
actually been able to successfully dismiss or
prosecute an enforcement agent that therefore
it doesn’t happen on the streets of the UK? The
term aggressive bailiff can of course be used by
a debtor who is simply being asked to pay in full,
so we need to be careful. But are we falling into
the trap of treating all debtors as liars? What if
some of them are actually telling the truth?
Having worked as an enforcement agent
myself, I can tell you without question that some
companies still operate with dubious activities
in this country every day – some of these relate
to the application of fees and charges, some
relate to the conduct once at the door, but all
are unscrupulous. The public actually expect
some level of aggression or heavy handed
approach because that is what they hear in the
pubs and see on television in relation to our
sector. So if they expect aggression and then an
enforcement agent attends and gives them just
that, do they complain?
When was the last time you heard a debtor
say, “we met a great bailiff, we had a great chat,
and he was really helpful.” Never? Well actually,
that is exactly what the vast majority of our
enforcement agents do – they put people at ease
and offer advice and guidance. But it doesn’t
“The trouble is we don’t have the mechanisms in place to truly know what each of our enforcement agents are saying at each visit – this is where the ‘he said, she said’ element comes in.”
Alan Wood is Director of Development
with Whyte and Co
ENFORCEMENT SPECIAL
My company has trialled two of the units
available in the market place today. The first is an
ID badge style device from Edesix which has an
eight hour recording capacity and comes from
the on-street enforcement world. The second is
a PDA style unit with the ability to record footage
straight to a case file at the end of each day. This
device is a multi-functional touch screen unit
capable of amalgamating a number of functions,
i.e. the PDA can store our enforcement software,
personal attack alarm, satellite navigation, still
image, video audio recording and possibly chip
and pin machine all in the one unit. However,
in the event of an incident the enforcement
agent has the capability to stream live video or still images to our office or direct to the case
file, giving both office and client access to the
scene of a bailiff visit, whilst he or she is still in
attendance. We are working closely with ANPR International to develop this technology.
There is a huge capital investment of nearly
£3,000 per unit, and this is unlikely to be
introduced on every contract overnight. But as
the technology becomes cheaper, it is only a
matter of time before this appears in tender
documents, attracts an element of scoring,
and is seen as a way of ensuring a higher level
professionalism and truly ethical behaviour at
the door.
What is clear, however, is that an era of total transparency is about to be born, and there
will soon be no place for the unscrupulous or
unprofessional to hide. We are just scratching the
surface with the capabilities of this technology,
and over the coming months and years I look
forward to reporting back as to its application
and development.
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
21
FeatureENFORCEMENT SPECIAL
There can be a fairly big gap in the relationship between The Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) and bailiffs. Whilst they don’t work against
each other, they do struggle to communicate. JBW Group has started
a programme of talks specifically written for the CAB to help them
understand the purpose and work of bailiffs. Christine Eva,
Legal and Compliance Manager with the company, tells us about
the programme.
Insight: How did this start?CE: It evolved as a result of handling a complaint which built a genuine
rapport with a particular branch of the CAB. Thereafter, they kept in touch
with requests for information, etc. I was then invited to give a talk, and
at that point I wrote the presentation. Since then, I have been invited to
do several more. I have also attended at a branch to troubleshoot, where
CAB caseworkers, the debtor and I have sat around the table, and I have
explained procedures and discussed the issues causing concern. This was
very successful, and we soon resolved the situation.
Insight: What does the talk involve?CE: The presentation takes the Bureau staff through the rules and
regulations of what a bailiff is and isn’t allowed to do. It explains the
enforcement process from beginning to end. The idea is to lift the
profile of the bailiffs and explain why they are necessary. One of the
key objectives is to help the CAB identify the vulnerable individuals who
really have no ability to pay from those who are trying to avoid payment.
Insight: What does the CAB think about this?CE: For the CAB, one of the most important issues they have with
customers is that they have no real understanding of the charges,
how and when they are applied, and at what particular stage. They
have found our transparency refreshing, and have said that it is really
useful to have an opportunity to discuss various points with a bailiff
company face to face.
Insight: How does it help debtors?CE: Many debtors are vulnerable people who are actually unable to
pay their debts. Now that the CAB is more knowledgeable on the
process, they are able to offer a better service to their customers,
ideally sorting out a situation before a bailiff needs to get involved.
Bailiffs are trained to spot the difference between those who can’t pay
and those who won’t – the CAB needs to be able to identify this too.
Christine’s concluding comments are, “This has proved to be an
invaluable communication exercise for all parties concerned, so that
everyone has a greater understanding of the system. So together, we
are able to offer a better service.”
Most Local Authorities use
JBW Group for theirdebt recovery and
enforcement,do you?
jbwgroup.co.ukt: 0132 446 9179
Insight investigates whether the gap is narrowing between The Citizen’s Advice Bureau and the bailiff industry. Christine Eva gives her views
Poacher turned gamekeeper?
persistently avoid paying it, despite receiving
numerous summonses, liability orders and even
bailiff action,” he notes on the council website.
“While none of us enjoys paying bills, council
tax is necessary - it means that we all have the
services that improve our lives such as cleaner
streets, staff in our schools and meals on wheels
for our elderly. Those people who do not pay put
a greater burden on those who do pay.”
A further improvement in the area is the
Enterprise Zone status, which was awarded
to Newham as part of the 2011 budget. Sir
Robin Wales urged the Chancellor to grant the
zone to Newham, allowing looser planning rules
and discounts on business rates, in order to
encourage yet more investment in the area. “We
have already had success in getting people into
work through our Workplace model, but it’s vital
we create more jobs for people over the coming
years,” said the elected Mayor earlier this year. “It
is also vital that these new zones do not repeat
the mistakes of the past and deliver benefits to
our workless community. We will now focus on
working closely with government on the detail
of the zone, to ensure it meets the needs of
Newham and gets the maximum benefit for new
and existing businesses.”
Debt recovery is still critical, however, and
this latest contract award covers the recovery of
Newham’s tough approach to council tax evaders is there to complement the Olympic host borough’s high profile, Insight discovers
The London Borough of Newham is
continuing its campaign of clamping down on
council tax evaders after recently re-appointing
Rundles to recover outstanding debt for the
next five years, further extending a long standing
relationship between the two parties.
The Newham area itself has embarked on a
major phase of development in recent years,
particularly since being chosen as the host
borough for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The new Westfield Shopping Centre,
which opened in September, is the largest
urban shopping centre in Europe, and shares
its postcode with the Olympic Park. These two
introductions alone, along with a number of other
impressive developments, have led to a vast
increase in jobs and visitors to the area.
Talking about a campaign to get tougher
on council tax evaders however, the council’s
website warns residents of their approach by
stating it is “letting council tax dodgers know we
will no longer put up with them not paying”.
The Olympic host borough admitted to having
taken a “more hard line approach” since 2007,
recognising that collection of outstanding debt
is necessary to further improve the services
provided by the borough. Warrants of arrest
and committal order applications have both
been made through the courts against non-
payers since that time, and tougher actions have
resulted in several suspended prison sentences
for persistent evaders.
Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales,
supports the message to residents that they
could be looking at bankruptcy, losing their
home or even a prison sentence if they fail to
pay their council tax. “While the majority of our
residents pay their council tax on time, a number
“Quote.”ENFORCEMENT SPECIAL
council tax, business rates and sundry debts until
2016, continuing a long standing partnership that
will have spanned for at least a decade at the
conclusion of the term. Rundles has provided
impressive recovery rates for Newham since
2004, and this new contract further strengthens
the company’s growing portfolio of clients in
London and the south east.
“We are delighted to be re-appointed as
a service provider to the London Borough of
Newham,” said Managing Director Chris Rundle.
“The Borough is living in exciting times, and we
are proud to have been a partner during this
rapid period of development and beyond.
“Improving existing client relationships is of great
importance, as it is testament to the services we
provide over a consistent and sustained period.
We never rest on our laurels, however, and we
will continue to improve our services provided
to Newham by evolving our latest enforcement
techniques and technologies as part of this
contract. I am delighted that the long standing
partnership between Rundles and Newham will
continue for more than ten years and hopefully
long after that.”
As for Newham, the Borough is about to
embark on arguably the most important and
exciting 12 months in its history, which it is
keen for its residents, businesses and visitors to
embrace and enjoy. But judging by its impressive
stance on council tax evaders you’d be wrong to
think the local authority is merely focussed on
the Olympic Games and not on its services.
22
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Adopting a more hard line approach
“The Olympic host borough admitted to having taken a ‘more hard line approach’ since 2007, recognising that collection of outstanding debt is necessary to further improve the services provided by the borough.”
FeatureENFORCEMENT SPECIAL
Caroline Hamilton is CCCS
partnerships officer
Council tax arrears are just one part of a growing problem, but help is at hand, explains Caroline Hamilton
It seems that every time you open a newspaper
at the moment there is yet more bad news for
the contents of our wallets. These are extremely
difficult economic times, and across the country
millions of households are under pressure as
the squeeze on family budgets begins to bite.
Council tax arrears are a key component of
this growing problem – and it is essential that
they are considered in the context of the wider
problem of personal debt.
As the UK’s leading debt advice charity,
Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS)
has more exposure than most organisations
to the problems that this financial squeeze is
causing. CCCS is a registered charity providing
free help and support to hundreds of thousands
of struggling debtors each year. We do not
charge for any of our services, allowing us to
offer independent, impartial and objective advice
provided in the best interests of the client.
Last year, we were contacted by around
418,000 people who were struggling to repay
their credit cards, personal loans and other kinds
of unsecured debt.
When someone contacts us in this situation,
CCCS can help by drawing up a realistic budget
based on the client’s individual circumstances
and family size. We also help them make best
use of their income to ensure that basic living
costs can be maintained, and achieve a realistic
debt solution that sets them on the path to
becoming debt free.
As the population continues to be faced with
rising prices and low wage growth, CCCS has
seen a shift in the debt profile of its clients.
While clients continue to struggle with debts
such as credit cards and loans, we are seeing an
increasing number of clients struggle with arrears
on rent, utility bills and council tax.
Almost a third of debtors seeking help from
CCCS are unable to cover their basic living
expenses at the time they contact us. Clients
with families are particularly vulnerable, with
households with dependant children needing an
additional £650 per month to cover living costs
compared to those without. As we head toward
the coldest months of the year, many CCCS
clients will be faced with a ‘heat or eat’ dilemma.
If the present situation looks bleak, the outlook
for the future is an even greater cause for
concern. Research commissioned by CCCS earlier
this year identified 6.2 million households in the
UK as financially vulnerable. This consists of 3.2
million who are already in financial difficulty and,
worryingly, a further three million ‘at risk’ of falling
behind. Those who are unemployed, on a low
income or have low or no savings, are likely to be
particularly hard hit as the squeeze on household
incomes continues.
Many middle-income households are also in
a precarious financial position, with one in four
middle-income CCCS clients having no money
left over after covering their basic living expenses
each month. We are concerned that further
pressure on household budgets will soon mean
that a higher proportion of this group will struggle
to meet essential costs as well.
Council tax arrearsAn increase in the number of households
falling behind with council tax is likely to be a
growing trend in the months and years ahead.
Traditionally, CCCS and other debt advice
charities have worked closely with the credit
industry in helping debtors to repay their
unsecured debts. However, debt problems can
rarely be resolved effectively without dealing
with the whole situation – including rent, utility
and council tax arrears. This is why CCCS is keen
to replicate its productive working relationship
with the credit industry in its work with so-called
‘priority creditors’, including those involved in
council tax collection.
Signposting should be a key component of
this co-operation. As local authorities and council
tax collectors encounter increasing numbers of
people falling behind, it is essential that they
know where to send their customers for free,
independent and high quality advice.
CCCS would also welcome the same level of
forbearance from the collection industry that has
been demonstrated by the credit industry in
recent years. This is particularly pertinent at
a time of rising unemployment, which causes
many households to fall into often temporary
difficulty as they look for work. In the current
climate, greater tolerance of those with council
tax arrears would be a welcome step in helping
people who are struggling to cope with wider
debt problems.
In the months and years ahead, it is an
unfortunate fact that both council tax collectors
and debt advice charities are likely to see
demand for their respective services increase
dramatically. It is vital that we work together as
this trend unfolds, to help financially vulnerable
households survive the difficult times ahead.
CCCS provides free, impartial and confidential debt advice, via its freephone helpline on 0800 138 1111 and anonymous online debt counselling tool, CCCS Debt Remedy, at www.cccs.co.uk
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
23
Facing the ‘heat or eat’ dilemma
“We also help them make best use of their income to ensure that basic living costs can be maintained, and achieve a realistic debt solution that sets them on the path to becoming debt free.”
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
25
Alternative revenues
Benefiting from the changesThe collection of business rates can be an
onerous task for many local authorities,
and one that threatens to become more so
with pressures on recruitment, training and
budgets, not to mention the sweeping changes
proposed in the Localism Bill.However Richard Kerr, Head of Insolvency
and Debt Recovery at Greenhalgh Kerr, (first time IRRV exhibitors at the Institute’s
Annual Conference in Telford), believes that in
partnership with solicitors’ practices, councils
can benefit from the changes which are
occurring in the current operating environment,
but need to prepare well in advance, making
sure that they don’t suffer when business
rates collection becomes a direct income.
He comments, “Our first IRRV conference
was a great opportunity to discuss a number
of issues that impact on the collection of
NNDR - in particular the implications of the
forthcoming Localism Bill, and the likely effects
of the Jackson review.”
The Localism Bill, according to Richard
Kerr, is going to increase pressure on local
authorities to collect its outstanding business
rate debt, not least because councils will pay an
increasing, albeit indirect, penalty if they don’t.
Under the new proposals, he points out, a
local authority will be able to retain the income
from business rates, however, it will ‘lose’ that
which it does not collect, and ‘lose out’ by
having less to invest in the creation of the new
business parks that will attract more companies
and income. While increased autonomy for
local authorities and communities is to be
generally welcomed, there are the added
responsibilities and workload to be taken
into account.
He believes it is generally recognised that
collection of business rates has sometimes
been an area that is under-resourced in local
authorities, almost seen as the junior partner
to council tax, where collection rates and
performance have been under much more
public scrutiny.
“Council tax collection is dealt with by local
authorities in their particular patch, and they
have a very robust system. They collect it and
it goes straight into their coffers. Failure to pay
will often bring in the bailiffs and there is a
very clear procedure. That has not applied to
business rates, which are currently collected
locally but paid to central government. Perhaps
inevitably councils have invested less in the
resources and in-house skills dedicated to
business rates.”
He believes that the new system, which
places much more emphasis on outcomes
rather than merely processes, means many
local authorities will need to use the skills
of solicitors.
Local authorities now have a greater
incentive and more direct financial stake in
collecting business rates, Kerr states, and
solicitors’ fees can be charged to the debtor,
not to the council, so it becomes very cost
effective to work with them.
“The statutory obligation on local authorities
to collect NNDR is, perhaps for the first time,
going to be accompanied by a practical
financial inducement to do so”, he observes,
“but local authorities will want rapid action,
skills on tap, and if possible good local
knowledge too. Solicitors specialising in
commercial litigation can provide all of those
things either on a contract or ad-hoc basis.”
Even though the proposed changes may
not be scheduled for implementation until
April 2013, now is the time to act so that
proper and effective procedures are put in
place in readiness.
“18 months will roll around quite quickly,
and there are already a number of authorities
preparing for the changes. That may
sometimes involve looking to outsource
expertise because in reality there may not
be the resources in house to deal with the
increased responsibilities”,
Kerr continues.
In conclusion, Richard
Kerr is understanding of the
dilemma faced by many local
authorities, but says solicitors
are well placed to help. “The
collection of unpaid business
rates can be an intricate
and time-consuming affair,
often involving some highly
imaginative and determined
evaders. We will take on
the businesses – and the
individuals behind them if necessary – to
help local authorities meet their statutory
obligations. Solicitors have the knowledge and
the people to provide a quick, effective partner
to in-house teams. 98% of business rates
are successfully collected, but increasingly
the onus will be on local authorities to collect
the missing 2%, or have the non-paying
businesses removed from business premises
and replaced by others who are 98% willing to
pay up!”
“Even though the proposed changes may not be scheduled for implementation until April 2013, now is the time to act so that proper and effective procedures are put in place in readiness.”
Local authorities can benefit when collection of business rates becomes direct income, argues Richard Kerr. Insight reports…
Richard Kerr is Head of Insolvency and Debt
Recovery at Wigan based Solicitors Greenhalgh
Kerr, recently recommended for the second
year in a row by the Legal 500. Contact him
Richard Kerr, Head of Insolvency and Debt Recovery at Greenhalgh Kerr
26
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
standard service, the documents are merged,
enclosures added (like direct debit forms,
register of elector forms for new properties
and change of circumstance notices), and this
saves us all the time and effort it would take
us to do this manually ourselves, and probably
more accurately.
Relevant data is provided in overnight batches
via an easy to use but secure file transfer
system. This was straightforward and quick to
set up, does not interfere with or disrupt our
other processes and, to be honest, just runs
like clockwork! The company also manages
our annual council tax billing, but it is on the
ongoing, day to day billing and notifications
where the bulk of our daily administration
work has been taken away – we save the
equivalent of four days of a member of staff’s
time per week as a direct result of outsourcing
this work. We are also no longer incurring
paper, envelope and printing costs as we
used to. The processing accuracy, reporting,
and reduced staff time that we gain saves us
about £15,000 per annum.”
Pete Purcell continues, “In addition, our
most recent post delivery contractor had been
taking up to ten days to deliver a second
class item. This is now reduced to between
two to four days, removing the need for us to
deal with the many telephone calls we used
to receive from people enquiring about this
Running like clockwork
Billing & collectionInsight finds out how Ashford Borough Council has improved its business processes and made significant savings on the management of its daily outgoing council tax and benefit notifications
Within its jurisdiction, Ashford Borough Council has 50,000 council tax households
and also about 10,000 benefit claimants, a
figure which has grown significantly in the
last eighteen months, mostly as a result of
the difficult economic climate. The revenues
and benefits team is responsible for council
tax and business rate collection, benefit
notifications, and also matters relating to
sundry debtors.
Peter Purcell, Revenues and Benefits
Manager, describes how the council started
working with Virtual Mail Room (VMR)
to improve their processes. “We had
previously made a significant investment in
implementing a licensed software solution to
reduce council tax and benefits paperwork,
and also the general administration overheads
in this area. We had also made savings in
staffing numbers in order to resource this
investment, on the assumption that we would
be able to manage our processes more
efficiently via this in-house electronic and
online capability.
As it turned out, this software purchase
based strategy was not as effective as we had
hoped, so, when we heard about VMR and
its outsourced services, we were interested to
see how it could offer an alternative way for
us not only to achieve our goal of reducing
the office workload, but also to maintain or
actually increase the quality of service that we
could provide to borough residents, even with
the reduced number of staff now available.”
Peter adds, “We started with a six month
trial in mid-2010 but then, in order to comply
with our financial regulations, we had to
put the contract for this work formally out to
tender in the autumn. VMR won the tender
and now sends out on a daily basis all our
council tax bills and benefit notifications,
which amounts to about 4,000 bills, plus
notifications relating to over 2,000 claims
per month.
Where appropriate, and as part of its
“This was straightforward and quick to set up, does not interfere with or disrupt our other processes and, to be honest, just runs like clockwork!”
correspondence, and the consequent time
and effort it took us to send out duplicates to
them, which we often felt we had to do.”
One of the reasons Ashford chose this route
was to be able to offer council tax ‘e-billing‘ and ‘e-delivery’ on benefits. Whilst this is still
generally a future rather than a current
requirement, it is reassuring for the council
to know that, when the time comes to
provide these electronic delivery options,
they will be able to manage the take up
easily and effectively without incurring capital
expenditure on new software.
Purcell continues, “I’m also confident
that many could benefit, as we have, from
outsourcing some of these key business
processes to a specialist company, whether or
not they have already tried to automate some
of these procedures either by developing new
in house systems themselves or licensing third
party software products.
This is particularly the case in the current
economic climate, when councils are under
increased pressure to make additional
savings, and the benefits could be even more
significant for councils sharing services and
looking to achieve greater economies of
scale,” is Purcell’s conclusion.
For more information, call VMR on
020 8898 6565 or go to www.vmailroom.co.uk
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
27
LGO update
In October 2011 the Local Government Ombudsmen issued a Focus Report entitled ‘Can’t pay? Won’t pay? Using
bankruptcy for council tax debts’. Focus
reports are a new style of themed
publication on particular subjects of complaint.
They draw on the lessons learnt from complaints
the Ombudsmen have investigated and
include recommendations on good practice.
The report starts by making clear the
various options a council has to recover
unpaid council tax, and the limitations of each
method of recovery. It highlights how charging
orders, often suggested as an alternative to
bankruptcy, are quite restricted. An application
to put a charge on a property can only be
made if a council tax debt of over £1,000 has
been incurred on that property. This secures
the debt, and also attracts interest, but it is
not paid until the property is sold. Councils
can apply to the court for a forced sale. This
incurs additional costs to be paid from the
proceeds of the sale, and councils also have to
administer and pay for the sale. Any mortgage
debts take priority and changes in property
value since the order was made may mean
the sale does not raise enough to clear
the council tax debt. For the debtor, the
consequences – the loss of their home – will
be similar to being made bankrupt. But there
will be circumstances when charging orders
will be appropriate.
The report draws attention to the
considerable amount of council tax recovery
activity – in 2009/10 (according to figures
from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) at least one liability order
was issued for every ten initial bills sent. In
the same year, councils issued over 4,700
bankruptcy petitions, and obtained just over
1,000 bankruptcy orders. They also obtained
almost 3,000 charging orders. Looking at
those authorities that provided detailed
statistics to CIPFA, eight councils accounted
for 70% of the bankruptcy petitions issued.
When deciding what recovery methods to
use, it is important to balance several factors.
These include the implications for overall
payment levels if debtors believe that council
tax will not be collected, the impact of non-
collection on the authority’s ability to provide
services, the effectiveness of the recovery
method and, most importantly, the debtor’s
personal circumstances. In addition, councils
have to consider their equality duties. It is up
to each local authority to decide what weight
to give to these factors, and to create a policy
framework to translate this into practical effect.
It is important to ensure that local authorities’
duties under the Equality Act 2010 and other
legislation are considered. This is particularly
relevant for people with mental health
problems. Research has shown that those
with mental illness are more susceptible to
debt problems than the general population.
We suggest authorities use the good practice
guide produced by the Money Advice Liaison Group.
In our report, we recommend that councils
have a written published debt recovery policy.
When coming to a decision on an individual
case they should:
gather and consider information about the •
individual’s circumstances
make reasonable efforts to contact them, •
including a home visit if necessary
decide what steps must be taken before •
using bankruptcy
record the information they have and the •
reasons for their decisions, and
when considering using bankruptcy, supply •
written information to the debtor, including
the serious consequences of bankruptcy and
suggesting sources of advice.
We believe this is a balanced document, with
good advice that provides reinforcement to
the good practices already adopted by the vast
majority of councils actively using insolvency
as an enforcement remedy. It should also
provide confidence to those who have resisted
the use of insolvency due to the perceived
opposition of the Ombudsman. We will not
criticise a council for using bankruptcy or other
debt recovery methods if the decision to do so
has been properly made.
To read the report, go to:
http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/advice-and-guidance#focus
Andrew Hobley is back with details of the Local Government Ombudsman Focus Report on the use of bankruptcy problems
Andrew Hobley is Senior Investigator with
the Local Government Ombudsman
“It is up to each local authority to decide what weight to give to these factors, and to create a policy framework to translate this into practical effect.”
The road to recovery
28
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
LGA focus
sliced’, and that the top-slice will go back to
the Treasury, which can then use it to replace
government funding for other grants to local
government. It would be much better for
local government to be allowed to keep this
to use for economic development purposes,
particularly in areas where it could be used to
help to kick-start local economies.
The second issue is fairness. Of course all
authorities can agree that they want the system
to be fair, but there is seldom a complete
consensus on exactly what this fairness should
be. There is recognition that a balance needs
to be struck between resource equalisation and
incentives, but different views on exactly where
it should be struck. The LGA’s response calls
for the government to produce more detail
on how arrangements such as levies and the
safety net would work. But we also think that
the government should take the opportunity
to localise discussions on grant distribution by
setting up an independent body accountable
to local government. This could produce data
which would enable a decision to be taken
about how often the underlying needs and
resources should be reset, for example.
We also point to the very real risk issues.
Authorities are going to have to manage,
individually and collectively, risks about
predicting exactly how much business rates
will be collected. This is notoriously difficult to
A little more off the top?
The summer has been busy with the
consultations on the Local Government Resource Review and the localisation of council tax benefit. LGA officers have
been out and about listening to groups of
authorities. All have been trying to make sense
of the consultation document and the eight
associated technical papers.
Some are concerned that the needs and
resources basis for grant may no longer be
updated as regularly as under the formula
grant system. This means, for example,
that councils would no longer receive
compensation through the grant system for
increases in non-council tax payers, such as
students. Others would like a clear incentive,
with only the authorities that raise the most
business rates having to pay into a pool. The
LGA’s response to the consultation picks up
four main themes.
The first concerns the amount that the Treasury intends to trim off the top of the
system in order to meet its Spending Review
numbers – this could amount to as much as
£3.5m in 2014-15. This means that councils
will have their additional business rates ‘top-
predict, particularly given the effect of appeals.
We call for more detailed work to be done
now on exactly how these risks can be shared.
Finally there is the issue of exactly how to calculate incentives. Many people have
commented that the approach proposed by
the government is potentially very complex,
and not at all transparent. We say that there
could be a potentially simpler system, for
example linking increases in business rates
to increases in resources, so that if an
authority grows its business rates by a certain
percentage in real terms, then it should
receive a real terms increase of the same
percentage in its resources.
Following the consultation, the government
will want to make up its mind on these key
issues. And if they are to get the system in
place by April 2013 then there will have to be
legislation passed in Parliament in the early
part of next year. Most people are hoping that
they will use this period to carry out careful
modelling which they will share with local
government. The risks of getting it wrong are
too high to wish otherwise.
A brief word on the localisation of council
tax benefit – despite severe concerns in our
sector, the government look like they are going
ahead. At the time of writing, it is not clear
exactly what changes they will make as a result
of the consultation – the LGA’s response called
for councils to be given more discretion over
existing discounts and exemptions. Given the
extremely short time period now available, many
in the sector will hope that the government
find a way to postpone the introduction beyond
1st April 2013, although civil servants are likely
to point to the need to find Spending Review
savings of £500m in 2013.
Whatever happens, 2013 looks likely to be a
year of change in the way councils are funded.
Whatever the final outcome of the Resource Review, things are certainly going to change, says Mike Heiser
Mike Heiser is benefits lead with the
Local Government Association
“The LGA’s response calls for the government to produce more detail on how arrangements such as levies and the safety net would work.”
Help!
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
29
Management
I’m a public sector manager – get me some help! This article is a continuation of a series that is
designed to help you understand the pattern
of emotions that often accompanies periods of
significant change at work, or in relationships/
health. The first article explored the first
emotions that tend to be triggered (denial,
followed by anxiety and then shock) and the
last article dealt with fear and anger. This
article deals with frustration and confusion.
If you are part of a team that is undergoing
restructuring, perhaps with changes in job
roles or redundancies, then you could be
experiencing this cycle of emotion, or perhaps
having to manage it in others. If you are
managing others through change, then it will
make your life and responsibilities easier if you
can relate to what they are experiencing and
provide them the support or space that
is appropriate.
FrustrationChange can dramatically move previously
expected goalposts, and when people perceive
that they are being prevented from achieving
their goal, their frustration builds. As you get
closer to a goal, the greater the excitement
and expectation of the achievement, reward
and satisfaction. Thus the closer you are, the
more frustrated you can become by being
held back, or by having different goals created.
Unexpected occurrence of the change in your
goal posts can be very distressing, and also
increases the likelihood of anger.
People in business can also become
aggressive when others start to frustrate their
ambitions. If you are part of a leadership team
causing such change, beware that you can
cause tension by frustrating others, and that
it may turn to aggression. Consider how you
can empathise with their situation and help
them readjust their perceptions. If that change
is being done to you as well as those you are
leading, it can be a very challenging time, so
don’t be too proud to seek external support.
ConfusionBreaking patternsStable patterns and rhythms of events in our
lives help us predict and feel secure in our
control of our world. This is one reason why
informal (having a tea break at a certain time)
and formal (as in religious ceremonies) rituals
can be so important to us. When patterns
and rituals are disrupted, then we become
uncertain, confused and worried.
Losing controlOne of the deep needs we have is to be able
to understand the world around us. If we
understand, then we can anticipate what will
happen, and manage our environment and
stay safe. When we cannot make sense of our
experiences, we feel confused and scared and
seek a way of getting out of the internal deep
water in which we find ourselves.
Unexpected surpriseOur minds predict and expect. This is
often done at lightning speed, without a
great deal of conscious processing. Our
subconscious minds are acting quickly to set
up our expectations based upon our previous
experiences. When the expectation does not
meet what was predicted, we are surprised
and confused, and have to stop to understand
our thinking, and what is happening around us.
Sends you insideSometimes, however, the confusion is
such that we can go deep inside ourselves
searching for an explanation of events,
where none exists other than perhaps ‘life or
people can be very unfair’. If we are unable to
recognize that life sometimes deals us a very
tough hand, then we can become increasingly
confused, frustrated and stressed. Increasing
stress leads to a point when we go from
seeking the best solution to the problem at
hand to seeking a solution just to reduce
the stress.
When organisations restructure and people
have to face tough decisions about adapting to
new roles, applying for positions they feel they
may have become entitled to, working for new
bosses, or facing up to moving on and looking
for new employment, then the potential for
frustration and confusion is very significant. To
help prevent managers and staff being sent on
inward and downward spirals, it may be worth
considering the provision of coaching and
workshops. Providing some insight into the
psychological processes they are experiencing,
and a fresh set of objective perceptions
that help them gather their thoughts and
confidence, may be invaluable to their future
development and self-esteem.
We’ll cover the remaining emotions in the next
article. For more information in the meantime,
please go to www.changingminds.org,
which has helped provide the source material
for this article.
This time, Mark Davies focuses on coping with and successfully managing change
Mark Davies leads The Holistic Company.
If you need more specific help, then please
do not hesitate to contact [email protected] or check out
www.theholisticcompany.net
30
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Technology
One example is popular online service Google Docs, which lets you share spreadsheets, word
documents and presentations with friends and
colleagues over the internet.
Government organisations generally buy
separate versions of the same type of software
packages for various functions, deploying
separate infrastructures to support them.
Cloud computing avoids this duplication
of effort, and lowers the up front costs
of products and the support they require,
because virtualised software applications can
be shared across organisations.
When asked why they made the move to
the cloud, at a time when hardly any other
councils had dared, Isle of Man’s Clarke says
it was to achieve that Holy Trinity of council
goals – saving money, improving services and
enhancing performance.
But he also cites the flexibility of cloud
virtualisation. “If you virtualise an application,
you can make sure it works on any platform.
You can redirect services to another platform
in another building or data centre, for
example”, he adds.
This flexibility was put to the test recently
after a flood at one government building forced
some 200 staff to be evacuated. They were
back at work after just 30 minutes thanks to
virtualisation’s ‘anytime, anywhere’ availability,
fulfilling business continuity targets too.
And because software is remotely hosted, it
also allows staff to log on at any work station,
making it highly suited to remote and flexible
working. Users can access programmes and
data at any time, regardless of the device or
council work station they choose.
The Isle of Man government has capitalised
on this. Clarke’s next move is to enable access
to cross-departmental software services via
mobile devices, including smart phones and
tablets for staff and residents.
Speed of deployment is an important
benefit. The entire process of moving to
the cloud took five months, but there are
Cloud computing
There’s been much talk of cloud computing
in the last few years across the private and
public sectors, but much less actual use by
local authorities. But the tide may be turning,
with more examples emerging of councils
embracing virtualisation of IT services.
Just over a year ago, Isle of Man
government took the bold step of virtualising
its entire server platform, and all 1000 of its
service applications. Chief Technology Officer
Peter Clarke explains, “We threw out a lot of
old ‘stand alone’ hardware dedicated to one
server and one service. They say ‘one size fits
all’, but with virtualisation you can fit all sizes.
It’s very scalable,” he says.
Traditionally servers may be purchased
for single application and can stand idle for
long periods. With virtualisation however, you
only pay for what you use. Cloud computing
also enables platform software to be hosted
remotely and ‘virtualised’, meaning it is
accessed not from the desktop but via a web
browser. It also refers to the virtualisation of
platforms and infrastructure.
ongoing time saving benefits. Provisioning
new IT services used to take the organisation
four to six weeks, now it takes just one hour,
according to Clarke. And they have seen a
50% reduction in ICT operational costs
since the move to virtualisation, and an
“immediate” return on investment. But again,
the ongoing savings are tangible. “We can
now upgrade every five years without using
excessive capital”.
So why did Clarke and his team take the
leap into this almost uncharted territory? Clarke
admits that while being a small organisation
makes any change more manageable, it
was down to the right attitude. “We had the
mindset to change. When you’re small, it’s
quicker to get stuff done. You can move faster
and make decisions faster,” he tells Insight.But being bigger should not be an excuse to
rest on your laurels, he adds. “Get on with it!
The longer you wait, the bigger the challenge,
and if you’re not careful, the challenge will
become too big. If there is an opportunity, grab
it – the key is to keep moving at a reasonable
pace. Every five years we do a major upgrade,
and every year we make smaller improvements
so that when we upgrade, it’s ‘just another
change’. It’s about mindsets and attitudes.”
So why aren’t more councils using cloud
computing? The government has certainly
bought into the idea, having announced
back in 2009 plans to create the G-Cloud, a
complete onshore, private government cloud
computing infrastructure.
The government ICT strategy, published in
March 2011 by the Cabinet Office, aims to slash
‘millions of pounds’ from IT and create yet more
efficient government operations. It re-states the
case for cloud – “The Government will push
ahead with its agenda for data centre, network,
software and asset consolidation and the shift
towards cloud computing”.
Intriguingly, the plans include the creation of
a complementary government ‘Apps Store’ hosted on the G-Cloud. Following in the
“Cloud computing avoids this duplication of effort, and lowers the up front costs of products and the support they require, because virtualised software applications can be shared across organisations.”
The cloud is gathering as Mel Poluck encourages public services to link in to the latest IT initiative
Mel Poluck is a freelance journalist.
Email her on [email protected]
25
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
31
footsteps of the popular Apple online shop for
iPhone apps, this would create a repository
of commonly used software apps for public
sector organisations, which could re-use them
on a pay-as-you-go basis.
One of the main tenets of the strategy is to,
“share and reuse ICT solutions and services,
via a common ICT infrastructure... across the
public sector.” The strategy includes plans for
government to reduce costs from data centres,
a box ticked by cloud computing.
“The private cloud means moving to a
managed service in a defined environment.
You share cost savings by scaling and sharing”,
says David Wilde, Chief Information Officer
(CIO) at Essex County Council. “Private cloud
as a managed service can make savings
of 20-25%, so it’s worth going for. Moving
to the cloud with web based services in a
collaborative environment is better than
knitting together proprietary systems.”
Wilde previously led a trailblazing initiative
at Westminster City Council as CIO beginning
in 2008, to reduce its internal IT infrastructure
to zero by 2015, using cloud computing,
outsourcing and shared services. Overall,
virtual services reduced costs by 30-40%.
“Lots of savings came from converged
networks where data and voice services were
provided through the cloud,” he tells Insight.
At Essex, Wilde is now passing on valuable
lessons learned. Using a hybrid of in-house
and cloud based services, he has overseen the
deployment of a cloud-based e-payroll service,
allowing the council’s 3000 part time staff to
securely log in at any time to access e-payslips.
There are further plans afoot.
One common concern is data security. How
can all that vital information be safe when
it ’s remotely hosted, sometimes thousands
of miles away? (Essex’s e-payroll service is
hosted in Texas). “The biggest challenges are
around information governance. You have to
make judgments about whether you can have
the information offshore – this isn’t an IT issue
but an information governance issue”,
says Wilde.
He warns: “Know your information and
know how sensitive it is. Be clear where your
information resides and the implications
under legislation”.
Wilde says it is crucial to consider the type
of information in question, and to carefully
examine any legislative booby traps regarding
data in the host country. Virtual services are
more suited to some countries than others,
he says. For example, at Westminster the
support desk was based in Poland and in the
EU, therefore subject to similar data protection
laws to the UK. Using a service based in India,
for example, may present a different story, with
possibly higher levels of corruption and widely
differing legislation, he explains.
The key is understanding which services
are cloud appropriate, case-by-case. “Line
of business systems and customer services
are well suited”, he says. Just as important is
to look at the technology you’ve already got,
and to assess the cost and level of disruption
to staff as well as residents. “Be very clear
with suppliers about expectations. Make sure
suppliers understand the extent of disruption
to users”, says Wilde.
So is cloud computing just another trendy
bandwagon for the public sector to jump on
as? “There is hype with cloud, so stick to cost
benefits, cost of disruption and ask ‘can users
actually use it? ’”, he says.
Virtualisation saves on data storage space,
and avoids the need for the onsite hardware
and associated IT management – so it helps
organisations of all sizes to cut costs. That
is clear. Duplication of effort has long been
a bugbear of government organisations and
cloud computing certainly goes a long way in
solving that problem.
But what about return on investment? “At
Westminster we saw a return within two years,
and made savings in year three. ROI is good if
you’re willing to be brave.”
“One common concern is data security. How can all that vital information be safe when it’s remotely hosted, sometimes thousands of miles away?”
32
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Doherty’s despatch
overall level of council tax down, and in the
Spending Review, the government undertook
to consider providing greater flexibilities to
local authorities to manage pressures on
council tax.”
The consultation paper states that this must
be seen in the context of:
necessarily tight local government finance •
settlements for the next few years as it
tackles the fiscal deficit
proposals recently published to return some •
control of business rates to local authorities;
and
proposals to replace council tax benefit with •
local support for council tax.
DCLG also says that it sees the consultation
as an opportunity for the government to
address some technical issues that have arisen
in recent years, to explore modernising the
system in certain minor respects, and to seek
views on whether some other aspects of the
system should be changed.
In summary, the changes being
considered include:
giving billing authorities power to levy up to •
full council tax on second homes
replacing exemption Classes A and C2 with •
discounts, the amount of which would be for
billing authorities to determine
abolishing Class L exemption, and making •
mortgagees in possession of empty dwellings
liable to council tax in respect of them
allowing billing authorities to levy an ‘empty •
The ins and outs of outsourcing
Consultation on second homes
The Department for Communities and Local
Government (DCLG) has issued a consultation
paper on 31st October entitled ‘Technical Reforms of Council Tax’ that is basically
looking at whether there should be a reduction
in the discount allowed on second homes to
pay for a freeze in council tax. They dress up
the proposals by stating that they are aligned
to the localism agenda, and that the goal is
a radical redistribution of power and funding
from government to local people to deliver
what they want for their communities.
The paper states that as council tax is a
local tax, it is therefore natural that, as part
of its broad agenda, the government should
look for changes that further empower
local communities.
The real reason for the consultation paper
lies in the words, “It is vital that we keep the
homes premium’ in respect of dwellings
which have been left empty for two years
or more
more flexibility on payments by setting a •
default assumption that payment of council
tax by instalments will be over twelve months
rather than (as is currently the case) ten
encourage the take-up of electronic billing •
by allowing authorities to publish online the
information to be supplied with demand
notices, but with a duty to supply it in hard
copy to any council taxpayer requesting it
stopping the ‘sun tax’ on solar panels – •
ensuring there are no increases in the council
tax liabilities of homes as a result of domestic
scale photovoltaic solar panels being installed
by a third party supplier under a ‘rent a
roof’ scheme. These changes will avoid the
imposition of a ‘sun tax’ and the need for
inspections of homes with solar panels
review the ‘double taxation’ of self-contained •
annexes to family homes. Currently, such
annexes may be treated as a separate property.
The consultation paper states that, “These
proposals will help local authorities keep the
overall level of council tax down, supporting
hard-working families and pensioners by
adjusting the tax relief in respect of second
homes and empty properties when authorities
judge that they do not merit the special
treatment they currently get. If authorities
choose to operate these new flexibilities to
maximise revenue in order to relieve upward
on council tax, the value would be equivalent
to approximately £20 reduction in the bill for a
Band D property (averaged across England).”
In practice, the value will vary considerably
between areas, and will of course depend on
the discounts actually determined by each
billing authority.
The government has no plans to change
the rules on exemptions currently available
in respect of properties left empty because
a person has moved into a hospital or
Pat Doherty is eyeing the latest council tax consultation, with a review of outsourcing and another unrepresentative view of the bailiff industry thrown in
Pat Doherty IRRV (Hons) CPFA is an
independent consultant and a Past
President of the IRRV. If you wish to
comment on anything in the article, please
email him at [email protected]
“with headlines like ‘discounts for second homes scrapped’, the press seems to think that this is a done deal.”
The ins and outs of outsourcing
25
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
33
care home, or has died, or has moved to
provide care to another should be lost. It is
also seeking views on whether changes are
desirable to require that where one part of a
hereditament has been adapted for separate
occupation, but is not in fact separately
occupied, the whole should be banded as one.
On an initial reading, I get the impression
that this consultation paper is a bit like the
curate’s egg, with some good, some bad, but
one thing is sure – local authorities should
respond to it, as no doubt the Institute will be
doing. The closing date for submissions is 29th
December 2011.
Interestingly though, the DCLG calls this a
‘consultation paper’ – with headlines like
‘discounts for second homes scrapped’, the
press seems to think that this is a done deal.
Outsourcing has not gained groundIt was interesting to read a report about a
meeting convened by Public Finance that
included council finance directors, think tank
heads, academics and others to discuss the
outsourcing market and concluding that it
had not taken off as anticipated, in spite of the
huge financial pressures that local authorities
were facing. More outsourcing seemed the
obvious way forward, and many companies
expected a surge in public/private partnerships,
joint ventures and strategic alliances.
According to the meeting, the early signals
supported this view. One survey in June
indicated that outsourcing rates would rise
from 20% now to 34% by 2014, but things
have not gone quite as planned – no doubt
not helped by the collapse of care home
company Southern Cross and the scandal
at Castlebeck’s Winterbourne View hospital.
Councils might have their financial difficulties,
but they certainly don’t want to run the risk of
service failure.
It would seem that other reasons for the
slower than expected advance included:
expecting too much or more than is practical •
from outsourcing
the amount of savings councils needed to •
find in such a short period worked against
the outsourcing industry. Town halls, already
six months into the financial year, were
realising they needed something more
radical than outsourcing to meet their targets
the timescales in setting up the procurement •
process for a large outsourcing contract
local government is far more efficient now •
than in the days of CCT, making it harder for
suppliers to provide the quick wins needed.
The poor practices of the past have been all
but eliminated from town halls.
The demise of council tax?In spite of a consultation paper (or perhaps
because of it) on changes to council tax,
are we effectively seeing the slow demise
of this form of the property tax? I ask this
because this government has effectively taken
control of the tax by freezing any increases
for two years, and the Secretary of State has
announced that there will be no revaluation.
The consultation paper is proposing changes
that will raise income to reduce the tax by
an average of £20, and even though it is a
consultation paper I do not think there will be
any effective consultation, or at least any that
is taken notice of.
In effect, the council tax is being cut off
from any increases in either the tax rate or
in the tax base, and has become centrally
determined. The government has taken control
of local government’s only tax source!
Bailiffs – trial by televisionOnce again we have trial by television, with the
ITV ‘exposure’ of the actions of bailiffs – or to
be more precise the actions of a single bailiff
who was secretly filmed visiting council tax
debtors. There is no doubt that his actions were
appalling, and broke just about every part of the
guidelines adopted by bailiff companies, but we
should not judge all bailiffs by his actions.
There is no doubt that this programme again
does nothing to enhance the public image
of bailiffs, but in my experience the level of
professionalism exercised by all the companies
has increased tremendously over the years,
and behaviour such as that exposed in the
programme sets back the profession – which it
has to be said is keen to see closer regulation.
That said, lessons must be learnt from the
actions exposed in this programme – and
lessons learnt not just for the companies in
the management and training of their bailiffs,
but also by local authorities in ensuring that
the actions of those acting in their name and
on their behalf are of the highest standard.
“More outsourcing seemed the obvious way forward, and many companies expected a surge in public/ private partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances.”
34
INSIGHT
ww
w.ir
rv.n
et
Viewpoint
claimants, are likely to experience if the DWP
continues along its path of centralising the
administration of the vast majority of welfare
benefit applications and claim processing
functions for Universal Credit on to a solitary
technology platform.
As well as the possibility of alienating
many of their customers, there are justifiable
concerns being expressed that in driving
ahead with Universal Credit in its current form,
a ‘perfect storm’ is looming. As BlackBerry
will testify, dependency upon a single technology platform to deliver so much to
so many in real time certainly heightens the
risk of failure, error and inevitable hardship.
To claimants that hardship is much more
serious than losing the ability to tweet – it
represents no payments, overpayments,
delayed payments or incorrect payments.
Local authorities rightly fear that the drive
to centralise many of the aspects of the welfare
reforms will further disaffect the least well off
in society, as they are forced to negotiate their
basic financial needs and wellbeing online to
a remote impassive so called ‘agent’. Housing
and council tax benefit support is highly visible,
and is a key component in a local authority’s
arsenal of services that support the wellbeing
of a whole community. They naturally link
into housing, employment and social mobility
and, as such, should remain within the overall
control of local authorities.
That does not mean that in administering
local schemes at a local level we cannot
become more efficient, more customer
focused, and more creative and effective in
the ways in which we use our information
technology and deliver our services. What it
does mean is that any downtime or outage in
terms of service provision is limited to a single
local authority, not the whole country, and the
fact that local authorities are accountable to
their local community and elected members,
such rare service outages and downtime are
normally resolved within hours, not days
or weeks.
Avoiding aBlackBerry day
The recent technical setbacks for BlackBerry,
the provider of one of the world’s most popular
smartphones (during October millions of
customers worldwide had their messaging
and email service disrupted) should act as a
massive wake-up call to the DWP and HMRC
– putting all your information technology eggs
into one basket has serious drawbacks, and
when there is a failure, millions of customers
are immediately affected, everyone gets to
know about it, and it’s costly.
It would seem that the hardware keeping
the whole of BlackBerry’s worldwide
communications system running, or not as the
case was, is centrally located at a site in
Egham, Surrey. The global failure was
something to do with a switch failing, then the
backup system failing, and as a consequence
millions of BlackBerry customers being unable
to communicate or use their various so
called ‘apps’.
There are some frightening similarities
between the setbacks that BlackBerry
smartphone users recently experienced and
those that benefit claimants, and potential
There is no doubt that for many BlackBerry
users, not having their beloved apps for a
few days must have been traumatic. I know
of at least one devoted user who described
the experience as hurtful to have not been
able to BBM – for those familiar with the
BlackBerry you’ll know what that means. They
thought they might have to revert to using a
telephone... or even writing a letter! Compared
with the possibility of millions of claimants
not getting their Universal Credit payments on
time, though, being over or underpaid their
entitlement, the plight of the BlackBerry users
pales into the ether. But lessons can and should
be learnt, and it’s not too late for the DWP and
HMRC to have a rethink on their overall strategy
for delivering Universal Credit from a single
untested archaic platform.
The solution to avoiding ‘core switch failure’
is to scrap the attempt at having a single
all-singing, all-dancing centralised IT delivery
system, and without delay elicit local authority
involvement, ICT expertise and know how into
how best to set up a new localised delivery
system, thereby reducing the risk of universal
failure and outage. You could call it ‘avoiding a
BlackBerry day’!
It is acknowledged that councils are the
experts in administering housing and council
tax benefits and a range of other discounts,
exemptions and refunds, which all link into
their other social and financial responsibilities
for housing policy and homelessness.
Centralisation of the housing elements of
the welfare reforms threatens to sever these
critical community links, thereby fragmenting
the wellbeing of claimants, as well as the social
fabric of a local society.
The good news is that the company behind
BlackBerry mobile phones has said full global
service has been restored after days of
disruptions. The firm, Research In Motion,
said any delays in emails or instant messaging
should subside as the huge backlog is cleared...
now where have we heard that word
‘backlog’ before?
As BlackBerry falters, it’s not good to put all your eggs in one Universal Basket, says John Frost
John Frost is Head of Revenue and Benefit
Services at Cambridge City Council, and
Chair of the Northgate National Benefit
User Group. You can tweet John via his
BlackBerry – [email protected]
25
INSIGHT
DEC
EMB
ER 2
011
35
Marston ensures complete transparency and ethical responsibility through:
Committing to open book accounting by having our client accounts reviewed on a quarterly basis by a leading audit firm, and by always publishing the results online.
Constituting an independent Advisory Board comprising well-known and respectedindividuals across the fields of corporate governance, law, politics and public affairs.
Proactively investigating and deploying cutting edge technology, including a £3.5m bespoke IT system and video-badge recording of enforcement visits.
Employing outstanding training practices through our in-house City & Guilds accreditedtraining academy.
Full disclosure builds public trust and confidence, and reduces risk. It is also whyMarston has won the Enforcement Team of the Year Award for the third consecutive year.
www.marstongroup.co.uk
You can see exactly what we’re made of …
96410 Marston Transparent ad v2_Layout 1 21/10/2011 09:41 Page 1
great & good
doesn’t mean
big & bad
DUKESB A I L I F F S L I M I T E D
DUKESB A I L I F F S L I M I T E D
E [email protected] T 0844 844 1345W www.dukeslimited.co.uk
Dukes Bailiffs get great results through good practice & high standards.
That’s why local authorities trust us to help preserve their finances & their reputation
in Council Tax, NDR & RTA Collection.
![Equita Lyon - AFQH · Equita Lyon Class # 68,69,70,71,72,73,74 (Trail in Hand) Show Date: 10-29-2014 11-2-2014 [T/1-1] Pattern Provided by: Rick and Maj-Britt Lemay ©2014 HorseShowPatterns.com](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/5fe1df7a5536ae15124bd377/equita-lyon-afqh-equita-lyon-class-68697071727374-trail-in-hand-show.jpg)
![SIMPLICITY[1] · Web viewNicholas Maxwell, University of London. (Address: 13 Tavistock Terrace, London N19 4BZ, UK. Email: nicholas.maxwell@ucl.ac.uk) ABSTRACT. There are two problems](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/5e8556a4b040220662121c62/simplicity1-web-view-nicholas-maxwell-university-of-london-address-13-tavistock.jpg)
![Equita Lyon Western Horse Show - AFQH · Equita Lyon Western Horse Show Showmanship (Ama, Yth18&U, Non-Pro) Show Date: 10/26-30/2016 [S/2-27] Pattern Provided by: Judge(s) ©2016](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/5fe1de8dae86b33bc23fef7a/equita-lyon-western-horse-show-equita-lyon-western-horse-show-showmanship-ama.jpg)
