David Keppler, Head of Revenues and Benefits

Task group members asked a number of questions in order to understand the impact of the move to a local council tax support scheme in April 2013:

•   David Keppler, Head of Revenues and Benefits, said that there had been an increase in the level of net collectable council tax debt and that this was partly due to the scheme changes and partly due to the increase in the number of households in the borough which had increased the overall amount of council tax owed. He drew attention to the table at paragraph 2.38 and undertook to provide more detail. ACTION: Head of Revenues and Benefits

•   The two complaints about the removal of certain discounts and exemptions from the council tax support scheme have been treated as policy complaints and will be included in the Annual Complaints report to the Council’s Standards Committee

•   David Keppler will provide detail on the numbers affected by the discount and exemption changes. ACTION: Head of Revenues and Benefits

•   David Keppler will provide an estimate of the financial impact on the average benefit recipient if the council did not apply the uprating to the scheme in line with the uprating to State pensions and benefits – cost to the council of £30,000 (paragraph 2.28). ACTION: Head of Revenues and Benefits

Caroline Holland, Director of Corporate Services, undertook to provide information to explain the figures in paragraphs 2.5 and 2.7 regarding the reduced level of government funding to the Council and the Greater London Authority. ACTION: Director of Corporate Services

David Keppler provided additional information in response to questions about discounts and exemptions:

•   22,000 households received the 25% single person discount (rate set by government). The total value of this is £7.7m

•   The largest category of council tax exemption is for households solely composed of students

David Keppler drew attention to the information on changes that neighbouring boroughs had made to their schemes. He has subsequently been informed that the collection rates for Croydon have decreased significantly and those for Sutton have fallen slightly. He undertook to report back on the reasons for this once he has more information. ACTION: Head of Revenues and Benefits

David Keppler said that around 50% of his staff’s time was spent on chasing payment. The task group discussed the cost of collecting small amounts of debt. David Keppler added that, in some circumstances, the Council can obtain a Liability Order and apply to the Department of Work and pensions for payment from a person’s benefits. However, the maximum that can be deducted is £3.50 so the council is unlikely to recoup all its costs.

Task group members expressed differing views on the trade-off between the principle and practicalities of all households making some council tax payment as well as the potential of making changes that might demotivate some households.

The task group discussed the list of potential changes set out in Appendix 1 and noted that the last option on page 12 and all options on page 13 would result in “everyone paying something”, except for pensioners as they have been exempted by the government. Pensioners represent 30% of households in receipt of council tax support.

A task group member suggested that costs should be based on Bands D and E rather than F and G as these rates apply to a greater number of households in receipt of council tax support. ACTION: David Keppler undertook to provide costings based on Band D, in addition to those provided for Bands F and G.

David Keppler explained that consultation on a scheme for 2015/16 would need to start in Spring 2014 so a decision on the proposals within the consultation would need to be made by then. The task group noted that if a significantly different scheme were to be adopted then this would incur large IT and other management costs.

The task group RESOLVED:

•   To note recommendations A-D

•   To refrain from providing a steer on how it would like to see more detailed proposals progressed as this would need to be a political decision and as such is therefore not appropriate for a scrutiny body

•   To report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission via the minutes of this meeting plus the provision by the Head of Revenues and Benefits of the additional information that has been requested by the Task Group