Report of the City Treasurer

This report provides performance data for the 2017/18 financial year for the Council Tax, Benefits and Business Rates Service areas.  The report also provides an update on key areas of work and the welfare reform changes.

The Committee considered a report of the City Treasurer, which provided Members with an overview of the performance of the Council’s Council Tax, Benefits and Business Rates service areas for the 2017/18 financial year.  The report also provided an update on key areas of work and the welfare reform changes.

The Director of Customer Services and Transactions referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:-

·                Performance in the collection of Council Tax, which included details on Council Tax support, collection of arrears, recover activity and action, enforcement agent activity, attachment of earnings orders, attachments to benefits and Increasing revenue from the New Homes Bonus;

·                Performance in Benefit administration, which included details on Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance;

·                Performance in the collection of Business Rates, which included details on increasing revenue from business rates and Business Rates relief awarded;

·                Details of Discretionary Housing Payment spend against planned budget, including a breakdown of awards by tenure type;

·                Details of Discretionary Council Tax Payment Scheme;

·                Performance of the Council’s Welfare Provision Scheme;

·                Details on the welfare reform agenda and Housing Benefit administration; and

·                Other achievements and activity during 2017/18, including extension of support to care leavers, changes to the Council Tax Long Term Empty Premium, fraud and error initiatives and the transition to Universal Credit

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

·                The collection rate for Council Tax was impressive and would it be possible to improve on this in future years;

·                How effective was the Council in learning from the success of other local authorities;

·                How much was spent on chasing council tax payment from university students who had not submitted exemption forms and was there anything further that could be done to streamline this process;

·                Clarification was sought as to when the Council would use bailiffs in pursuing outstanding debt owed with reference to a particular instance given;

·                Did the Council have any contingency in place should all Discretionary Housing Payment funding be utilised and was there any correlation with the number of people moving into Manchester and an increase in benefit claims being made;

·                What was the Council doing to identify empty homes that could be brought back into use and therefore become subject to Council Tax payment

·                When did new build properties become subject to Council Tax payments;

·                Did the Council have any influence in the banding of properties within the city

·                Was it possible to have a breakdown of the different bandings for new build properties that had recently been built;

·                How many cases of bankruptcy had there been during 2017/18;

·                Was there any update on the proposed changes to Housing Benefit in relation to supported housing; and

·                How was the funding framework for temporary accommodation working in practice

The Director of Customer Services and Transactions advised that improvement targets were set each year and the Council aimed to collect more council tax year on year.  To achieve this the Council put in place a variety of methods, including affordable payment plans for those residents who were struggling to make payments.  The approach adopted by the Council was one of proportionality based on what people could afford for those who were in financial difficulties.  In terms of the Council’s effectiveness compared to other local authorities, it was reported that this was not possible to compare, as local authorities had adopted different schemes.

The Committee was advised that the Council had a good relationship with the Universities and the Council used a database of registration to identify students as required to confirm eligibility to the Council Tax discount and exemption.  A cost had never been attributed to chasing council tax payments form students who had failed to submit exemption forms and the Council worked closely with the Universities in issuing communications to students to try and ensure that this did not frequently occur.

In terms of the use of enforcement agents (formally referred to as Bailiffs) the Director of Customer Services and Transactions advised that the Council had taken a more informed approach to the use of enforcement agents and would not send accounts that are not deemed suitable for collection to enforcement agents. For example, where possible, recovery from earnings or benefits were set up as the preferred recovery route, even if this took some time to clear the debt.  In relation to the case referred to by the Committee, the Director of Customer Services and Transactions explained the background to the particular instance and the subsequent steps taken.

The Committee was advised that Government provided a grant amount for Discretionary Housing Payments up to an agreed threshold and any money not spent had to be  returned.  The Council was able to fund above this amount up to a further threshold but this was funded from the Council’s budget and although demand was tailing off, as part of the budget setting process for 2017/18 an additional £1 million had been invested by the Council.

In relation to identifying empty properties that could be brought back into use and new properties being made subject to council tax, it was explained that the Council undertook a variety of activities to try and identify empty properties, which included officers going out into communities across the city.  As for new properties, there was a process that involved the Valuation Office setting the council tax band upon receipt of completion notices submitted by the Council.  When these properties were ready to be occupied they were placed on a temporary band until the valuation Office had made a determination and then the council tax charge was subsequently backdated.  Officers confirmed that the Council had no influence in the banding of properties in and across the city.

Officer advised that they would look at what information could be obtained and provided to Members around the banding of new properties across the city.  It was also reported that the Council had only dealt with a small number of bankruptcy cases in the last year and it was only a measure used on very rare occasions.

The Committee was advised that following the consultation by the DWP and DCLG in January 2018 on the proposed changes to Housing Benefit in relation to supported housing it was reported that notification had been received that government would not be proceeding with the previously proposed changes.

In terms of the funding framework for temporary accommodation it was reported that when the funding was provided from government, it was based on a snapshot in time with some forecasted growth. Unfortunately following the snapshot the demand in Manchester had risen by a higher amount than assumed by government and Manchester had a funding shortfall as a result even though this was not government’s documented policy intention.  the amount received from government had not been enough.  The Council had notified the government of this, who had responded to advise that they could not review the awards to date but that this would be looked at in the future.  To date there had been no funding received  To address the shortfall, the Council had been using its Discretionary Housing Payment funding and additional money set aside by the Council.

Decision

The Committee

(1)       Welcomes the update on the performance of the Council’s Council Tax, Benefits and Business Rates service areas for the 2017/18 financial year;

(2)       Requests that Officer provide the Committee with more appropriate information on the banding of new properties being built in and across the city;

(3)       Agrees that the Chair of the Committee and the Executive Member for Finance And Human Resource write to the government expressing the Council’s concern in the lack of necessary funding to address the increasing demand in temporary accommodation