The Head of Revenues and Benefits to give a presentation on council tax collection and recovery to the Panel.

The Panel received a presentation from the Head of Revenue and Benefits on Revenue and Benefits performance.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

Councillor Collett asked what impact ICT had on Council Tax and, if ICT was working properly, how quickly benefits and council tax changes could be processed.  The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that ideally this should be between two to three weeks but this was currently work in progress and was difficult to sustain owing to the ICT situation. If work could be processed within these timeframes, it would allow for proactive work to be undertaken but it was not possible to telephone clients at present.  If ICT was effective, changes could be done between 9 – 10 days with a 14 day  maximum.  Some local authorities suggested they could process changes  in five days but this related to the processing time and did not take into account the time  of the receipt of all information.

Councillor Dhindsa commented that, during the previous year, Revenues and Benefits had been in dire straits and he congratulated the Head of Revenues and Benefits on the pull back.  He asked, in respect of overpayments, how much money had been recovered - and of the 154 outstanding new Housing Benefit cases, how long it would take to get to single figures.   The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that there were 37 cases where staff were waiting for customers to respond to enquiries.  By Friday of this week there would be around 100 outstanding cases which would represent about a week’s work.  A high percentage of cases related to people from abroad which were complex as these customers had to provide evidence of their work history in the UK; the emphasis was to get them to come in to the office  to try and expedite these cases. With regard to the overpayments; the value of these was currently £700k less than the same time the previous year and would have been even better, but for new data matching with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs which had been rolled out nationally. This exercise was to identify significant numbers of undeclared pensions and earnings.  They were in the process of getting comparative data from the other local authorities in Hertfordshire.  With regard to the processing of Housing Benefit new claims, in quarter 1 and 2, it appeared that Watford was the best performing authority in Hertfordshire.

Councillor Watkin commented that if, for example,  the average time to deal with new housing benefit cases was nine days a significant proportion were dealt with in just two days.  This was evidence of achieving critical change and of the organisation pulling together.  He added that the software was now being used effectively and that Revenues and Benefits was an operation to be proud of with a good service provided to the people of Watford.

Councillor Williams asked how many weeks were lost in the year due to the ICT.  The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that four days had been lost because of the virus in August with approximately 10-12 days lost up to Christmas.  The figures, however, were not exact.

Councillor Dhindsa asked why there had been problems in the past.  The Director of Finance explained that these had occurred before the arrival of the present management.  There had been a change in structure and management processes resulting in Revenues and Benefits doing what it should be doing.

The Panel then received a presentation from the Revenues Manager on the Council Tax recovery process.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

Councillor Counter noted that three reminders were sent to the addresses registered and asked whether people were contacted by telephone.  The Revenues Manager explained that  telephone numbers were taken and put on the Academy database and some outbound calling had started.

Councillor Martins commented that it was right that the Council received the money it was owed but that it also had to provide a service to residents.  He made reference to the process flowchart and wondered why contact could not be made with customers earlier (before stage five) so their position was known and it would not be necessary to issue a summons.  He urged that this be looked in to.  The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that when reminders were sent out it was explained on these that the customers were able to contact the Council if they had problems paying.  If contact was made they would not be summonsed.  He requested Members to encourage people to engage with the Council.  Also, letters were now in written in simpler language and in some cases people did not like to be telephoned at home.  Councillor Martins commented that people with learning disabilities may not be able to read and considered that the Council had a moral obligation to assist.  The Revenues Manager made reference to an ongoing case and explained how the procedures worked and that they would seek to review the summons cost.

Councillor Dhindsa commented that he was not proud as a Council that it had to use bailiffs.  He discussed a case where a bailiff was apparently awkward.  He concluded by saying that he would like more work done in this area to avoid the use of bailiffs.  The Chair asked how bailiffs were chosen.  The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that there had been a formal selection process involving a framework agreement with three companies selected out of six.  There was now a system where a number of debts were dealt with at the same time reducing costs; joint working with Parking Services had also been introduced.

Councillor Williams agreed that customers should be invited in in the first instance.  He asked whether invitations could be made digitally as opposed to sending letters as delivery by post was not as reliable.  He also asked what checks and balances there were for bailiffs and whether complaints of unfairness came to the Council.  The Head of Revenue and Benefits explained that the Bailiff companies had to provide details of any complaints to the Council on a monthly basis and action could be taken in respect of their contract.  He advised that it was in the interests of companies to act correctly as they were in competition with others and this helped drive up standards.  He agreed that using digital technology was desirable and stated that there would be a re-launch in the new financial year when the self-service platform was stable.  This would result in customers being able to opt in to e-billing.  He was aware that there was an appetite for this approach.  Furthermore, there would be a refresh of the Revenues and Benefits pages on the council website, including uploading forms for customers to download and the introduction of e-forms.

Councillor Collett congratulated Revenues and Benefits for the significant improvements made and commented that they were a real credit to the Council.  She added that this had been a massive gain as compared to the rest of the County.