Agenda item

To provide the Joint Committee with an update on performance in the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service.

Decision

That the report be noted.

None.

The report provided information on revenues performance with regard to Council Tax for the City of Lincoln Council and North Kesteven District Council, together with Business Rates in respect of the City of Lincoln Council, North Kesteven District Council and West Lindsey District Council. This provided figures for the current financial year 2019/20 up to the end of quarter three compared to the same point in 2018/19.

It was reported that Council Tax in-year collection was down for both the City of Lincoln and North Kesteven by 0.44% and 0.48% respectively. The latest figures up to the end of January 2020 indicated that the City of Lincoln was down by 0.46% and North Kesteven was down by 0.53%. However, it was noted that the net collectible debit had increased for both authorities.

With regard to Business Rates, in-year collection was down for the City of Lincoln, North Kesteven and West Lindsey by 2.84%, 0.71% and 0.56% respectively. A reduction in 2.84% for the City of Lincoln equated to £1,276,089 and a key reason for this was that one business had overpaid their account by more than £450,000 and was refunded in February 2019. The latest figures up to the end of January 2020 were reported as 2.52% for the City of Lincoln, 0.3% for North Kesteven and 0.25% for West Lindsey, reflecting a slightly more positive position. It was noted that the total net liability for all three authorities had increased.

Further information relating to outstanding revenues customers and housing benefit overpayments were set out in the report. The latest figures up to 4 February 2020 indicated that the total amount of customers outstanding was 348, 235 of which were from the City of Lincoln and 113 from North Kesteven. The oldest case in the system was from 16 January 2020. Significant progress had therefore been made taking into account the total number of outstanding customers at the end of 2018/19 equated to 638.

In terms of benefits performance, the table at paragraph 5.1 of the report highlighted the number of outstanding benefits customers awaiting assessment up to the end of quarter 3 for 2019/20, compared to the same point in 2018/19. Paragraph 5.2 of the report set out the same information in respect of housing benefit average processing times. The latest figures as at the end of January 2020 showed the City of Lincoln performing at 21.6 days and North Kesteven 20.02 days.

It was noted that Universal Credit continued to have an impact on processing times due to the number of Universal Credit related documents requiring processing. Prompt processing of claims remained vital, but of equal importance was the accuracy of processing. The table at 5.3 of the report set out the outcomes of claims checked under the service’s quality checking regime compared to 2018/19.

Councillor Ray Cucksey commended all areas of improvement that had been made and was hopeful that this would remain the case. He asked for an update on the level of arrears associated with business rates. It was noted that this information was set out in Appendix 1 of the report and that the direction of travel was positive.

Councillor David Suiter sought clarification as to why people were waiting in excess of twenty days for their housing benefit payments, which could sometimes result in rent arrears. It was reported that one of the main reasons for any delays related to customers not providing the team with necessary information and that in some cases this did ultimately result in delays. The team did work hard to ensure that customers received their entitlement as quickly as possible. It also provided other means of assistance such as through the discretionary housing payment scheme which included provision for rent deposits to help customers with delays in housing benefit payments.