Issue - meetings

The Director of Finance and Support Services submitted a report in respect of how the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service had been operating since the commencement of full operation in April 2012.  The report detailed changes to the environment within which the service operated as well as setting out the future opportunities and challenges for the shared service.

Members were referred to paragraph 2.3 of the report for a contextual summary of the scale of activities undertaken by Officers.  The Committee was reminded that the shared service had been one of the first major partnership arrangements entered into by the Authority.

In response to a query from Councillor J Ranger in respect of the timescale for the introduction of universal credit in East Herts, the Director advised that the timeline remained unclear.  Members were reminded that universal credit would only affect a small proportion of the people receiving a service provided by East Herts Council.

Councillor M Pope referred to the additional resources that had been invested on a temporary basis to assist the joint service due to the pressures brought about by changes in welfare reform.  The Director confirmed that both East Herts and Stevenage had allocated £100,000 each in 2012/13 and also in 2013/14, as well as additional front end support in Customer Services at both Authorities.

The Director advised that one–off new burden money had been received from central government, some of which had been used to fund essential system changes by the IT suppliers.  Members were advised that the workload had not yet peaked but had not dropped either, meaning that the additional temporary resources put in might need a more permanent investment as the new workloads became the norm.

In response to a query from Councillor J Mayes, the Director advised that the rate of collection for business rates was slightly higher in East Herts compared to Stevenage and residents tended to pay Council Tax slightly quicker in East Herts than in Stevenage.  The figures reflected the ‘in-year’ collection rates and the Director of Finance and Support Services confirmed that any non-payments were always followed up. 

As regards business rates, these were not set by Stevenage or East Herts and businesses sometimes disputed the levels set by the valuation office.  Businesses also went bankrupt on occasion but Officers always did their best to collect the rates in each year.

The Director confirmed to Councillor J Wing that the way people earned an income could affect the benefits they were entitled to, for example, doing extra overtime at work or employed on a zero-hours contract could impact on entitlement on an almost weekly basis.  The significant increase in workload and need for additional resources caused by this frequent need to recalculate entitlement, often for just a small or temporary change, were a concern to Members.  It was acknowledged that this situation could not be addressed locally, but would need lobbying at central government level.

The Director undertook to provide a written response to Councillor Wing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94