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INSIDE: The future of Local Government• News & events • Scrafton’s Law • Valuation Matters
INSIGHTAUGUST 2010 £5.50 www.irrv.net
ISSN
136
1-13
05
This month’s international focus sees the IRRV join long standing Spanish colleagues, SUMA, to share
expertise in the area of customer service
The monthly journal of the Institute of Revenues, Rating & Valuation
Viva España!
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SEE US ON STAND 14IRRV ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITIONHARROGATE, 28 SEPT - 1 OCT
IRRV INSIGHT
Managing Editor
John Roberts
Editorial Director
Lester Dinnie
Art Director
Don Tregartha
Designers
Clare Barker
Roddy Clenaghan
Publisher
Tregartha Dinnie Ltd
IRRV
Chief Executive David Magor, OBE IRRV (Hons) 41 Doughty Street London WC1N 2LF T 020 7831 3505 E [email protected] W www.irrv.net
Enquiries Membership 020 7691 8996 Conferences 020 7691 8987 Subscriptions 020 7691 8996
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Editorial John Roberts IRRV (Hons) T 07952 659 258 E [email protected]
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IRRV Insight is produced by Tregartha Dinnie Ltd on behalf of the IRRV,
Unless otherwise indicated, copyright in this publication belongs to the IRRV.
July 2010 ISSN 1361-1305
© IRRV 2010, Reproduction in whole or in part of any article is prohibited without prior written consent. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute, Whilst all due care is taken regarding the accuracy of information, no responsibility can be accepted for errors. Any advice given does not constitute a legal opinion.
IRRV Council: IRRV President Geoff Fisher FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV (Hons); Senior Vice-President Kerry Macdermott IRRV (Hons); Junior Vice-President Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV (Hons) MCIArb; Phil Adlard Tech IRRV MlnstLM MCMI; Alan Bronte FRICS IRRV (Hons); Robert Brown BSc FRICS IRRV (Hons); David Chapman IRRV (Hons);
Tracy Crowe CPFA IRRV (Hons); Barbara Culverhouse IRRV (Hons) CPFA; Carol Cutler IRRV (Hons); Tom Dixon RD BSc (Est Man) FRICS IRRV (Hons); Pat Doherty CPFA IRRV (Hons); Ian Ferguson IRRV (Hons); Richard Guy FRICS (Dip Rating) IRRV (Hons) MCIArb; Richard Harbord MPhil CPFA FCCA IRRV (Hons) FIDP FBIM FRSA; Mary Hardman IRRV (Hons) FRICS MCMI; Gordon Heath BSc IRRV (Hons); Julie Holden IRRV (Hons) MCMI CMg; Caroline Hopkins IRRV (Hons); Brian Jeffrey IRRV (Hons); Graham Ryall FRICS IRRV (Hons); Kevin Stewart IRRV (Hons) MAAT MCMI; Angela Storey Tech IRRV MCMI; Bob Trahern IRRV (Hons); Julie Trahern IRRV (Hons); Allan Traynor FCCA IRRV (Hons).
Chief Executive’s notes 05David Magor stresses the need to get back to basics with the service delivery models of the future
News and events 06
Running the Institute 08
Education & membership 10
The future of local government 20
Technology 22
LGA update 25
FOI update 26
Management 28
Doherty’s despatch 30Pat Doherty’s initial reaction to the treatment of public service in the Budget was one of relief, but the relief was soon replaced with real concern
Scrafton’s law 32In the first of a new regular column, Peter Scrafton casts his eye over the world of public procurement and the remedies for unsuccessful tenderers
Viewpoint 34Local authorities are looking further and further afield for ideas on how to improve their efficiency, Kate Miller finds
Cover story 16Viva España!This month’s international focus falls on a Leonardo da Vinci funded ‘mobility’ project, which sees the IRRV join long standing Spanish colleagues, SUMA, to share expertise in the area of customer service
Regular items Features
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What’s in the next issue ... – David Scott is preparing himself for another
successful Scottish Conference, bringing us up to date on life north of the border
– Leadership – Mark Davies returns with some more handy tips
Faculty Board update 12Lands Tribunal fees and revaluation ‘fallout’ are just two of the key issues currently facing Roger Messenger’s Valuation faculty Board
Valuation matters 13IRRV celebrates the Valuation Office Agency centenary in style
Social inclusion 14Now is the time to make contact with your local credit union, for the benefit of your customers and your community, urges Colin Holden
Benefits bulletin 15Dave Hendy has been putting together some handy tips to overcome the current round of spending cuts
Faculty review
We are also pleased to bring reports from two recent ‘provincial’ events in the IRRV calendar – conferences in Wales and Northern Ireland, where the Institute is as active and vibrant as ever. In addition to our regular authors, you will find that we have added one or two more new names. Peter Scrafton starts a regular new feature, which will be of particular interest to our valuation sector members, but as with any Insight contribution, Peter’s views will be equally of value to readers from other avenues of the Institute’s work. Our short series on international activity occupies this month’s ‘cover story’, as members of award winning local authorities share their experiences of another key IRRV initiative. And speaking internationally, Andy Milner’s round the world challenge is nearing its close, and our very own intrepid explorer reminds us how life on the ocean and life in public service can be strikingly similar at times! Don’t forget that Insight is one of the key aspects of your membership of the IRRV, and the views of members are of course always welcome. Adding new contributors is always a pleasure for the editorial team, and I’m pleased to report that following last month’s offer of a mouthpiece for your views, several new offerings have emerged – please keep them coming!
John Roberts IRRV (Hons)
Managing Editor
Editor’s welcome
“At the time of writing, a spell of balmy British summer weather has enveloped us, as if to remind us that all is not doom and gloom, following the government’s emergency Budget announcements. Insight, of course, through its diverse range of contributors, is quite rightly offering comment on the most critical issue that has occupied our members for some time, and we are pleased to bring readers a selection of observations from key commentators.”
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IRRV AnnuAl ConfeRenCe 2010 Harrogate
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With recent announcements, the emergency budget, and the forecasted blitz of the next comprehensive spending review, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the script was being written for the latest blockbuster disaster movie. The unique in-year budget cut of £6.2 billion was the start, with £1.6 billion of individual grant reduction with the stealth of the council tax freeze causing officers and members to instigate immediate reviews of all spending plans. The final punch into the solar plexus of local government was the deliberate enlargement of the poverty trap, with the increase in VAT and the benefit cuts. Particularly damaging were the changes to housing benefit, with adjustments to Local Housing Allowance, increases in non-dependant deductions, and the veiled threat of benefit limits for the social rented sector. The reaction of local government was predictable, with hit lists being drawn up for these initial blows, and the expected delivery of 25% savings in what could be a very bleak October. The spin and leaking of information has been such that we were all prepared for the worst case scenario, but the question I must ask is – did the Treasury team jump too quickly? Perhaps they should have stood back and looked at the waste and inefficiency in the administration of our fiscal instruments. We all understand that the deficit must be dramatically reduced, but surely the first step should have been a root and branch review of the losses in the tax systems due to fraud, avoidance and evasion, and an immediate move to properly exchange data in order to eliminate the majority of public sector fraud. The problem is that no-one really knows the extent of these losses. The National Fraud Authority has attempted to estimate the overall impact, which drew an immediate response from the fraud professionals that the figures were very much on the low side. The reality is that the
Difficult decisions will have to be made!David Magor stresses the need to get back to basics with the service delivery models of the future
deficit must be significantly overstated because of this failure to take action. One hopes that the Comprehensive Spending Review will take a realistic view of the position, and the decision makers will start the process by attacking the cheats who have been making a mockery of our tax system, and give some solace to those who are victims of PAYE.
Even if positive action is taken on the leakage in the tax system, there will still be the need to bring local authority spending under control, and to improve efficiency and reduce waste. Difficult decisions will have to be made. Searching questions will have to be asked. Careful consideration will need to be made on service delivery models. There must be properly costed decisions on shared services and outsourcing, looking beyond the attractive savings in early days of contracts. Local authorities need to get back to basics. They need to prioritise between core and optional services and ask whether services and activities are needed to fulfil legal obligations, to meet local needs, or simply because ‘we’ve always done it this way’. There must be a focus on retaining talent by identifying the critical functions, and protecting the talent who deliver those functions. New ways of doing things must be explored – never has it been more important to learn from the best.
Chief Executive’s notes
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5David Magor OBE IRRV (Hons) is Institute Chief Executive
“The final punch into the solar plexus of local government was the deliberate enlargement of the poverty trap, with the increase in VAT and the benefit cuts. ”
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News and events
Turkeys voting for Christmas… or a genuine contribution to savings? Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has unveiled his radical plan for local government to help cut ‘red tape’. Mr.Pickles invited council workers and public
sector experts to suggest CLG sponsored
statutory guidance, secondary legislation or
regulations they think should be removed so
councils can ‘get on with their job’.
Government has made it clear that it would
‘shun the bureaucratic levers of the past’
imposed on councils, and help encourage
local people to take control themselves.
All ‘Cut Red Tape’ ideas that are put forward
will be considered.
The coalition programme for government
committed to giving the public the opportunity to challenge the worst regulations and to introducing a ‘one-in,
one-out’ rule whereby no new regulation is
brought in without other regulations being cut
by a greater amount.
Mr.Pickles adds, “Too much power has
been sucked out of communities into
Westminster, eroding trust in politics, and
sapping responsibility and initiative with
stifling bureaucracy. More often than not over
legislating simply lead to bureaucrats ticking
extra sets of boxes on forms but none of the
real changes that are needed. We need a
sensible new approach that makes clear that
laws are intended to protect people, not
overwhelm them with red tape.
“Up and down the country there are
thousands of town hall workers and (public)
sector experts who want to make a real
difference in their communities. But for far
too long they have been tied up in needless
bureaucracy that has been a burden on the
important work they want to do.”
The change, which has been widely
anticipated, will raise £10 million revenue
a year, and gained full Executive, DFP
Committee and cross party support in the
Assembly. The Minister said, “Last year I
postponed this measure because the housing
market was in the doldrums. There are signs,
however, that it is beginning to move again
with more sales and lettings taking place.
“I appreciate that those that own empty
homes will be facing bills for the first time,
and I am keen to give them plenty of time to
either prepare for the new charge or get the
home in question occupied. For that reason I
am not introducing it until late next year. This
effectively means that those people who are
still holding longer term empty homes next
year will only pay for half of the rating year.
This will help ease in this measure.”
This measure will ensure, as far as
possible, that properties do not sit vacant
unnecessarily, and will help open up some opportunities for people looking for affordable housing. Mr Wilson added, “I
am keen to avoid adversely impacting on the
building industry here, which is experiencing
tough times, particularly for those involved in
speculative house building. I do not wish to
add to their difficulties, so will protect them
by providing an initial exemption period for
their unsold stock. For unsold houses already
built and those that are completed in the next
financial year, I am providing an 18 month
initial exemption. In subsequent years it will
be 12 months.”
LATEST NEWS
President’s role celebrated by Christians in Property
IRRV President Geoff Fisher is photographed with Committee colleagues from Christians in Property at the organisation’s recent AGM. The 300 strong body, which boasts
Geoff as a member, has been
established for over fifty years,
and meets on a regular basis,
incorporating members
from the whole spectrum of
property-related professions.
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News and events
Wales Conference 2010
Moira Hepworth introduces highlights from another successful Institute Conference, this time across the border in Llandridnod Wells.Clive Daniels, the new Chief Valuer for Wales,
provided an update on the 2010 rating lists.
Whilst acknowledging that defence of the 2010
list won’t start in earnest until later in the year
and once the 2005 list is resolved, Clive said
that his team had tackled very challenging
workloads and delivered on time, and he was
proud of the quality of the list. The website
had been a particular success, and over
350,000 individual hits to date had contributed
to significantly low levels of phone calls and
written queries. He acknowledged that the
revaluation had taken place at an exceptionally
difficult time. He sought an environment in
which disputed values could be dealt with by
informal processes, thus avoiding an ‘appeals
culture’. Formal appeals would of course
continue to be an option. Clive stated however
that his staff, “would not set out to defend the
indefensible, not at any cost”.
Dr Paul Thomas, Founder of DNA Wales,
provided a very thought-provoking presentation
on the merits of banning managers from the
workplace. Current hierarchical structures led
directly to 70% of talent in an organisation
being wasted, said Paul, due to unnecessary
controls and limits being placed on staff.
Managers often ended up just sorting out
messes that were a result of the very structure
they were working in! People were much better
dealing with difficult problems or a crisis if they
were given scope to do so. Empowerment
of the workforce would generate shared
benefits for both the staff and the organisation.
The fundamental key to the success of this
approach was having complete trust, leaving
workers to ‘find their own space’ to deliver
what was best. ‘Tribal’ attitudes, be they
formed around management levels, unions
or work sections, had to be broken down –
a sense of wider community would lead to
diversity of approach and innovation.
Paul also lambasted the proliferation of e-mails
in the modern office, as most of them were
unnecessary and time-wasting – productivity had
risen significantly in offices where e-mail usage
was kept to an absolute minimum.
Whilst some in the audience were pondering
how this could possibly transpose to the public
sector setting, Paul made reference to 26
companies that follow this format and have
nominated leaders in place of managers.
This included one public sector body which
had saved £750,000 in doing so... and without
job losses.
Paul ended his talk by saying, “Challenge
what you have in your organisation. Bring
people into the process – empower them.
Give them the problems and allow them to
drive the organisation forward. Allow them to
co-evolve – and don’t waste a good crisis! ”
Pat Doherty, standing in for the DWP’s Paul
Howarth, who was held up on a pre-Budget
assignment, gave a fascinating insight into
the possible long-term direction Iain Duncan
Smith might take in reforming welfare. A key
was to examine the findings of the recent
report, ‘Dynamic Benefits: towards welfare that works’ by the Centre for Social Justice,
of which the now Secretary of State for Work
and Pensions was a founder and Chairman.
The report highlighted massive disincentives
to going back to work, through high benefit
withdrawal rates. The report proposed a
merger of all 51 existing benefits into just
two credits – one to cover those out of work
and on low income, and the other to cover
additional living expenses for those on low
income. The benefits would then be paid in full
by an agency based in the DWP. The aim would
be to get 600,000 households into work.
IRRV President Geoff Fisher congratulated
David Magor and Tom Dixon on their “sterling
and stirring” presentations, on ‘the good,
the bad and the ugly’ issues affecting local
government, and the impact of revaluation.
David saw discord in the ‘soft centre’ of public
services cutting back on front-line services
without cutting back sufficiently on other
expenditure. He questioned the viability of
the coalition commitment that public sector
workers would be given the right to form
employee-owned cooperatives and bid to
take over the services they deliver. The key
challenge for the future was to reduce the
nation’s deficit whilst encouraging growth.
David exhorted central government to, ‘give
local authorities the freedom to rise to the
challenge ahead.’
North Wales President David Barnes flanked
by Geoff Fisher (left) and IRRV Senior
Vice-President Kerry Macdermott (right)
Photo courtesy of Marina Gallery Photographers of
Llandridnod Wells
IRRV AnnuAl ConfeRenCe 2010 Harrogate
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Empty homes in Northern Ireland to be rated from October 2011 Northern Ireland Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson, has announced that empty homes will be liable to the same rates as occupied homes from 1 October 2011.
Gary L Watson IRRV (Hons) is
Deputy Chief Executive of the IRRV
1. The first President of the Institute was
Mr W S Hughes (Chelsea) who served from
1882 to 1890. Mr William Pullinger (Poplar)
remains the longest serving President, with a term of office from 1913 to 1925.
He went on to become a councillor and the
Mayor of Southgate in 1935.
2. It was not until the year 2000 (118 years
after the Institute was formed) that the first female President, Barbara Culverhouse
(Plymouth) was elected. In the past 10
years, there have been three further female
Presidents – Carol Cutler (Harrow), Suzanne
Jones (Peterborough) and Julie Holden
(Burgess Hill).
3. In the first 44 years of the Institute, Presidents
either lived or worked in London. Mr Frederick
Judge (Ipswich) became the first President to be elected from outside London. Over
the years, England, Scotland and Wales have
all provided Presidents.
4. One would never hear the cry ‘there is only one John Roberts’ at Institute
events! John Roberts (Kensington)
served as President in 1906, whilst our
Managing Editor, John Roberts (Margate),
subsequently served as President in 2005
(99 years later). It should be stressed they
are not ‘one and the same’... and that Mr
Roberts did not leave Kensington to retire to
Margate – who would!
5. Our current Chief Executive, David Magor
(Oxford) and John Roberts (Kensington)
remain the only two Presidents who, after
their year of office, went on to hold the position of Secretary/Director/Chief Executive. Mr Roberts served as Secretary
from 1910 to 1913, and Mr Magor became
the Chief Executive in 2002, and remains in
that post today.
Getting to know your Institute
This month, Gary Watson has been studying the IRRV Presidential line
News and events
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numbers in 2011. If as a member or reader
you have not experienced Keele yet, put the
9th to 15th April 2011 in your diary now.
The formula for the Pre-Examination Course
remained the same as in previous years.
Classes started on the Saturday afternoon,
and continued throughout the week until
Friday afternoon. A typical day had students
in the lecture room from 9.00am to 6.30pm,
although they came up for air on Tuesday
when the afternoon was free of lessons. It
was a time to recharge batteries and prepare
for the rest of the week. By then, students
had realised a week at Keele was not going to
prove a relaxing break away from the office.
Evening entertainment included a General
Knowledge Quiz on Saturday evening,
and a repeat of ‘Deal or No Deal’ hosted
by Rossendales bailiffs. Chris Bloodworth
(aka Noel) was again ably assisted by Dave
Chapman (aka the Banker). This year, the
Banker avoided setting up in the gents toilet
(for reasons I will not go into) and after a very
tense game, the cost to the organisers was a
triumphant £13.00, compared to a disastrous
£109 last year. No doubt this saving will be fed
down to their clients!
It has become the tradition at all
Pre-Examination Courses for the week to
conclude with the Gala Dinner (again
kindly supported by Rundles) and for many,
the high... or possibly low point – the tutor
entertainment. After a distinct lack of practice,
the tutors performed a rendition of Cheryl
Cole’s hit ‘Fight for your Life’, followed by the
Keele Anthem, ‘Reach’ by S Club 7. The group
was hampered by the absence of Bob Trahern
(he with the rhythm) but the new recruits
performed admirably.
As always, nothing quite goes to plan.
Having changed in a quiet part of Keele
Hall, the group found they had been locked
in by the night porter. On being rescued,
Ian Ferguson then had to wrestle manfully
(probably not the right term) with his
stilettos that got stuck in the drains. The most
important responsibility was handed to the
Senior Vice President, Kerry Macdermott, who
had to take the CD down a flight of stairs and
hand it to the DJ. On reporting back that he
had lost the CD en route, there was a real
fear for his safety – never a good thing to
get on the wrong side of a man dressed as a
woman... particularly if he has a stiletto in
his hand.
And so the week came to an end, and
The Keele entertainment – who says Britain
hasn’t got talent?
“By then, students had realised a week at Keele was not going to prove a relaxing break away from the office”
IRRV Northern Ireland Conference
Northern Ireland Association President Colin Wilkinson (left) is pictured with Geoff Fisher
and Sammy Wilson
Early June saw a highly successful
collaboration between the Institute and the
Northern Ireland Chief Executives’ Forum,
hosting a one day event in Belfast City Hall.
The event’s keynote speaker, Minister
for Finance and Personnel, Sammy Wilson,
produced a hard-hitting presentation, albeit
often tinged with humour, warning of the need
to tackle the current economic difficulties head
on. He pointed clearly to the finalisation of
rating reviews and reforms in Northern Ireland
for the foreseeable future, urging delegates
to ensure that emphasis was now placed on
collection improvements. Mr Wilson made no
apology for the postponement of the business
rate revaluation, clearly citing the difficulties
of the current depressed commercial property
market as a major factor.
The Minister added that he wanted to
ensure that Land and Property Services
(LPS) were given a period of ‘certainty and
stability’ that should flow through to ratepayers
and district councils too. He did not shy away
from the difficulties that LPS had faced in
recent times, but the way forward, he said, was
linked to, “improved performance, improved
revenue collection, and the delivery of shared
and streamlined services”.
The Minister was ably flanked by several
other prominent speakers, including the IRRV’s
own David Magor and Pat Doherty, together
with representatives from the Northern Ireland
Chief Executives, and government experts.
Several years ago, the IRRV faced real
difficulties in maintaining a presence in
Northern Ireland, and it is pleasing to note
that those days are long since departed, with
a renewed interest and what has become a
rejuvenated presence – long may it continue!
students left Keele in the knowledge that the
examinations were now only six weeks away.
A lot has changed in the last 40 years, but
the purpose of the Pre-Examination Course
remains the same. Many friendships have
started on the courses, and many contacts
have been maintained over the years. It is
important that the course continues to deliver
‘value for money’, and one must hope it is
still going strong when it celebrates its
50th anniversary. I may even be tempted
to get those short trousers (and knees)
out again!
Gary L Watson IRRV (Hons) is IRRV Deputy
Chief Executive and Keele Course Director
•
Running the Institute
rooms... now there’s an idea for the future]...
and all meals) was £20.00 for each level.
The temptation to introduce a similar price
structure to celebrate the 40th year of the
course was resisted.
Barry subsequently took over from Cyril, and
the course was run successfully in Caerleon,
South Wales before it was moved to Keele,
Staffordshire, when the Welsh university was
unable to provide ‘on-site’ accommodation
for our students. Many practitioners today
will have very fond memories of their time at
Caerleon, and to this day their own experience
of attending a pre-examination course helps to
justify the support they give to their staff
when studying for the Institute’s examinations.
One very vivid memory I have of Caerleon
was when Barry was confronted with the
news on the eve of a course that there had
been a fire at the university and they were
unable to provide all the accommodation and
classrooms. With students and employers
seeing the course as a key part of their
revision for the examinations, alternative
arrangements were made. Students were
transported to (and from) the university each
day by coach from nearby towns, with the
traditional fight for the back seat still being as
fierce back then.
This situation was relived in May this year
when, as members will recall, there was a fire
Short trousers and stilletos at Keele
As students arrived at Keele in April for the
Spring Pre-Examination Course, they would
have been blissfully unaware that this flagship
event for the Institute was now in its 40th year.
The majority of students attending the course
this year had not entered this world back in
1971 (let alone contemplated a profession
in rating) whilst as Course Director, I was still
running around in short trousers back in 1971
(Editor’s note: Gary was a very late developer,
and did look a little out of place in the
playground at his secondary school).
The Institute will forever be indebted to
Cyril McCarthy and Barry Wheeler, who ran
the Pre-Examination Courses before I took
over as Course Director in 2005. It was Cyril
who set up and ran the first course in Penarth,
South Wales from Tuesday 13th April 1971 to
Saturday 17th April 1971. The fee (inclusive
of tuition, accommodation [in twin bedded
As the Institute’s Pre-Examination Course celebrates its 40th anniversary, Gary Watson takes a look at the highlights of an event that always sticks in the memory
at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, where the
Collection and Enforcement Conference (and
exhibition) was to be held. With the hotel
now closed and the event just three weeks
away, the conference (and exhibition) was
transferred to another venue in Harrogate, with
residential delegates moved to other hotels. If
one ever wonders why both Barry and I have a
head of white hair (and it ’s nothing to do with
volcanic issues), they may know now.
This year was the first occasion the course
had catered for students studying for the
Diploma and Honours qualification by way of
the new examination syllabus. It is anticipated
numbers will increase considerably as students
are attracted to the new qualification. At the
same time, the Institute is looking to make
greater use of the facilities at Keele during the
Pre-Examination Course. Although it runs a
number of conferences, seminars etc., during
the year, the events at Keele still attract the
largest gathering of Institute members.
In addition to the Pre-Examination Course
this year, the Miscellaneous Income Conference attracted 80 delegates, while
the training courses attracted a further 75
delegates. The Management Course was again
run, while the association representatives met
for their bi-annual meeting. In total, over 300
persons attended Keele during the week, and
plans are already being made to attract similar 8
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Member Inclusion in the Directory:The Directory will provide a 2010 snapshot of all IRRV Members including Affiliate,
Student, Vocational, Technician, Diploma,
Honours and Honorary Members.
The Directory will include key information
regarding all Members including:
Member Name•
Membership Type•
Membership Number•
Association•
Don’t worry If you would like to opt out of being included in the Directory you can.
To opt out login to the Member Area at
www.irrv.org.uk/membership and select the
‘Opt Out’ option within the ‘My Details’ area. You
will need to ‘Opt Out’ before 2nd August 2010 if
you don’t want to be included in the Directory.
Organisation Inclusion in the Directory:As well as documenting Members, the
Directory will offer at-a-glance reference to
the key players operating in the fields of the
Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation.
It will give details of established firms along
with many newcomers. The Directory will
offer a summary of each organisation’s scope
of operation and will also include key
contact details.
The Directory will contain an A-Z listing of
key suppliers in the following fields:
Collection and Enforcement •
Council Tax Collection •
Fraud and Investigation •
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit•
Non-Domestic Rates •
Rating Surveying •
Recruitment •
Software Suppliers•
Sundry Debt •
Training Providers•
Valuation•
Plus many other areas.
The Directory:Will be available electronically via the IRRV •
website 24/7 providing high impact exposure
for businesses, making it an ideal medium
for product and service promotion and
brand reinforcement.
Will be distributed electronically to over •
20,000 key contacts in all Private and
Public Sector Organisations and Local
Authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.
Will be distributed in hard copy format with •
October 2010 edition of Insight Magazine to
over 6000 Members and subscribers (the
majority of whom are key decision makers).
Will be distributed in hard copy format to all •
delegates and exhibitors at the IRRV Annual
Conference 2010.
Will have bonus distribution (electronic •
and hard copy format) at various IRRV
Conference and events throughout
2010/2011.
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Education & Membership
content of new qualifications, and it has
embarked on this process by proposing an
initial version of Revenues and Benefits units,
and rules of combination. Comments have
been received, and further work will be carried
out over the remainder of 2010.
The time limit for introduction of QCF units
and associated qualifications is 1st April 2011.
Final registrations of new candidates for the
existing NVQ, SVQ and Level 3 Certificate
must take place by this date. This means
that the normal final registration date of 1st
March 2011 can apply for L3 examinations
candidates to enter in summer 2011, and
those candidates may complete examinations
within the normal two-year period. In fact, the
Institute has until December 2013 to complete
assessment of candidates under the existing
L3 schemes. After April 2011, candidates
must register under the new unit-based
arrangements.
How the new unit-based arrangements will
work is to be determined over the next few
months. Feedback from employers, students
and all interested parties will continue to
be needed as the situation evolves. A key
proposal is that both N/SVQ-successor
qualifications and the L3 Certificate successor
will in future be based on the same units
– that is that qualifications will have the
same content, but will include different
assessment routes. N/SVQ-style assessment
will certainly continue, but it is possible that
examinations may be replaced by other modes
of assessment. We anticipate that assessment
matters will generate considerable comment!
The versions of the units and the proposed
qualifications content will be updated on the
Institute’s website at:
http://www.irrv.net/educationitem.asp?id=1190&WebArea=Examinations where the current proposals can be viewed.
Further calls for feedback will be made as
work progresses, but anyone with an interest is
welcome to comment at any point.
Learning bynumbers
Previous articles have referred to the
Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF)
for England and Wales, and the Scottish
Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
These are the frameworks to which awarding
organisations like the IRRV must conform from
2011, if they wish their qualifications to be or
remain accredited.
The Institute has consulted with the
qualifications regulators, and it is anticipated
that QCF units may be used as a basis for
its Level 3 qualifications (L3 Certificate,
Certificate Scotland, NVQ and SVQ) across
the UK. The principle of the system is that
units, consisting of a number of statements -
Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
- become the building blocks of qualifications.
Units are credit rated; that is, the size of the
unit is expressed in terms of learning time –
1 credit = 10 notional learning hours.
The Institute is required to consult with
employers and other stakeholders on the
“ The principle of the system is that units... become the building blocks of qualifications”.
Michael Hopkins brings readers up to date with Qualifications and Credit Framework changes scheduled for 2011
Michael Hopkins is the IRRV’s Head of
Professional Services. Contact him on
Student members NaMe eMployeRFabio Borrego St Edmundsbury Borough CouncilJames Janzen St Edmundsbury Borough CouncilDenton Angus Hackney London Borough CouncilKenneth Onyejekwe Islington London Borough CouncilSarah Anderson Test Valley Borough CouncilKayleigh Dodd Shropshire CouncilJacqueline Frid Stafford Borough CouncilAmanda Poyner Shropshire Council
Technician members NaMe eMployeRVictoria Thompson Cambridge City CouncilPatricia Bunting Derbyshire Dales District CouncilLucy Hogston East Northamptonshire District CouncilEdward Kennedy Charnwood Borough CouncilVictoria Waller East Lindsey District CouncilTeresa Phelan Trafford Metropolitan Borough CouncilJames Sullivan Knowsley Metropolitan Borough CouncilLouise Prenton Lewisham London Borough CouncilSharon Snaith Gateshead Metropolitan Borough CouncilKeith Teasdale Northumberland County CouncilWendy Cameron Perth & Kinross CouncilJacqueline MacKay Dumfries & Galloway CouncilDavid Marr Midlothian CouncilDavid Niblo Falkirk CouncilKerry Robertson Aberdeen City CouncilSandra Smith Fife CouncilGareth Wilks Glasgow City CouncilCaroline Sims Dover District CouncilMarie Holmes Cornwall CouncilAdam License Sheffield City Council
Honours members NaMe eMployeRNicola Storey Allsop LLP
Affiliate members NaMe eMployeRFrank Lamb Liverpool Direct Limited
N/SVQ members NaMe eMployeRSian Thomas Gloucester City CouncilAngela Chander Shepway District CouncilRachel Pain Shepway District CouncilCarol Forber Waverley Borough Council
New members
IRRV Member and Organisation Directory The Institute will be launching a Member
and Organisation Directory to coincide with the IRRV Annual Conference 2010
RememberIt is important for Members to keep their contact details up to date. To update your details online login to the Member Area at www.irrv.org.uk/membership (if you don’t have a Username and Password for the area you can request it by clicking on the ‘Forgotten your Password’ link).
All Members will automatically be included in the Directory for FREE
(unless they Opt Out by 2nd August 2010).
Organisations can be included in the Directory at the rate of £250 plus VAT. The organisation listing includes the following:
logo and 100 words of text in the •Company section of the DirectoryInclusion of key contact information •(including Website, email and contact Telephone number)Inclusion on the Directory Index•entry in Directory is highlighted in •a shaded box
Advertisingyou can also maximise your marketing investment by advertising in the IRRV Member and organisation Directory.
For further details on how to advertise please call the advertising hotline on:
0207 691 8996
Education & Membership
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IRRV celebrates the Valuation Office Agency centenary in style
Photos courtesy of VOA Head of Profession,
Paul Sanderson
Congratulations!Institute President Geoff Fisher was delighted to host a joint IRRV/VOA lunch at the Whitechapel Gallery Restaurant in June. The VOA was congratulated on their centenary, and the occasion was marked
with a presentation to VOA Chief Executive, Penny Ciniewicz. The celebration
was of particular note for Geoff, who was District Valuer and Valuation Officer in
London for 21 years and who, having joined the VO from school as a Valuation
Clerk, was selected for Cadet Valuer training to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor.
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Lands Tribunal fees and revaluation ‘fallout’ are just two of the key issues currently facing Roger Messenger’s Valuation Faculty Board
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Roger Messenger BSc (Est Man) FRICS
IRRV (Hons) MCIArb is Chairman of the
Valuation Faculty Board, and Junior
Vice-President of the Institute
used and to ensure comprehensiveness and
fairness. Additionally, it sought the continued
acceptance of valuations by ratepayers,
through greater awareness, accessibility
and understanding.
The revaluation 2010 sub-programme sought
to build on the ‘Right First Time’ theme and the
greatly enhanced transparency of information
and process in the 2005 revaluation.
The VOA has welcomed feedback on all
aspects of the revaluation process, including
how it deployed its communication strategy,
how well it improved its property database,
and its methods of obtaining accurate and up
to date rental, trade or cost information upon
which to base valuations. The Agency has
also sought to improve both the number of
valuations that are both validated at a much
earlier stage in the process, and which are
‘right first time’, the arrangements for notifying
ratepayers of their draft valuations, helping
them to understand their likely rates bill, and
dealing with the subsequent enquiries.
Billing authorities are of course an important
element in the process, and the Agency also
sought to improve the revaluation process for
them, by reducing the level of billing authority/
ratepayer contact through the communications
strategy and providing specific online
information and guidance for staff, to raise
awareness and assist in handling queries.
Importantly it also introduced automated
processes that maintain consistency in the
basis of entry in the 2010 and 2005 rating lists
(dual list maintenance).
The revaluation project was not without its
difficulties, and at this stage it is impossible
to judge how successful the outcomes have
been. But the evaluation project is about examining the processes that were put in
place to deliver the revaluation successfully.
I would hope that the VOA will have received
an encouraging number of responses
that highlight how, in many respects, the
revaluation process was a job well done.
Right first time?matters under various statutory provisions.
The transfer of the existing LT rules was
always meant as a provisional measure. The
TPC’s guiding aim is to have a common set of
rules, applying to all chambers, for the Upper
Tribunal. However, it has recognised that in
developing rules for the Lands Chamber, the
number of additional, specific provisions that
would be needed might lead to user friendly
rules flying out the window. So a separate set
of draft rules for the Lands Chamber has been
produced. The rules have, however, been
drafted to correspond closely to the rules that
apply in the other Upper Tribunal chambers,
and to maintain consistency wherever possible.
Also, they have been drafted so as to enable
existing procedures, which have been shown
to have worked satisfactorily, to be retained.
I will report on the Institute’s response to
this in a later issue.
The Valuation Office Agency has recently
commenced an evaluation review of the
2010 NDR revaluation. It is incumbent on the
Agency to deliver the revaluation on time,
and within budget, to the satisfaction of its
policy and funding clients – Communities
and Local Government (CLG) in England and
the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in
Wales. It very competently met its statutory
requirements, but at the same time it sought
to meet customer’s and client’s requirements,
further improve and streamline the approach
My article in May Insight focused on the
consultation about Lands Tribunal fees. Now
I draw your attention to another LT-related
document – this time the recent consultation
on a new set of draft rules for the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). The deadline for
views was 20th July, and at the time of writing
the Valuation Faculty Board had yet to finalise
its response. However, the key points are
worth looking at.
The Tribunal Procedure Committee
(TPC) has the duty to make rules governing
the practice and procedure in the First–tier
Tribunal and Upper Tribunal created by the
Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
The TPC strives to make the rules as simple
and streamlined as possible; to enable
tribunals to continue to operate tried and
tested procedures which have been shown
to work well and to adopt common rules
across tribunals wherever possible, so that
rules specific to a chamber or a tribunal are
permitted only where there is a clear and
demonstrated need for them.
The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) was
created after the transfer of the Lands Tribunal
into the unified structure in June 2009. At
the time of the transfer the existing rules
continued in force, albeit under a new title. The
TPC is now reviewing the rules to make them
consistent with other Upper Tribunal rules.
The Lands Chamber has a wide range of
functions. Apart from its appellate functions
in relation to Valuation Tribunals, Leasehold
Valuation Tribunals, and Residential Property
Tribunals, it determines disputed compensation
claims in compulsory purchase and other types
of land compensation cases, applications to
change restrictive covenants affecting land,
contested blight notices, and many other
“The VOA has welcomed feedback on all aspects of the revaluation process, including how it deployed its communication strategy”
FAculTy BOARd updATe VAluATION MATTeRS
1. Richard Guy and VO Steve Wright
2. DVS Andy Holdsworth and Geoff Fisher
3. Gordon Heath and David Magor
4. Tom Dixon and the VOA’s Paul Sanderson
The presentation
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SOCIAL INCLUSION
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Now is the time to make contact with your local credit union, for the benefit of your customers and your community, urges Colin Holden
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Colin C Holden IRRV (Hons) is
General Manager of East Sussex
Credit Union. Contact him on
banks refuse credit, or their overdraft reaches
maximum, then they are in trouble. The options
then become very limited to get them out of
the situation. Latest available statistics show that
over 50% of social fund loans are now being
refused. People can get a loan secured on their
home, which is low cost, but they are putting
it at risk. They could go to one of these ‘instant
loan’ companies advertising on the television
and pay normally over 2000% interest! They
could go to a doorstep lender at over 200%
interest, or they could go to a local loan shark at
many thousand percent interest, with associated
threats and intimidation. It is therefore important
that they talk to their credit union, which will
loan them money at between 12% and 26%
and offer money management advice as well.
This is the reason why councils need to
activity promote their local credit union. At
East Sussex Credit Union, we have saved our
members around £236,000 in the last year
against other high cost lenders. This means
that £236,000 has been fed back into the
local economy by our members. In addition,
every loan also has a savings element, which
becomes available to the member when the
loan matures, providing them a comfort zone for
the future.
So, dealing with financial inclusion has a
real economic benefit. In another example,
Community Finance Solutions has estimated
that the various financial inclusion initiatives in
Leeds, such as assisting the credit union and
promoting better money management, have
generated an additional £26m of disposable
income a year. Of this, it is estimated that
£22m was spent locally, but the overall effect
was to stimulate the economy by £28m a year.
Promote financial inclusion – it makes sense!
Local authorities currently have an opportunity
to create a really worthwhile strategy around
tackling financial exclusion. Over the last couple
of years there have been several reports from
the Audit Commission, the LGA, the NLGN, and
the Treasury, all with the same theme.
No organisation can do this alone, and councils
should take the lead in creating a co-ordinated
approach to financial exclusion.
However, only a minority of authorities have had
the will to do something, as it is not currently
part of the Local Area Agreement Indicator set.
Despite a lack of funds, there are not many
local authority projects that will bring as great a
rate of return than spending money on financial
inclusion. I therefore believe that revenue
practitioners can no longer work in isolation
and expect their debts to be paid come what
may. In future they need to be actively involved
in anti-poverty work, because they are only
one element of a much bigger picture, both for
individuals and the area as whole, and have a
huge amount of practical experience to offer.
It is important to also realise that we are not
just talking about those people who are on
benefits here. My credit union recently took
part in a survey by the Association of Credit
Unions which showed that 73% of credit unions
had an increase in loans, of which half were
from members on medium or high incomes.
Once people hit that moment where the
By the time you read this, the Budget will have
been digested and commented on by plenty
more eminent than me. Most people will see
their disposable income reduce, and for benefit
claimants the real consequences are yet to really
be felt. In the future, we will also no doubt have
to deal with inflation (fuelled partly by rising VAT
next year) and increasing interest rates.
What sometimes is forgotten is that the rising
prices that cause inflation will have a much
bigger impact on those in our community who
are lower paid, and almost inevitably they will
begin to fall into poverty faster than the better
off. Although government has a role to play
by skewing tax rises so that they fall harder
on higher income groups, they will have little
control over rising prices in the short term,
which will cause financially excluded and
fragile groups to suffer more than those with
higher incomes. Normally, government would
partly compensate for this for those people on
benefits by targeted rises in various types of
benefit, but with them battling to stop a ‘double
dip recession’, this is not going to happen.
Local government has a role to play here. The
financially excluded look for help locally rather
than nationally, and it is no longer enough to
just think the only organisation that can help is
the CAB. In the future, local authorities need to
develop partnerships with a range of services
that will be able to help the financially excluded
in their own areas. The NLGN in its recent
publication ‘Councils and Community Banking’
has reported that for every pound spent in
tackling financial exclusion by local authorities,
eight pounds are returned to the local economy.
As the improvements to the local economy will
eventually fund local jobs, there is an obvious
return here.
BENEFITS BULLETIN
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Dave Hendy has been putting together some handy tips to overcome the current round of spending cuts
Benefits Bulletin is produced by
David Hendy IRRV (Hons)
there for long. Remember that improving
your CV with your employer paying is almost
unheard of in the private sector, and don’t
forget it makes you a more valuable asset
too. Perhaps those trips to London for training
courses, or the coast for conferences, may
become less frequent, but again it doesn’t
have to be all or nothing – e-learning and
e-conferencing can supplement them. And
getting a trainer to come to you and sharing
costs with your neighbours brings the total
cost down to much more manageable levels;
Get the most out of the people you do have
working in your teams – through effective
performance monitoring and performance
policies that don’t just talk tough, they act
tough, by helping managers get rid of dead
wood and bring the standards of under-
performers safely and effectively up to at least
average performance rates, and ideally even
better levels.
I believe that history will show us doing a
very difficult job in benefits extremely well,
and that even when we knew change was
about to happen, we didn’t simply give up
– we continued trying to deliver to the best
standards we possibly could.
Like a bridge over troubled water...
the system, without building something to
replace it first. Millions of customers needing
billions of pounds in help would mean serious
discussions with experts like us, and software
suppliers, before HB could just stop;
Would it really matter whether our paymasters
are local government, central government, or
XYZ another Ltd? I dare say your bank manager
doesn’t really care either;
So, if we can take some of the stress out of
the equation, it really should be ‘business
as usual’. Morale and motivation may need
topping up, though. Perhaps it ’s time for that
stress busting session, a team night out, or a
barbeque (that will mean rain of course!). Just
make sure that nobody raids the HB budget for
these events, as it ’s likely to need every penny
just to pay the wage bill;
Talking of the wage bill, tough times means
tough decisions about replacing staff who
leave, any overtime working and gradings –
not to mention the significant additional costs
incurred by temporary staffing. Is it time to
suggest we can all do a little more for no extra
money, to help us keep our services?
And what of the training budgets, or lack of
them, typically? Well, if you can get that offer
of post entry training, grasp it eagerly with
both hands, as it may not be
No, it ’s OK – just because I’m Welsh doesn’t
mean I have to sing, although Simon Cowell
may have another opinion!
Like me, you may be sat at your desk at the
time of writing with the threat of the mini/
maxi spending cuts budget about to take place
on the 22 June, thinking:
Will I have a job next week... will HB •
be abolished?
Will the cuts to council finances mean that •
staffing budgets (the biggest bit!) also mean
job losses?
As we work in a customer-facing •
environment, will our roles be safe?
Could HMRC, or anyone else, do our HB work?•
And you might be thinking, “If I knew the
lottery numbers that would be drawn next,
then all this maybe wouldn’t matter! ”
In a nutshell, what I am trying to say is that
it ’s a difficult time for managers and staff alike,
as there are so many uncertainties, and this
stress makes all our lives more difficult than
normal. Whilst we wait and ponder, here are
some useful and practical steps we can be
considering that are worthwhile.
Keeping our work as up to date as possible –
at least it means if we are out of a job our own
claim hopefully won’t hit a backlog! But also, if
we can still deliver good quality services to our
customers, then if there comes a time when
they are asked, where would they want to get
their HB from? They will still choose us. Not
to mention other logical financial matters, like
keeping up to date with benefit changes and
avoiding overpayments and subsidy losses to
the council through LA error or administrative
delay;
Trying not to assume the worst case scenario
– In reality HB is a public service that is vital
to enable people to have somewhere to live.
Along with food, water and clothing, it ’s part
of our most basic needs. As a result, it ’s
simply not that easy to just scrap
“there are not many local authority projects that will bring as great a rate of return than spending money on financial inclusion”
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Viva España!
IRRV International
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Claire Howard – Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council
Our first day was spent as an introduction,
with presentations giving us a greater
understanding of each others’ roles as tax
collectors and customer service providers.
The SUMA representatives were fantastic in
the way they explained what they do and how
they do it – it was easy to understand and was
interesting throughout. The first day proved to
be a good foundation to follow on from.
Day two was set up to illustrate the
technology and tools that are used to assist
SUMA in their collection of taxes. Their key
principles, applied when using technology, are:
Efficiency principles – reducing the ‘life time’ •
of tax, improving efficiency and reducing
errors, increasing the ability to ‘multi-task’,
facilitating payments and procedures for
customers, and;
Quality principles – data accuracy, •
simplification and re-engineering,
the centralised comprehensive database,
cost effectiveness. This is made easier by
systems being constructed ‘in house’, and
therefore custom built.
After a run through of the systems used at
SUMA, groups were shown the customer
service areas including call centres, back
office/front office and the Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) tools used. In
particular I found the GIS tools to be far
more comprehensive than those used in
our council back in the UK – SUMA were far
better equipped to identify changes made
to properties/land that they may not have
previously been made aware of. The customer
service appeared to be very efficient, with
customers seen very quickly. Another
substantial difference is that customers
are expected to provide the deeds to the
house when registering a property, ensuring
information is accurate.
On the third day, after a visit to a local
municipality, we went on to a meeting
with some ‘ex-pats’ where we had an open
discussion to see how British people that have
taken up residence in Spain have found the
local taxation process. Residents appeared to
be very happy with the system, and actually
preferred it to the UK alternative! In the
afternoon we returned to the SUMA offices
and had an interactive session on areas such
as ‘helping customers in a recession’ and
‘working conditions and pay’. These interactive
sessions proved very successful and resulted
in some good ideas to take back with us.
Working conditions and pay can be a very
contentious issue, so it was interesting to see
such different approaches.
On the fourth and final day we were split
into groups to visit branches of SUMA offices
in Torrevieja, Guardamar and Elda. My group
visited Guardamar where we observed
processes we had learnt over the previous
days in action. This included registering a new
property/owner, and visiting the bank to freeze
a debtor’s bank account – unfortunately there
were no funds available! On returning to our
Alicante base in the afternoon we summarised
the four days, with lessons learned from the
experience. Some of the major positives our
council found for SUMA were:
Good facilities for staff;•
Comprehensive performance related pay, •
which encourages excellence;
Staff are expected to carry out exams from •
diploma level and above;
Expert in-house IT staff (i.e, writing their own •
in-house programmes);
A ‘no nonsense’ approach to debt recovery •
– customers are provided with all the
information to begin with, and are expected
to pay regardless of other issues;
Customers are seen promptly as a result of •
an ‘invisible’ front/back office split.
And of course at the end of each day we were
given a Spanish lesson, which proved very
useful, as we were able to greet people in
Spanish by day two... well, some of us were,
at least!
Coming from a council tax background
I found this experience very rewarding. It
is always extremely useful to interact with
other local authorities in order to improve
ways of working, but add in to that SUMA’s
international approach, and we all returned
with a new insight into collecting tax.
This month’s international focus falls on a Leonardo da Vinci funded ‘mobility’ project, which sees the IRRV join long standing Spanish colleagues, SUMA, to share expertise in the area of customer service. John Roberts reports
When your boss comes along and asks if you
would like to take part in a week long visit to
learn more about customer service provision
in Alicante, Spain, paid for by European
funding through the Leonardo da Vinci training
programme, a quick ‘yes, please’ may seem
obvious. But, when this happened to three
UK IRRV customer service award winning local
authorities, there was bound to be a catch...
and the catch was a good deal of hard work
thrown in! The project was ably hosted by
SUMA, the Alicante provincial government
body responsible for the collection and
management of municipal taxes – another
former IRRV award winner.
Led by Institute Past President Bob Trahern,
the project seeks to disseminate in a number
of ways the sharing of a variety of conclusions
and recommendations throughout Europe,
for the benefit of all local authority service
providers. Staff from the London Borough of
Harrow, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough
Council, and North Warwickshire Borough
Council, gathered in Alicante in two separate
weeks to carry out a number of study visits
and office-based workshops, sharing their
best practice in respect of local authority
administration.
Insight brings you a snapshot of the initial
findings, through of eyes of three of the
participants. We will be following the
project’s progress, as the final conclusions
and recommendations unfold.
John Roberts IRRV (Hons) is an Institute
Past President and Managing Editor of
IRRV magazines
Lauren Farmer – North Warwickshire Borough Council
On the first day we walked down to the SUMA
offices, only a few minutes walk from our
hotel. We were introduced to some of their
staff, and the Executive Director introduced
the organisation to us. The three UK councils
each gave a presentation on their authority
and its work. At the end of the day we had the
first of a series of Spanish lessons prepared
by Ramon Andarias of SUMA – this was great
fun, as well as of great interest and relevance
to our visit.
During the first day I learnt that SUMA is
a public body which collects taxes on behalf
of almost all the 141 municipalities in the
Valencian region. The taxes collected are the
property tax, refuse collection tax, vehicle tax,
business tax and a tax on the increase in value
of urban land. SUMA have to rely on Cadastre
(the Spanish equivalent of the Valuation
Office Agency) to value properties for taxation
purposes, and the valuation can on occasions
take up to three or four years, meaning that
the owner of the property will be issued with
a large bill. It was also interesting to note that
SUMA only bill the owner of the property,
and not the tenant.
On the second day, we looked at SUMA’s
IT system. In a lot of ways it is similar to the
systems that we use in the UK, but I found it
very interesting that they had links to photos
of every property that tax is collected for. The
group then spilt up, some going to the Alicante
contact centre, and some to the ‘back office’
where a staff member took calls from ‘ex-pats’
who had queries. We also examined the SUMA
website, which displays a lot of information for
English residents.
Later in the morning we met up at the
contact centre, where we observed staff
dealing with customers. During busy periods
members of the public are not kept waiting,
with members of staff from the back office
dealing with customers, and customers
occasionally entering the back office to be
seen. The staff do not wear a uniform or name
badges, which I felt in busy periods could
prove difficult to distinguish whether a person
is a customer or a member of staff. I also
felt that it could occasionally be difficult for
back office staff to concentrate on what they
are doing when they have to stop and help
customers directly.
In the afternoon we had an interactive
session discussing direct debit payment and
how it is operated and promoted by SUMA.
On the third day we travelled to Rojales
town hall, where we were greeted by the
tourism councillor (a German national with
Lauren proudly displays her basic
Spanish certificate
Ramon Andarias of SUMA presents
Claire’s certificate
perfect English!) who showed us around.
I learnt here there is no equivalent of our
benefit system in Spain for people that cannot
afford to pay their rent or need help to pay
their taxes. We also met the local Mayor and
exchanged gifts.
On the final day we split up into three
groups, and I travelled to an office at
Guardamar, and sat with a lady on reception
who showed the creation of new properties
and the information needed to do this. I
was impressed with what was an efficient
operation. I noticed again that it was difficult
to distinguish between the customers and the
SUMA staff, though! We then went to a bank,
where it was very interesting to see how staff
have permission to check the balance on a
customer’s bank account, redeeming money if
taxes are owed.
The visit to Alicante was hard work, but very
enjoyable, and it was an amazing opportunity
to have the chance to see how taxes are
collected in a different country. There are
some differences in how our respective
organisations do things (for example, we only
have one bill for council tax whereas SUMA
divide the elements of tax and issue separate
bills, which may create more work), but overall
I feel that SUMA operate very efficiently, and
their processes are very effective.
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Daya Vieja customer feedback sessionThe municipality of Daya Vieja is one of the
smallest in the Alicante region, and again
the ‘ex-pat’ population is significantly high.
The SUMA team and Daya Vieja council
hosted a meeting to which members of the
local community had been invited, to give
their views on the service of SUMA. Around
thirty people attended. The principal views
expressed were as follows:
The overall understanding of the purpose of •
SUMA, and the organisation’s effectiveness,
was very high, with almost universal approval in
terms of communication and speed of service;
It was clear that the main communication •
issues involved other public authorities,
in particular the utility and postal services,
which did not provide office facilities in the
immediate vicinity;
Attendees had used the local SUMA offices, •
were fully conversant with the requirements
for bill payment (dates, etc.), and were
satisfied that if they needed help, they had
somewhere to go;
Some attendees had also used the English-•
speaking department within SUMA.
IRRV International
John Roberts reports on two highly participative meetings organised by SUMA during the project’s ‘off site’ visits
Visit to El Campello English Speaking ClubThe meeting, organised by SUMA, was
offered as an opportunity to give the ‘ex-pat’
community in El Campello the chance to
question SUMA in respect of issues surrounding
the property tax and other services offered
by their municipality. Around twenty-five local
residents attended, together with officers from
SUMA, and the project team from the UK.
The following issues were raised:
SUMA’s policy of insisting on immediate •
payment of ‘late bills’, for example when
a property is billed for the first time for
property tax. Attendees felt that more time
to pay should be allowed, particularly where
more than one year’s tax is involved;
Questions were raised about the process of •
appealing against bills received – attendees
did not seem to be aware of whether such
an opportunity existed, and how they could
go about it;
The infrequent revaluation of property (ten •
year intervals) was raised, particularly by
some residents who had been subjected
to a significant increase in property value
upon revaluation, requiring a corresponding
significant increase in future bills;
Attendees felt that the information given to •
them in respect of local taxes by solicitors,
notary, etc., at the time of purchase was limited;
Some attendees suggested that the bills •
should be produced in their native language
in addition to Spanish, although this
suggestion was not universally supported.
The meeting tended to be influenced by a
small number of individuals whose view and
experience was not necessarily representative
of the whole group, but key issues such as
the possibility of spreading large bills over a
period of time, the increased availability of
information at property purchase stage, and
the infrequent valuation issue, were flagged
as important. The latter issue, though, is not
within the remit of SUMA, as it falls within the
central cadastral assessment authority. 25
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The group at work in SUMA’s Alicante base
The group gather after a challenging meeting
with the ex-pats
Conclusions and recommendations
This report concentrates on the visits made to
external offices, but these observations also
incorporate the remainder of the study period,
which included time spent in SUMA’s main
Alicante office.
Conclusions of a positive nature are as follows:
Customers are generally very satisfied with •
the service provided by SUMA, in terms of
communication and accessibility;
Systems are impressively integrated, with •
very effective use of photographic evidence,
property databases and ‘planning’ information;
Offices have a common ‘branding’, making •
them easily recognisable, and those viewed
were modern, open and airy, with technology
to the fore;
Offices were genuine ‘one stop shops’, •
with all SUMA services being offered across
the province;
Staff were clearly well-trained in both systems •
and language skills, and it was clear that they
were committed to the organisation.
Recommendations for improvement are
centred around:
The SUMA message (key payment dates, •
etc) could be disseminated further through
use of free and paying ‘ex-pat’ newspapers
and magazines;
The SUMA message could also be conveyed •
to local solicitors and the notary’s office, in
respect of property transactions for foreign
residents/non-residents;
There is little evidence of liaison with (or •
existence of) advice agencies, and it may
well be helpful in the current economic
climate for SUMA to consider this option;
Consideration should be given to further •
options of spreading payment over a longer
period, particularly when large initial bills are
concerned. Consideration could also be made
to creating a ‘payment on account’ facility;
A clearer explanation of the division of •
responsibility between the national cadastral
agency and the billing/collection process
would be useful.
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COUNCIL TAX ARREARS?
ENFORCEMENT AT ITS BEST.
“tough times
ahead”
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The future of local government
be radically addressed, it also allows those in
power to exercise a free hand to be as brutal
as they wish in making cuts, because the
public understand that ‘there is no money’.
While the bulk of the recently announced
public sector cuts will fall upon central
government and ‘non-essential activities’, local
government will also feel the financial pain, if
not immediately it will become more apparent
as a consequence of the forthcoming budget
and spending review.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has spelt
out his plans to cut £6bn in spending, saying
that action needs to be taken now to start
rectifying the UK’s dire finances.
Budgets for IT, property, advertising and
recruitment are all part of the cuts, and it ’s
clear that some non-productive quangos
will be abolished, and these are the known
headline casualties. However, we should
expect further and deeper austerity measures
during the forthcoming budget and the
spending review later in the year.
Much of what has been proposed is already
general knowledge and in some ways should
not have come as too much of a surprise
to us. However, as we know with all such
budgetary announcements, the devil is very
much in the detail, and it ’s the fine print that
often has the biggest impact, and that’s what
we will need to be reading.
As well as some significant adjustments
The word onthe street...
The word on the street is that we’re in for a
real tough time. It ’s amazing that in the space
of a couple of weeks just how quickly the
whole political landscape within the United
Kingdom has changed to one that we had
not really envisaged a fortnight before the
General Election.
Whilst we were anticipating some form of
coalition government, few of us would have
predicted what has now emerged, which is
a much deeper and consensual governing
arrangement between the Conservatives and
Liberal Democrats.
As leader of his party, and despite his ‘star
turn’ during the first leaders’ televised debates,
Nick Clegg got less votes in this election than
Charles Kennedy did in the last election.
The Liberal Democrats’ overall results in this
most recent election were disappointing in
comparison to their previous results in 2005,
yet Nick Clegg is now the Deputy Prime
Minister and his party are part of the
current government.
What a difference a couple of weeks make.
Losing does not necessarily mean you lost!
As a consequence of the unforeseen
merging of two political parties with somewhat
differing political, social, fiscal and ideological
views of the two protagonists (Conservative
and Liberal Democrats), we are all of a
sudden in unfamiliar territory, not quite able to
second-guess the direction of travel.
This coalition of improbable bedfellows
has certainly cultivated an air of unease and
uncertainty, as well as an element of real
excitement. It has also signalled the end of
the spending spree, and all of a sudden life
in local government is going to get that much
tougher, and we had all better get use to it!
When you’re left a note by the previous
incumbent of the Treasury saying, “Dear Chief
Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind
regards - and good luck! ”, not only does it
give a clear indication that we’re in the mists
of a very serious financial crisis that has to
“Self-reliance and the work ethic are about to replace the welfare dependency culture that to some is, and has been
for some time, contributing to our recent problems”.
In the first of a two-part series, John Frost warns of tough times ahead as the austerity measures scheduled for local government begin to bite
John Frost is Head of Revenue & Benefit
Services with Cambridge City Council
“all of a sudden life in local government is going to get that much tougher, and we had all better get use to it!”
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to the tax system, I predict that significant
changes are going to be made to the welfare
benefits system, to include changes to the
current Tax Credits system, entitlement to
Child Benefit, and a range of other benefits
and grants, with the emphasis swinging very
much towards tougher means testing, as well
as much stricter conditions being placed on
initial entitlement and continued entitlement.
Financial austerity will take precedence
over welfare liberality. Self-reliance and
the work ethic are about to replace the
welfare dependency culture that to some is,
and has been for some time, contributing to
our recent problems.
We know that the amount of benefit paid to
the individual claimant is very much controlled
via central government. However, some of the
costs associated with administering the system
are within the control of local authorities, and
it is here that further savings will be expected
to be made, and we who are responsible
for administering housing and council tax
benefits will be under considerable pressure
to make even more savings towards the cost
of administering the system, while maintaining
our high levels of performance.
While the coalition government may have
serious ambitions to simplify the overall
benefit system, I would suggest that that’s very
much a long-term objective. The next couple
of years will be about cutting back on the
costs of administering the system, as well as
reducing the overall welfare bill. Iain Duncan
Smith, who has already stated that the current
welfare system is ‘bust’, has clearly indicated
that he intends to revolutionise the system.
So yet again change is on the way.
So, as well as dealing with the impending
changes and no doubt their consequences, we
are also in the business of having to tighten
our financial belts, so no real change there.
However, the need to tighten our belts is a
bit of an understatement. If we are to survive
the financial restraint that is about to be
imposed upon us, we’re all going to have to do
more than just tighten our belts. We’re going
to have to start thinking outside the so-called
‘public sector box’.
The reality is we’re going to have to think
how we can do a lot more for a lot less for a lot
longer. I suspect that the recently announced
cuts are just the beginning of a more deep,
prolonged and painful series of monetary
constraints aimed at local government.
While many within the public sector will
rightly feel aggrieved that we are being asked
to pay for private sector greed and financial
mismanagement, we should be under no
illusion of the seriousness of the situation that
we’re in, and we need to be absolutely clear
that the actions to be taken by government
will have profound consequences for us all.
So what does that mean? Well, in my view,
we need to gather our thoughts and think
seriously about how we are going to contribute
to the welfare change agenda while making
significant business efficiencies and savings on
the way.
There is no time for ‘head in the sand’
views. This time it ’s serious, and we need to
be seen as part of the solution and not an
expensive extension of the overall problem.
The new government has already made
an early start, and it intends to make a real
impact. We need to start making an immediate
impact. In fact, we should have already
started the process. To make an immediate
and profound impact and difference to our
output, costs and overall efficiency, we should
concentrate our minds and efforts on getting
our underlying in-house business processes
and ICT infrastructures working in unison to
their full capacity.
Our efforts should be very much focused
on getting our house in order so that when
change does comes... and it will come... we
are well placed and well prepared in terms
of our ICT infrastructure, staffing skills, work
processes and management to support the
change agenda. We should forget about any
further work associated with outsourcing,
partnership working, merging or sharing of
services, joint working arrangements and all
that fluffy joined up stuff.
We all know that in reality it ’s not going to
save us a penny. It may in fact cost us more
than it will ever truly deliver in savings or
overall efficiencies, and time has run out on us.
More to the point, in the current climate
we’re not going to have the time or resources
to spend on endless consultation and
benchmarking to eventually agree that there’s
nothing to be gained by amalgamating services
or a particular function.
In my view, there are significant efficiencies to
be gained by all of us adopting ‘smarter’ use of
our internal systems, thus improving upon our
overall output. It is output, flexibility, adaptability
and performance that will win the day.
Output is about customer expectation and
service delivery. It is about having pride in our
work, in our end product and everyone buying
into its delivery and success. It is what we do
best at a local level. Flexibility is about having
support systems, work processes and internal
procedures in place that are robust, reliable
and reactionary in their nature and to our
needs. It is what works best for us.
In my next article, I will look at how revenue
and benefits services in particular should react
to the inevitable changes faced.
“there
isno
money”
End
Platinum aw
ard fo
r loca
l prim
ary sc
hool
NEWS
EVENTSSERVICES
INFO
CONTACT US
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Technology
products ‘open source’, so that developers
can create apps to run on their systems.
These apps range from the ability to make a
light sabre noise when you shake the phone,
to apps used by doctors when prescribing
medicines or diagnosing patients. This has
led to a term, ‘There’s an app for that’ becoming commonplace.
Warwickshire App on the Apple App StoreMany of these apps are free or cost very
little – iPhones have their own applications
obtained through the Apple App Store and
Android applications are available from the
Android Marketplace.
The growth of apps available is unparalleled.
In June 2008 there were just 200 apps for the
iPhone, but by April 2010 this has grown to over
200,000, with over 4 billion downloads to date.
So what’s this got to do with local
authorities? Like any technology, apps are not
just for the private sector or leisure industries.
Apps can be used to share or provide
information to citizens.
The iPhone AppOne authority, Warwickshire County Council, appears to be taking the lead, and
has already developed an application for the
iPhone, iPad and iTouch. It is available from
the iPhone app store. It was released by Apple
on their apps store on Christmas Eve 2009.
Clicking on the app will display all the latest
news for Warwickshire County Council. There
are several menu items that can be selected:
News•
Events•
Services •
Info•
Contact Us•
The news item is excellent, and while you
wouldn’t want to read every item, a quick skim
read can keep you up to date with the local news.
There’s an app for that!
Unless you have been living deep in the
Amazonian rain forest for the last few
years you will be aware that the type and
use of mobile phones has been changing
dramatically. Only a few years ago mobile
phones would only be used to make calls,
together with the odd text or SMS. Today,
smartphone technology is becoming
the norm. As such, should this be a mode
of communication that authorities need to
consider when interacting with their citizens?
A smartphone is a mobile phone offering
advanced capabilities, often with PC-like
functionality. There is no industry standard
definition of a smartphone. For some, a
smartphone is a phone that runs complete
operating system software providing a
standardised interface and platform for
application developers. For others, a
smartphone is simply a phone with advanced
features like e-mail, internet and e-book reader
capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard. In
other words, it is a miniature computer that
has phone capability.
Smartphone usage in the UK is growing
phenomenally, at a much greater rate than in
the rest of Europe, with the number of users
rising from 6.5 million in January 2009 to over
11 million in January 2010. Smartphones have
generally been seen as luxury devices that
come with big price tags and high monthly
phone operator tariffs, yet the largest segment
of the market and the one demonstrating
greatest momentum is actually the low to mid
payment tariffs, or ‘pay as you go’, meaning
their use is available to everyone. As an access
channel for citizens to interact with their local
authority, they cannot be ignored.
Smartphones do not just act as a telephone
or email device. Increasingly they are used
for running applications or apps. Apps are
pieces of software developed by individuals
or companies to run on smartphones. Apple,
the iPhone maker, and Google, the android
operating system developer, have made their
“The aim is to stimulate engagement and collaboration in the development of websites, applications and services to benefit citizens and visitors to the area”.
Simon Bailey opens readers’ eyes to the use of mobile technology and proclaims that the future is bright
Simon Bailey IRRV (Hons) is a
Director of ISCAS: contact him on
[email protected] (www.iscas.co.uk). 25
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Want to know what’s going on in your local
area? Then the events area of the app will
display items such as book readings in local
libraries to half term activities for kids.
By far the most useful functionality of the
app is within the services menu. From here
you can get information on the following:
One Stop shops •
Country Parks•
Recycling centres •
Libraries and Museums •
By selecting one of the one stop shops listed,
the details of the one stop shop are displayed,
with the address, telephone number and a
map of the locality showing the exact position
of offices shown. By far one of the most
interesting uses of the Warwickshire app is the
use of location software within the smartphone.
Most smartphones know where they are by use
of Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The ability
to know where the user with the smartphone
is and the location of the offices allows a route
to be delivered to the user so they can navigate
their way to the offices.
As of early June the app has been
downloaded by 1000 users and has an
approval rating of 3.5 out of 5, so it is
well liked.
Warwickshire County Council believe that
the architecture of the application means
that it will be relatively straightforward to add
new functions, as data and services become
available as part of their open data initiative.
They plan to build upon the iPhone app and
release at least one more version, whilst at the
same time work on
applications for other
phones and software platforms.
Open DataRecently the authority has
announced the launch of its open data website, joining other authorities
such as London, Lincoln, Lichfield and
Kent who have already started opening up
their data to the public. Open data provides
information in a standard file format, enabling
third party developers access to data in order
to build other applications and websites.
The site currently holds information ranging
from school admissions to the locations of
recycling centres. It is anticipated there will be
a further period of development in which the
site is built up as the focal point for all public
facing information.
By making data freely available, the
council hopes to provide a greater level of
transparency about its work. The aim is to
stimulate engagement and collaboration in
the development of websites, applications
and services to benefit citizens and visitors
to the area. In fact the authority has held a
competition called ‘Hack Warwickshire’. The challenge laid down by the authority to
potential developers was:
Do you look at government web sites and •
think “I could do better than that”?
Have you got a great idea for how technology •
can deliver better public services?
Could you use our data to show us how to •
work smarter?
Do you want to get your hands on an •
Apple iPad?
The authority has provided some sample apps
to get developers started, but it is looking for
ingenuity on how the data can be used.
The authority is looking for ideas and
products from developers as to how to use
the authority’s data, whether it is incisive data
visualisation (graphs, etc), a web ‘mashup’
(combining data from two or more sources
to create a new service), an app for a mobile,
or a way of integrating with social networking.
The competition is a way for developers to get
involved with the open data revolution and
build something useful.
What is important is that the sharing of data
is consistent with the previous government’s
intention of open government, which will
presumably be carried forward in the new
coalition administration. Further information
can be found at http://data.gov.uk/ It will be interesting to see the applications
that are created as a result of this competition.
The providing of information is nothing new
for local authorities, and often their web sites
are full of data. Rather than just providing data
on a bland web site, though, authorities should
be looking at how that data is presented and
how available it is. This is where providing
data sets to developers will provide for more
innovative methods of presentation of data
to the public than is currently available from
authorities’ traditional websites.
As far as I understand, Warwickshire is the
first authority to utilise an iPhone app for the
dissemination of readily available data, but I
don’t think it will be the last. Who knows, by next
year we may see an application form app on a
smartphone, or even the possibility to chase up
your benefit application. You never know!
“Smartphone usage in the UK is growing phenomenally, at a much greater rate than in the rest of Europe”
IRRV AnnuAl ConfeRenCe 2010 Harrogate
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LGA update
LGA has its work cut out
Mike Heiser predicts a very busy period ahead for the LGA, as he analyses the recent budget outcome
Mike Heiser is benefits lead with the
Local Government Association
step along the road to a single working age
benefit for which Iain Duncan Smith argued
when in opposition? The social rented sector
does not escape – it will be affected by plans
to limit benefit to customers whose family size
does not correspond to the property which
they occupy. And both housing and council
tax benefit customers will be affected by the
plan to uprate deductions for non-dependents
who live in the property, such as working age
children, relatives or friends in line with rises
in rents and council tax.
Turning to revenues issues in particular,
the government have said that they will find
a way of making the small business rate relief
automatic. This is something that the LGA
had urged before the election. However there
may be small hereditaments which are parts
of larger businesses which there is no easy
way of identifying. The LGA expects to discuss
with government exactly how the scheme will
be implemented in a way that enables the
maximum number of these to be identified at
the least cost. Not to mention implementation
of the council tax freeze for next year – it will
be a busy few months!
budget on 22nd June confirmed this. It did
not give any departmental totals – that will
have to wait for the Spending Review.
But it did confirm that non-protected
departments would have a 25% real cut
in their departmental expenditure limits by
2015-16. Within that there is likely to be a
range. Education is a ‘non protected’ budget,
so the 0.7% real increase in schools spending
promised by the previous government has
gone the way of the ballot box, although
whether it gets the full 25% cut remains to be
seen. We are unlikely to know the full picture
until the October Spending Review, now
promised for 20th October.
But the main surprise of the budget was on
benefits. Measures were announced which
affect both housing and council tax benefit,
aimed at saving £1.8bn by the end of the
forthcoming Spending Review period. The
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will see
the brunt of the changes. In addition to the
removal of the £15 excess which was in the
plans of the previous government, the changes
include basing LHA on the lowest thirty
percent of rents in Broad Rental Market Areas, capping the maximum LHA rate at
£400 and at four bedrooms. From 2013, since
this will require primary legislation, the LHA
will be uprated in line with the Consumer
Prices Index rather that local rents, thus in the
longer term breaking the link entirely between
the LHA and housing costs. Could this be one
“This is likely to cause real problems, particularly for districts in areas where there has been a lot of development”
The new government has wasted no time
getting into its stride. During the election
campaign the Conservatives signalled that
they would bring forward a package of
reductions to this year’s spending and the new
coalition government promptly did that. The
reductions package of £6bn was presented
as government efficiency trimming, but of the
£6bn over £1bn constitutes direct grant cuts
to local government.
The previous government said that they
would keep the three-year settlement
announced in January 2008 unchanged.
The present government has kept the formula
grant totals unchanged, but other grants have
been cut. Among these is a 24% cut to the
Department for Education’s area based grants,
a cut of £311m. The Department has left it
to authorities as to where to apply the cut,
but services such as information advice and
guidance and activities for young people,
all front line services, must be regarded
as vulnerable.
Other grants to be cut were the Local
Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme
for 2010/11. The previous government had
already scaled back the originally announced
£100m to £50m – the new government has
abolished it entirely. Other grants to go were
the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant. This
was seen by the government as bureaucratic,
and many within local government would have
like to have seen improvements, but it too
has now been abolished completely. This is
likely to cause real problems, particularly for
districts in areas where there has been a lot of
development.
The LGA put forward a package of £4.5bn
savings to quangos and cuts to over-regulation
of councils. This has been discussed with new
ministers. If they were to take up some of the
suggestions, cuts to front line services could
be lessened.
Time will tell, but officials are clear that
there will be more reductions. The emergency
IRRV Publications – 2010 Updates
Housing Benefit Your Guide &Council Tax Benefit Your GuideAUTHORS: COLIN C HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) A INST. LM & JULIE HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) CMGR MCMI
These sister publications are essential reading for those that need a brief overview of the law and regulations that provide the framework for both the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit schemes. They provide non-specialist readers with a basic overview of the system and how it operates, and give a basic understanding of the law and practices that local authorities use when assessing HB & CTB.
These guides cover the claiming and assessment processes, subsidy issues and the management of fraud prevention and detection.
Price: Each publiction costs £15.00 (plus £2.50 post and packing per copy)
Order online at www.irrv.net/publications.asp
HB/CTB Law and AdministrationAUTHOR: TRACY CROWE IRRV CPFA
The administration of HB/CTB is highly-regulated. Legislation and regulations are far-reaching and complex. This, allied to the severe scrutiny under which local authority benefit offices operate, means the pressure to achieve results is intense.
The IRRV has published a text book that covers not only the statute but, addresses all the issues from Recruitment, Training and Staff Motivation through to ICT, Data Protection and Security – plus, everything in-between.
HB/CTB Law & Administration is a must for all practitioners.
Price: £21.00 (plus £3.00 post and packing per copy)
Order online at www.irrv.net/publications.asp
£15.00
ISBN 978-1-905782-40-6Publisher IRRV5th edition 2010
HousinG Benefit: Your Guide
This guide to Housing Benefit (HB) is designed for those who need a brief overview of the law andregulations that provide the framework for the scheme.It should be particularly useful to people who wish togain a basic understanding of the law and practices that local authorities use when assessing HB.
This guide provides a basic overview of the systemand how it operates. It is not a detailed guide to theregulations and due to the number of discretions withinthe scheme some Councils may do things slightlydifferently in practice. Nevertheless the scheme is anational one and claimants have a right to expectconsistent results and standards of service regardless of where they live.
The guide explains the verification, claiming andassessment process. It also looks at subsidy andperformance issues and the management of fraudprevention and detection.
Housing Benefit: Your GuideCOLIN C HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) A INST. LM & JULIE HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) CMGR MCMI
9 7 8 1 9 0 5 7 8 2 4 0 6
ISBN 9781905782406
PUBP 0051 (Cover)_PUBP 0038 (Cover).qxd 06/07/2010 10:43 Page 1
£15.00
ISBN 978-1-905782-41-3Publisher IRRV5th edition 2010
CounCil Tax BenefiT: Your Guide
This guide to Council Tax Benefit (CTB) is designed for those that need a brief overview of the law andregulations that provide the framework for the scheme.It should be of particular interest to those wishing to gaina basic understanding of the law and practices that localauthorities use when assessing CTB.
This guide gives readers a basic overview of thesystem and how it operates. It is not a detailed guide tothe regulations and, due to the number of discretions within the scheme, some Councils may do things slightlydifferently in practice. Nevertheless, the scheme is anational one and claimants have a right to expectconsistent results and standards of service regardless of where they live.
The guide explains the verification, claiming andassessment process. It also looks at subsidy andperformance issues and the management of fraudprevention and detection.
Council Tax Benefit: Your Guide COLIN C HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) A INST. LM & JULIE HOLDEN IRRV (HONS) CMGR MCMI
9 7 8 1 9 0 5 7 8 2 4 1 3
ISBN 9781905782413
PUBP 0052 (Cover)_PUBP 0038 (Cover).qxd 06/07/2010 10:54 Page 1
£21.00ISBN 978-1-905782-38-3Publisher IRRV4th edition May 2010
HB
/CTB LA
W A
ND
AD
MIN
ISTRATIO
N TR
ACy C
Ro
we IR
RV C
PFA
HB/CTB Law and Administration 2010TRacy cRowe IRRV cPFa
HB/CTB LAW AND ADMINISTRATION
The administration of HB/CTB is highly-regulated.Legislation and regulations are far-reaching and complex.This, allied to the severe scrutiny under which local authoritybenefit offices operate, means the pressure to achieveresults is intense.
The IRRV has published a text book that covers not only the statute but, addresses all the issues from Recruitment,Training and Staff Motivation through to ICT, Data Protectionand Security – plus, everything in-between.
HB/CTB Law & Administration is a must for all practitioners.
IRRV
Cover_PUBP 0041 (Cover).qxp 26/04/2010 15:40 Page 1
Freedo
m of I
nforma
tion r
equest
Discip
linary
proce
edings
again
st
David
Gordon
,
Henry
Thoms,
Philip
Peter
s
Notice
s issu
ed on
12/03/
2004
Pursua
nt to
return
ing
Observ
at
Freedom of Information requestData protection subject
James williamAllowances received in support of claim ref: BCF/29574
From: 12/06/2007to: 31/05/2008
Total for year
CONFIDEN
TIAL
26
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FOI update
complaints about this to the IPCC, the council
and the Local Government Ombudsmen, all of
whom thoroughly investigated them.
Apply the Information Commissioner’s
guidance, the Tribunal upheld the council’s
decision that the request was vexatious.
Amongst other things it took into account:
the appellant’s aggressive, accusatory and •
harassing tone in correspondence with
the council;
the volume of the appellant’s •
correspondence which contained lists of
questions;
the fact that the appellant did not wait for the •
response to one information request before
making the next one;
the fact that the requests were part of a •
campaign against the council.
Over the past two years there have been many
decisions of the Commissioner, the Tribunal
and the courts on disclosure of anonymised
personal information. The Commissioner
previously argued that such information,
where the individual cannot be identified by
the recipient, is not personal data and so the
section 40(2) exemption (third party personal
data) cannot be used to refuse disclosure. This
was until the Tribunal examined this point in
detail in various cases including Department of Health v IC and the Pro Life Alliance EA/2008/0074 (15th October 2009). Here
the Tribunal ruled that anonymised personal
information could still be personal data in
the hands of the data controller if there is
Question time
The outcome of the General Election will have
a big impact on freedom of information law
and practice. The Conservative plan to cut
the financial deficit quickly will mean massive
cuts in public sector spending. This will no
doubt lead to many more FOI requests to local
authorities from interested parties including
the media, unions and disgruntled employees.
It is also worth noting that the ‘ConLib’ alliance
agreement includes a commitment to extend
the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. The era of openness and transparency is
here to stay.
There is now a long line of jurisprudence
from the Information Tribunal (now retitled
the First Tier Tribunal [Information Rights]) on what constitutes a vexatious
request under section 14(1). The Information
Commissioner’s guidance, which has been
approved by the Tribunal, sets out the
questions to be considered when considering
whether a request is vexatious.
These include:
Can the request fairly be seen as obsessive?•
Is the request harassing the authority or •
causing distress to staff?
Would complying with the request impose a •
significant burden in terms of expense and
distraction?
Is the request designed to cause disruption •
or annoyance?
Does the request lack any serious purpose •
or value?
In Tony Wise v IC EA/2009/0080 (15th April 2010) , Lancashire County Council was
asked for its written policies and procedures
on information sharing with other public
authorities. This followed two allegations
about the appellant made to the council’s
social services department in May and June
2006. These were investigated by the council
and found to be untrue. The appellant was
aggrieved about information being passed
on by the council to the police. He made
“Just because personal data was collected many years ago does not necessarily mean that disclosure of it will be fair to the data subjects”.
The change of government is likely to see a resurgence in freedom of information activity, argues Ibrahim Hasan
Ibrahim Hasan is a solicitor and director
of Act Now Training (www.actnow.org.uk).
He is the course director for Act Now’s
ISEB Certificate in Freedom of Information
course and runs the FOI helpline.
“There is now a long line of jurisprudence from the Information Tribunal on what constitutes a vexatious request”
25
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FOI update
further information in the hands of the data
controller which would allow the subjects to
be indentified.
This reasoning was applied recently
in Magherafelt District Council v IC EA/2009/0047 (3rd February 2010). Following an FOI request the council disclosed
the numbers of staff disciplined and dismissed
over a four year period. However it would not
disclose the penalty issued or the reason for
the action against those disciplined. It also
refused to disclose the reasons for dismissal.
The Tribunal ruled that this was personal data
and went on to consider whether disclosure
would be fair and lawful in accordance with
the first Data Protection Principle as
required by section 40(2). It accepted that
the council’s employees had a reasonable
expectation of privacy. Integral to the question
whether disclosure (despite this expectation)
was fair, was the related question of whether
there was a real risk of identification by the
public if the information were to be disclosed.
It was argued by the council that it would
be easy for a journalist, speaking to other
members of the council’s staff, to identify the
individuals referred to in the information. The
Tribunal, whilst clear that, read on its own,
the information would not identify particular
individuals, did accept (given the small size of
the authority and indeed the local population)
that it would not be hard for a journalist to take
steps to identify the individuals in question.
This could then lead to widespread publication
of the names of the individuals, the disciplinary
offences they had committed and the sanctions
received. This was not the same as concluding
that the information on its own enabled
identification. Further investigative steps would
need to be taken, but given that these did
not appear to be onerous or unlikely, it would
be artificial for the Tribunal to ignore what
appeared to be a very real risk. The Tribunal
concluded therefore that public disclosure of
the information would be unfair to the data
subjects (the employees in question) such that
disclosure would be a breach of the First Data
Protection Principle. The Tribunal concluded
that disclosure of the requested information
would be a breach of the First Data Protection
Principle, and that the absolute exemption
under section 40(2) FOI applied.
Contrast this decision with William Thackeray v IC and The General Medical Council EA/2009/0063 (23rd February 2010) , where the Tribunal ruled that the GMC
should have disclosed internal correspondence
about a Fitness to Practice Panel member’s
links with the Church of Scientology. The
GMC had argued that this was personal data
disclosure of which would breach the First
Data Protection principle and so exempt under
section 40(2).
It was the appellant’s case, much of which
the Tribunal agreed with, that the Scientology
leadership is opposed, as a matter of religious
belief, to the practice of psychiatry, and
therefore it cannot be right that a person
having links to such an organisation should
sit on a GMC panel which may be required
to make judgments on psychiatrists. He
submitted that by not declaring his connection
to Scientology, in light of the published
opposition to psychiatry and psychiatrists, the
panel member may have breached the ethical
conditions of his new role and committed
misconduct. The appellant submitted that
the panel member can have no reasonable
expectation that such misconduct would be
kept private.
The Tribunal concluded that disclosure
would not be unfair, and was necessary in
the legitimate interests of the requestor, and
these interests outweighed any impact on the
panel member. In coming to this conclusion
it took account of, amongst other things, the
role of the member (sitting in judgment on
others), the seniority of the member and the
fact that he had not declared his connection
with the Church of Scientology. It also took
account of the public interest in the disputed
information as it relates to the possibility that
if the panel member’s one time connection
with Scientology had been declared, it may be
that his fitness to sit on other cases involving
psychiatrists would have been questioned, or
that the GMC would not have considered him
a suitable panel member for such cases, or
that he would not have been appointed to a
responsible position in the GMC at all.
Just because personal data was collected
many years ago does not necessarily
mean that disclosure of it will be fair to the
data subjects. The section 40 exemption
may still apply to it. In Guy Etchells v IC EA/2009/0109 (30th March 2010) the
Tribunal ruled that disclosure of information
which had been gathered back in 1939
as part of National Registration would be
exempt under section 40 (2) being third
party personal data. The 1939 Register listed
individuals who lived at particular addresses at
a particular time. The Tribunal agreed with the
Commissioner that when the information was
obtained and, at the date that the information
request was considered, the public expectation
was that in the ordinary course of events
personal information obtained in this way
would not be disclosed whilst the individual
was alive. Whilst any information about
deceased subjects would not be subject to
section 40, the Tribunal noted that the average
life expectancy had gone up considerably over
the past 150 years, so it cannot be assumed
that the subjects would no longer be alive.
28
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Management
for the first 48 hours of the race. However,
the stress of the Pacific crossing and sheer
fatigue took its toll on the crew. We dropped
back to eighth before rallying to secure fourth
place, third overall in the global race. Race
nine also saw us secure fourth place (moving
us up to second place overall) in the run from
the Panama Canal up to Jamaica, where we
enjoyed a well deserved rest... although most
crew were working on the boat for at least a
few hours every day.
Since our new skipper joined us in Australia,
we have had to rediscover ourselves as
a team. The forming, norming, storming
phases of team development have been
very clear to see, and now we want to start
performing. There are over 60 points to be
secured in the remaining races, and we are
just 18 points behind overall race leaders
Spirit of Australia. What has become clear
to us since leaving China with our new rig
is that the boat is still fast and the crew are
still very competitive. It is, however, fair to
say that the constant setbacks have affected
individual confidence levels in different
ways, and it has not always been possible
to stay as positive as one would like. Just
as in the office environment, negativity can
result in personal conflict, indiscipline and
inappropriate behaviour. The challenge in
such situations is to recognise that such
behaviour is often prompted by a misguided
motivation for the team to do well, and to
channel that energy more effectively. Similarly,
having a competitive spirit on its own is not
enough. You have to develop that into a
winning mentality. You have to believe without
question that you can win as a team, because
as soon as negative thoughts are allowed to
form, you cannot focus exclusively on the task
in hand.
In sailing terms that has been interesting
to observe and be part of. We may have
started this race as complete novices, but
we are now informed amateurs – all with a
Developing a winning mentality
As a crew member of Team Finland in the
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, I
have experienced more drama in the last few
months than in several years of Eastenders!
Good character building stuff for me, but
nerve wracking for my family following the race
at home. So as we waited for our new mast in
China, I took the opportunity of going home
for a few days to talk through and reassure
my family and friends that the race was
indeed safe and we were coping well with our
setbacks. I also took the opportunity to visit
my nominated charity, The Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education at Fareham, and
had lunch with some of the youngsters who
have been enthusiastically following the race.
I returned to China at the same time as the
mast, and spent the next ten days working
with the professional riggers to fit spreaders,
halyards, electrics and jammers on the mast
prior to it being dropped by crane into the
mast socket on the boat. The rest of the
fleet had already sailed for California and
we followed in a race against the clock to
get there in time for the start of race eight
to Panama. We continue to be tested in the
most extreme ways – our mainsail tore in
two places in near hurricane force winds, our
watermaker failed to produce fresh water,
and our generator died. We arrived in San
Francisco just 36 hours before the start of race
eight, and in a spectacular start that saw us
all jostling for position under the Golden Gate
Bridge, we eventually took and held the lead
As Andy Milner and the Team Finland crew remain up with the leaders, comparisons with the world of local government recur with monotonous regularity
Andy Milner IRRV (Hons) is Area
Co-ordinator (Chandler’s Ford & Hiltingbury)
with Eastleigh Borough Council and a
former member of the IRRV Council 25
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Clipper Challenge
slightly different view on how to sail the boat.
That’s fine, but if it conflicts with the skipper’s
strategy the influence can be negative. Some
of my best teams in local government have
always included a few colourful characters
who thought they knew how to run the office
better than I did. Some probably could, but
at the end of the day there can only be one
manager! It ’s serious enough in the office
environment, but in ocean racing, where lives
are at stake, it is imperative that the skipper’s
instructions are followed enthusiastically and
without question.
We’re coming back here to the leadership
skills described in earlier articles. You cannot
just ‘demand’ such behaviour from your
team. Respect and loyalty have to be earned
from the vast majority first (then, maybe,
it can be demanded from the one or two
who stubbornly resist!) and that can be
achieved in any number of ways. Our skipper
immediately won the crew over in the way he
led the rescue of the Cork crew and got us to
shore following our own dismasting (see May
Insight). He also has shown good all round
sailing skills and boat husbandry, although
‘rolling your sleeves up’ needs to be balanced
by an ability and willingness to delegate too.
In my view though, the most important aspect
of leadership is the ability to develop a vision
for success and to be able to articulate and
sell that vision to the team as a whole – not
just one or two but everyone. The need for
communication and selling skills is simply non
negotiable. On our boats the skipper has a
team of 18 to deal with, which is challenging
enough, but in local government, where the
organisation is typically 700 staff or more,
the task is exponentially more difficult even
before you add the political dimension. This
is what makes our industry quite unique,
and ultimately dependant on the elected
and salaried leaders having the ability and
commitment to share a common vision.
The other behavioural challenges we face in
the Clipper Race relate to how crew co-exist
in the confines of a 68 foot ‘cigar tube’. Our
journey from China to Panama saw us spend
56 days at sea interrupted by just 36 hours in
San Francisco. I have never before spent so
much time with anyone, let alone 18 people!
Add to that the fact that we faced some of the
most horrendous conditions coming across
the Pacific and the cabin was running with
condensation as we raced south to Panama in
40 degrees plus. It amazes me how happily we
ate and drank together when we finally hit land!
By the time you read this, the race will be
virtually over and I shall be ‘tacking’ my way
back to my desk at Eastleigh. For now, I am
focusing on race ten to New York, which starts
on Monday. The remaining four races see us
heading for Nova Scotia, Cork and Holland,
before arriving back in Hull on 17th July.
A vision for those remaining races? Shoot for
the moon – even if you miss, you will still be
up there with the stars!
Don’t forget, you can follow progress on the website at www.meridian360.me.uk, or on www.clipperroundtheworld.com, and if you want to contribute to Andy’s charitable cause, please do so at www.justgiving.com/andymilner.
And do remember to check out the charity’s website, at www.rainbowcentre.org/.
“Since our new skipper joined us in Australia, we have had to rediscover ourselves as a team.”
“Just as in the office environment, negativity can result in personal conflict, indiscipline and inappropriate behaviour”
IRRV AnnuAl ConfeRenCe 2010 Harrogate
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Doherty’s Despatch
The Budget has added to the burden on the
rich, but only by about 1 per cent of their
average income, bringing the total loss in their
income as a result of current tax and benefit
measures to about 7.5 per cent. Thus the
Chancellor has placed about two-and-a-half
times the burden on the poorest as he has on
the richest – a loss of 2.5 per cent against one
of 1 per cent!
The rise in VAT to 20 per cent will be a
regressive move, though the IFS concedes
that, once an individual’s lifetime spending
(whatever this means!) is taken account of, it
is a more progressive form of tax than often
assumed. Cuts in benefits through altering
the way they are uprated will also hit those
dependent on them hard, and the freeze in
child benefit and cap on housing benefit will
also add to the difficulties facing families on
tight budgets. A rise in unemployment will
also damage any claims that the budget is
“progressive”.
Pensioners, though, including poorer ones,
do better than younger people. For example,
the limit on housing benefit will not apply to
them, and neither will there be cuts to the
equivalent of the disability living allowance or
the attendance allowance. Most striking is the
pledge to restore the earnings link from next
year, based on the rise in prices or 2.5 per
cent, whichever is the greater. The winter fuel
allowance, concessionary TV licences and bus
passes are untouched.
Tough times ahead
I have to admit that when I first listened to
the recent budget, it did not appear to be too
bad, perhaps because so much of what we
were to expect had been “leaked” beforehand,
(Mrs. Thatcher once famously said that the
government was the only ship that leaked from
the top), and so we had been softened up in
advance of the big day. But, of course, the
real shocks were in the small print, with the
preview of 25% cuts in public expenditure to
be announced in October.
Impact of the budgetThe coalition government claimed that
the Budget was “tough but fair”, and was
“progressive”, but the independent Institute
for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has torn these claims
apart. Although the IFS agrees that the richest
will pay proportionately more than the poor to
repair the public finances, the Institute’s director,
Robert Chote, said that, “the Budget looks less
progressive – indeed somewhat regressive –
when you take out the effects of measures that
were inherited from the previous government,
when you look further into the future than 2012,
and when you include some other measures
that the Treasury has chosen not to model”.
The IFS also pointed out that the cuts to
public services, which do not appear in most
assessments of the “fairness” of the Budget,
“are likely to hit poorer households significantly
harder than richer households”.
Cuts in housing benefit and in disability
living allowance, again much more likely to
affect the most vulnerable, are not taken into
account either by the IFS or the Treasury,
another reason why the official and IFS figures
may underestimate how hard the coalition
government’s plans will penalise the poor.
Analysis of the Budget by the IFS reveals that
the poorest tenth of society will lose about 2.5
per cent of their income, despite the removal
of 880,000 low-paid workers from income tax
when the threshold was raised by £1,000
to £7,475.
Pat Doherty’s initial reaction to the treatment of public service in the Budget was one of relief, but the relief was soon replaced with real concern, as he explains
Pat Doherty IRRV (Hons) CPFA is
an independent consultant and a
Past President of the IRRV.
If you wish to comment on anything
in the article please email him at
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Doherty’s Despatch
The reforms to housing benefit could have
far-reaching effects, the IFS also claims.
Breaking the link between housing benefit
allowance and actual rent rises, and
substituting CPI for future uprating, will
eventually leave many expensive areas such
as London out of reach. The decision to cut
housing benefit for those out of work for more
than a year was also criticised by the IFS, who
suggested it was an inappropriately punitive
way to get people into work again.
The cutsLocal government has a total budget of some
£30bn, which means that the anticipated
cuts could amount to £7.5bn, and one has to
wonder where the axe will fall:
• Cuttingoutquangos,fundingagencies,
ring-fenced budgets and excessive reporting
requirements;
•Cuttingthe£25bningrantstolocalcouncils
by a quarter (£6.25bn) - leading to cuts
in libraries, refuse collection,
childcare provision, care for the elderly,
leisure facilities etc - depending on the
decisions of individual councils;
• Cutstosocialhousing(£750m);
• Cutstohousebuilding(potentiallysaving
hundreds of millions from the £7.3bn
housing budget).
There is no doubt that if cuts of this
enormity are pushed through, everyone will
notice the impact on their local communities
- cuts to libraries, leisure centres and care
for the elderly look inevitable – as well as
tens of thousands of job losses in town halls.
House building will be scaled back, potentially
increasing homelessness.
Cuts in welfare benefitsJudging by subsequent comments made by
the Secretary of State for Social Security,
it is also clear that we can expect further
and deeper cuts in welfare benefits than
those announced in the Budget. It has been
announced that the Chancellor will invite
cabinet ministers to suggest specific cuts
in the £180bn-a-year welfare system, once
they have settled their departmental budgets
in negotiations with the Treasury during the
government-wide spending review, to be
completed by October. As an incentive to
find savings in their own area, ministers who
reach early agreement will win a seat on a new
cabinet “star chamber”, which will make the
final decision on the cuts.
Some £11bn was pruned from the welfare
budget including curbs on tax credits, a
three-year freeze in child benefit, a squeeze
on housing benefit and a new formula for
lower annual rises in most state benefits.
The government has made it clear that
it wants to go further. No decisions have
been taken, but this could mean curbs on
winter fuel allowances, free bus passes, and
television licences for better-off pensioners.
Other options would have to include a further
squeeze on benefits, child benefit and
tax credits.
Deeper welfare cuts would reduce the
average 25 per cent cut over four years
in departments other than health
and international development, which are
protected. “If over the coming months we can
find further savings in the welfare figure, then
we can bring that 25 per cent number down,”
Mr Osborne was reported as saying.
Government consultationWe now have the new phenomenon of the
government seeking the views of the public on
the budget cuts, public sector workers on what
cuts can be made, and the public on what
laws should be scrapped. I looked through
the website that had the responses from the
public on it, and I have to say I fail to see
what help the various responses will give the
government in coming to their conclusions.
It will be interesting to see what the quality
(and quantity) of the responses from public
employees will be – turkeys and Christmas
come to mind – but one hopes they will be a
lot better than those (mostly rants) from the
general public in response.
“Analysis of the Budget by the IFS reveals that the poorest tenth of society will lose about 2.5 per cent of their income”
“As an incentive to find savings in their own area, ministers who reach early agreement will win a seat on a new cabinet “star chamber”, which will make the final decision on the cuts”
IRRV AnnuAl ConfeRenCe 2010 Harrogate
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Scrafton’s Law
First, the contracting authority must give to
all participating tenderers a notice (called an
‘award decision notice’) which shall contain
the award criteria, the successful tenderer’s
name, and when the standstill period is
expected to end. Further, any tenderer which
made an offer at the end of the procurement
period must be told the reason for the
eventual decision, and why their bid was
not preferred, as well as the relative scores
obtained by their (unsuccessful) bid and the
successful bidder.
The sending of the award decision notice
begins the standstill period, during which
the authority is suspended from signing the
contract. The Directive stipulates a period of
10-15 days – the UK regulations provide for
a period of 10 days. It is not clear whether,
should an authority press on regardless
and conclude the contract, they would be
acting lawfully. If they do proceed, then
the better view may be that they are not
acting unlawfully, but they could be subject
to sanctions if they do, even in the face of
a claim which is without merit. Authorities
should therefore think extremely carefully
before signing up within the standstill period.
If a challenge comes in, and the authority
feels that it is without merit, then it is open
to that authority (see Reg.47H of the 2009
regulations) to bring an action seeking the
removal of the suspension. Thus a challenge
by an aggrieved tenderer has the same kind
of effect as an interim injunction. The Court
will have to, ” ...consider whether... it would be
appropriate to make an interim order”; which
suggests that the approach to be taken by an
authority will be the same as that taken when
seeking the lifting of an interim injunction.
Other challenges (save for those seeking
the new remedy of a Declaration of
Ineffectiveness) must be made, “ ...promptly
and in any event within three months
beginning with the date when the grounds for
starting the proceedings arose (Reg.42D(2))”.
Getting the right balance...
Readers of the IRRV’s Valuer magazine will, no
doubt, be awaiting, eagerly, the second part
of my review of the decision of the European
Court in the case of Muller, which qualifies
the Court’s earlier decision in Auroux. This
piece is for perhaps a wider readership, as it
deals with disputes in connection with public
procurement, both procedural and substantive.
The spur for this piece is the Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2992) which were introduced to
update the Public Procurement Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/5). The amending regulations
give effect, in English law, to European
Directive 2007/66, which itself amends
Directives 1989/665 and 1992/13.
There seem to have been three reasons for
this new Directive and for the consequential
change in domestic law. First, there was
the decision of the European Court in
Alcotel (Case C-81/98 [1999] ECR I-7671)
requiring a standstill period between an
award decision and the contract signature,
so as to avoid a ‘race to signature’. Second,
there was a perceived inadequacy as to the
requirements for information to be made
available to unsuccessful bidders. Third, there
was a perceived lack of effective remedies
for the unsuccessful, beyond an award of
compensatory damages for breach of the
public procurement rules.
Prior to the coming into force of the
amended regulations, the only remedies
available to the aggrieved tenderer were an
interim injunction, seeking to halt the signing
of the contract, or seeking a new tender, or
alternatively seeking damages. The revised
Directive, as applied by the amending
regulations, makes a number of significant
changes. In essence, these are designed to
promote transparency and to give an aggrieved
bidder a reasonable chance of making a
complaint – provided that such bidder acts very
promptly. I will examine these changes in turn,
by reference also to some of the recent cases.
“The Court declared that the ultimate test was whether disclosure and inspection was necessary for disposing fairly of the proceedings.”
In the first of a new regular column, Peter Scrafton has been casting his eye over the intriguing world of public procurement and the remedies for unsuccessful tenderers
Peter Scrafton IRRV (Hons), FCIArb,
MRSA (Hon), Solicitor (Non-practising),
Accredited Mediator, is a legal and valuation
consultant and can be contacted at
INSIGHT
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Part one
The European Court gave judgment, in
January, in the case of Uniplex (C-406/08)
in which the dispute centred around whether
the time limit for bringing proceedings for
breach of the procurement rules started to
run from the date on which the tenderer
knew, or ought to have known, that the
procurement procedure and contract breached
community public law, or the date when such
a breach took place. The Court held that the
effectiveness of the remedy could not be
guaranteed unless the limitation period for an
action for a declaration of breach did not start
to run until the date when the claimant in the
proceedings knew, or ought to have known,
that the breach had occurred.
The Court went on to hold that the
requirement to launch proceedings within
three months and which gives the national
Court discretion to dismiss an application,
even where the three month limit has not
expired, is inconsistent with community law
as it is uncertain, and can prevent claimants
from knowing the exact time limit applicable
to their case.
The High Court has applied Uniplex for,
it seems, the first time, in Sita UK Ltd v Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority [2010] EWHC 680 (Ch) , striking
out proceedings seeking damages for breach
of the public procurement regime. The Court
decided that SITA had been too late in starting
proceedings, refusing to exercise its discretion
to extend the procurement limitation period,
holding that such extensions should not be
lightly given having regard to the purpose of
the time limits in the first place. The purpose
of a short limitation period had been imposed
in the interests of good public administration
so that authorities know as soon as possible
whether one of their procurements is being
challenged, having regard to the significant
disruption which the mere existence of such a
claim can cause to public finances.
The decision considers in detail the
limitation period following Uniplex and
focuses on the issue of Sita’s ‘knowledge’ of
the alleged procurement breach, as evidenced
by the pre-litigation correspondence between
the parties. SITA issued proceedings in late
August 2009; but the Court held that they
knew or were in a position to know that there
was a prima facie infringement on or shortly
after 8th April 2009. The time limit expired on
or shortly after 7th July 2009, and the fact that
they had had to consult internal boards did not
help them.
The implications of these two cases would
seem to be that, for authorities, it is not going
to be possible to argue that challenges were
not brought sufficiently swiftly after the date
of any actual breach. However, the more
transparent their procurement procedures and
decisions, the earlier they will be able to argue
that time started to run.
Intending claimants will need to bear very
much in mind what it said in pre-litigation
correspondence, and whether time spent
in seeking detailed disclosure might not,
as far as commencement of proceedings
is concerned, be counter-productive. They
should note, though, when considering the
scope of disclosure to be sought, the case of
Croft House Care Ltd-v-Durham CC [2010] EWHC 909 (TCC) , which establishes that the
fact that documents may contain confidential
information is not of itself a valid reason for
not disclosing them.
The council sought to withhold two classes
of document, namely those which contained
commercially sensitive material provided by
tenderers concerning the method statement
and statement of technical capacity, and
documents which would prejudice the council’s
ability to re-run the procurement, if necessary.
The Court declared that the ultimate
test was whether disclosure and inspection
was necessary for disposing fairly of the
proceedings. Balancing the rights of third
parties to confidentiality as against the need
for the documents to be provided for a fair
trial in a case in which the documents sought
went to the heart of the claimant’s pleaded
case, the Court had no hesitation in ordering
disclosure. Although the council had shown
that disclosure would cause it some difficulty
in re-running the competition, the Court held
that such difficulties were surmountable,
and applying the same balancing test,
ordered disclosure.
In the second part of this article, to be
published in September Insight, I shall continue
my examination of remedies, including the
potential use of judicial review proceedings.
“The revised Directive, as applied by the amending regulations, makes a number of significant changes”
This article is intended for general purposes only and should not be viewed as a comprehensive summary of the subject matters covered. Nothing contained in this paper constitutes legal or other professional advice and no warranty is given nor liability accepted for its contents. Peter Scrafton, the Editor, Publisher, Printer and Distributor of ‘Insight’ magazine will not accept responsibility for any loss suffered as a consequence of reliance on information contained in this article. The author is happy to provide specific legal advice requested by way of formal instructions.
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Local authorities are looking further and further afield for ideas on how to improve their efficiency, Kate Miller finds
34
INSIGHT
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Viewpoint
Making the right cuts
Kate Miller is a freelance writer and former
editor of IRRV magazines
The thing is, you all only do one job! At our
local authority I’m not only General Revenues
Manager but also Planning Inspector, Tourism
Development Manager, Deputy Chief of the
Volunteer Fire Brigade and Skunk Warden.
Admittedly, my boss did make me take on
extra jobs during the latest financial squeeze.
I never used to have to do tourism. But
maybe you could double up a bit more?
Also, I was amazed at the number of cars in
the car park. Back home, I canoe to work.
Not in the winter of course. Then I skate.
I recommend canoeing – it ’s cheap and keeps
you fit. You have the lovely Grand Midland
Canal flowing through Northlake – why not
use it more? Certainly after the Waterways
Authority have completed their clean-out.
I guess you also need to work a bit harder on
the revenue collection. I know you have a lot
more houses than we do, but at least your
houses are easy to identify, and built beside
navigable roads. We find business
Hi everyone. Your AD has suggested I
send round a few of my thoughts after the
fascinating month I’ve spent here at Northlake.
Little did I know when I came to visit my
cousin Mandy that I would be acting as
Efficiency Consultant for the Revenues and
Benefits Department (unpaid consultant,
I may add – you guys catch on fast!).
I admit I was a little surprised when Mandy
informed me that my own country of Canada
was being held up as the model of how to
make cuts in public sector spending. I thought
she’d got us mixed up with somewhere else –
Germany maybe – but no. Your government
is looking to Canada for inspiration on how to
cut the deficit, and Northlake DC is doing
the same.
So I said I’d be happy to share my
experience of our own revenues operation in
Kyuquotsawwassan on beautiful Vancouver
Island and offer a few observations.
May I say it has been a great pleasure to meet
everyone. The first few days were a little tricky
as my visit coincided with the early stages
of the World Cup, but once I had made it
clear that I was Canadian, not American, the
atmosphere got a whole lot warmer.
My first thought was – there are an awful lot
of you. In fact there might be more people in
Northlake revs and bens than in the whole of
Kyuquotsawwassan. Of course we do have
cities on Vancouver Island – there’s our lovely
state capital, Victoria. But that’s about three
days away by 4x4….now they’ve finished the
new road.
rate collection difficult too, and our officers
have full training in ice driving, bear handling
and sub-zero survival techniques. On the
whole, it ’s the bear handling that proves most
useful when extracting payment from our local
business types. That and the shotgun we
carry at all times (for the bears – what else?).
But what Northlake really needs is a
major source of revenue. For us in
Kyuquotsawwassan, it used to be seal blubber.
But then the cruise ships started arriving and
life got a whole lot better. The town smelled
nicer too. So now we have about six ships a
week docking at our deep water harbor, en
route for Alaska and spilling out thousands of
whale-watchers hungry for pizza and authentic
souvenirs. Since I thought of levying a tax on
hand-carved miniature Native Canadian totem
poles, we have not looked back.
How about exploiting the potential of your
own waterways? I appreciate boaters on the
Grand Midland Canal are maybe not going to
see orca, humpback whales or elephant seals,
but you have some cute wildlife here I believe
– what about those little water voles that are
supposed to be making a comeback? Think
positive! At least if visitors fell into the water
they wouldn’t get eaten! The boost to the
Northlake economy could be huge.
Anyway, just a few thoughts from me.
It ’s been a fun vacation here. If any of you
find yourself in Kyuquotsawwassan, just
give me a call!
“At our local authority I’m not only General Revenues Manager but also Planning Inspector, Tourism Development Manager, Deputy Chief of the Volunteer Fire Brigade and Skunk Warden.”
