Complaints about discount reviews

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me.

Kind regards,

David Cooke
Corporate Information Officer

Business Improvement
South Oxfordshire District Council
Direct phone: 01491 823515
Email: [1][email address]

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For the attention of K. Hodgkinson

Dear Sir or Madame,

Many thanks for your freedom of information request, which was received on
the 15 March 2010 and passed to me to investigate and respond accordingly.

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in replying.

I can confirm that when any new council tax account is created the
database will automatically apply the assumption that 2 or more adults
(over 18 years old) are resident at the address and as such no reduction
in liability is automatically assumed. However, should exact occupancy
information be known, or can be ascertained, which meets the required
qualifying criteria for a discount to apply, then the council tax bill
will be issued reflecting the reduced chargeable amount.

Likewise, if a subsequent application is made for a council tax discount
or exemption to be applied then, providing the relevant qualifying
criteria is met, the council tax account would be amended accordingly and
the council tax bill or adjustment notice would be issued reflecting the
reduced chargeable amount.

Concerning single occupancy discount, if confirmation is received from the
occupier that he/she is the sole resident then a 25% discount will be
applied to the account accordingly.

Currently there are 17,636 households within the district in receipt of a
council tax discount and of this total 15,988 are in receipt of a 25%
single person discount. After the initial discount request has been
processed, and the bill issued accordingly, periodic reviews will be
carried out on all discounts awarded. This is not the council creating
unnecessary work but is to help ensure the council tax records are
accurate. I am sure you can appreciate that individual circumstances can
and do change on a regular basis. On many occasions these changes are not
immediately brought to the council's attention, as such audits are carried
out to make sure the council is taking reasonable steps to maximise the
accuracy of its records and to monitor and help satisfy itself that the
reductions in place are still relevant.

In addition to the council tax database being amended and updated every
day, as a result of revised and/or new information being received, the
council also conducts hundreds of property inspections each month and
issues bulk review letters annually before the next round of annual bills
are issued. Therefore, in order to satisfy the council that the chargeable
amount should be subject to any discount, such as a 25% single person
discount, taxpayers are required to periodically complete a declaration,
or provide confirmation when asked, as per Paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 of
the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Regulation 14 Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations
1992 (S.I.1992/613) provides that Billing Authorities must take
reasonable steps to ascertain any entitlement to a discount. No specific
method for obtaining information about discounts is prescribed although
Billing Authorities must be satisfied that reasonable steps have been
taken in relation to every property for which a council tax demand is
issued.

In summary, before and after the demand is issued we believe `reasonable
steps' are being taken to ascertain any entitlement to a discount.

In August 2009 1,784 single person discount reminders were issued. Due to
the quantity of notices issued throughout the financial year actual copies
of the reminder letters sent are not retained. However, each one is
barcoded, which allows the council tax database to be updated with minimal
human intervention. The individual's council tax account will show when
the review form was produced, the date it was issued, when it was
returned, and if the account was subject to any change as a result. All
returned forms are scanned into our document management system and then
indexed against that person's unique council tax account reference. A
reminder would have only been generated on accounts where verification had
not previously been received despite earlier requests.

This review exercise will be conducted on an annual basis, in accordance
with the agreement in place between Capita (the service supplier) and
South Oxfordshire District Council.

I am more than happy to investigate any particular case(s) that you may be
aware of where you believe the council tax payer was not happy with the
process, application, handling, or review of their account.

I hope this helps clarify the position but do not hesitate in contacting
me if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards,

Trevor

Trevor Gaffney, Revenues Manager, Capita Local Government Services for
and on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council, 01491 823560

Name: K Hodgkinson

Email address: [1][FOI #30742 email]

Requested format: By email

Dear South Oxfordshire District Council,

I note that in August 2009 you received several complaints about
single person discount review reminders. This is puzzling as you
are supposed to take reasonable steps to ascertain entitlement
before making any calculations for the bill, not some months
afterwards.

Please provide me with redacted copies of the reminders which
prompted these complaints.

Please also provide me with background papers relating to the basis
of the 'reviews' in question.

I would like to know how many review reminders were sent out and
why. Please provide background papers and other information
explaining these reviews and how they dovetail with council tax law.

Yours faithfully,

K Hodgkinson

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Attn: K Hodgkinson

Dear sir or madame,

Thank you for your email.

I appreciate you requested copies of the reminder letters which prompted
complaints and to remove any personal detail from each, however, as
explained in my previous response, due to the quantity of notices issued
throughout the financial year copies of the individual review reminder
letters are not retained. It is therefore not possible to send you actual
copies of any reminder which resulted in a complaint being made.

However, if it helps, I can state that the wording (other than the council
taxpayers address and account number), would be the same on all our system
generated reminder templates and I have typed out the wording used, which
is as follows:

Name www.SOUTHOXON.GOV.UK

Address Telephone: 0845 612 2422

Code: Acc number: Date:

Council Tax

Sole adult resident discount review - 2^nd Request

Dear Mr ...,

You are currently in receipt of a 25% reduction on your Council tax as you
are the only adult resident in your home.

In order to keep the council's records up to date all discounts are
reviewed regularly. I wrote to you recently asking you to confirm if you
are still the sole adult resident in the property but I have not yet
received any reply. Please can I ask you to complete and return this form
to the above address within 14 days of the date shown.

Please be aware that failure to return this form will result in your
discount being stopped.

Yours sincerely...

1. I confirm that only one adult (over the age of 18) is resident in
the property.

SIGNITURE:__________________DATE:

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Dear K Hodgkinson,

Apologies for any confusion, however, your initial email asked for copies
of the single person review reminders which prompted a complaint. Your
subsequent email further confirmed it was only copies of the letters which
provoked a complaint. As it was the issuing and receipt of the review
reminder that generated a complaint being received it was solely the
review reminder I expanded on for you, and also provided the wording
contained on those reminders. However, I appreciate from your latest email
you require the initial review letter as well.

In answer to your other question within the opening paragraph, I would
like to state that it is not possible to copy and paste these documents.
As previously explained, copies of these notices are not retained and
furthermore are not in a format that will allow them to be easily copied
and pasted into any other format. They are system generated, using data
extracted directly from the council tax database (Academy) and sent on a
data file to our external printers. The file does not contain individual
letters, as you may think, but contains what is called `Header Strings',
which lists system account references, names and addresses - no text. As
the content of each review letter is identical, with the exception of the
name, address and account number, our external printers hard code the
wording we wish to use directly into their programme, which is designed to
accept these `header strings' to be added, printed and issued accordingly.
Any amendment to the wording contained on the printers embedded template
requires a revised template to be created from scratch and the old one
deleted. In short, the majority of letters issued are not `Word' documents
and the processes involved do not easily allow human intervention to alter
them.

If you believe I have not understood any part of your request or
misinterpreted what it is you require then please feel free to contact me
on 01491 823560 so we can discuss this matter further. I certainly do not
wish to enter into any protracted correspondence if it can be avoided.

Taking the above into account and in an attempt to now satisfy your
request I have also provided two scanned images. One is of a Sole
Occupancy Review letter and the other is of the Review Reminder. I have
also visited the council's complaints log and have ascertained that during
2009 there were 4 complaints logged relating to review letters and from
looking at each one I can state that all 4 were as a direct result of the
Review Reminder being received:

Complaint 1 - Had received a review reminder but stated had already
returned the original one.

Result following our investigation = No Trace of form being received.
Reply issued accordingly.

Complaint 2 - Unhappy with reminder - "the letter misrepresents the
position stating that the 25% discount is only available where there is a
sole adult resident. This is untrue". Also, unhappy that no prepaid
envelope was enclosed.

Result following our investigation = Explanation was provided, which
included Section 11 of Local Government Finance Act 1992 stating that a
25% discount applies where:

1. There is only one resident (over 18 years old) who does not fall to
be disregarded, and

2. There are two or more residents where all except one fall within the
disregard categories.

The two options to receive a 25% discount have different criteria and as
such, are reviewed separately. The review letters we have recently issued
relate solely to properties occupied by `one resident', which is reflected
on the council bills as "25% sole adult resident discount".

Complaint 3 - Unhappy with receiving a review reminder, as had
not received any previous letter.

Result following our investigation = Explanation issued,
advising of the date the opening review letter was issued by 2^nd class
mail.

Complaint 4 - Unhappy with receiving a review reminder, as had not
received any previous review letter.

Result following our investigation = Explanation issued, advising of the
date the opening review letter was issued and by 2^nd class mail

I would also like to add that the wording contained on the template
letters being used by Capita were agreed with South Oxfordshire District
Council in advance and the review procedures adopted by Capita are purely
in accordance with the council's requirements, as detailed in my email of
the 15 April 2010.

I do not wish to heavily deviate from your actual FOI request; however, I
feel it appropriate to advise that once a discount is awarded it does not
mean that that entitlement will apply for the whole of the coming year.
Council tax billing allows for the fact that most demand notices are
issued in advance and that the actual liability may alter during the
financial year due, for example, changes in residence or discount. The
principle underlying the legislation is that bills issued in advance are
`estimates' of the amount that will be due for the full year if
circumstances remain unchanged. The bill is payable on the basis of the
estimate made and if subsequently there is an alteration in the billing
amount, an Adjustment Notice will be issued.

In calculating the estimate of the amount due, the relevant reliefs should
be applied in the following order: -

. Disabled relief;

. Discount;

. Transitional relief; and

. Council tax benefit.

Adjustment Notices

Regulation 31(1) (SI.1992/613) provides that when the amount chargeable to
a council taxpayer changes, after the issue of the bill, the council must
issue an Adjustment Notice, (for example, the council has adjusted the
dates of liability, or amended any entitlement to a discount).

As you will see from the above complaint details, the grounds for
complaint in each of these cases (with the exception of 1) was not linked
with the actual legislation, or interpretation of what the council can and
cannot do but mainly associated with correspondence going astray.

Just to recap, I believe you now have details of the wording contained on
all of our sole occupancy review documents. I have also supplied details
of the complaints logged during 2009 relating to these documents and a
very brief summary for each. All of the cases mentioned would have been
issued with both of the attachment letters. I believe this should now
fully cover your information request.

In response to your final question about what steps are taken by the
council in response to complaints, I would state the following: The
council has a complete complaints procedure in place and if the taxpayer
remains unhappy with any response to a complaint then they can invoke the
next stage in this process. You may wish to visit the council's website
[1]www.southoxon.gov.uk to view this 3 tiered procedure (detailed under
complaints). Concerning any errors made by the Service Provider (Capita),
this ultimately can lead to Performance Notices being issued, which
Capita's Business Centre Manager is then required to explain and address
in front of the council's board members. Penalties for failures can also
come into force, in accordance with the requirements of the contract. All
complaints made through the council are closely monitored and logged.
Regular review meetings are held between the council and Capita to discuss
performance and any other issues.

I trust the above is of help but please contact me on 01491 823560 if you
believe anything has been missed.

Kind regards,

Trevor Gaffney

Dear Gaffney, Trevor (LGS),

You have provided me with a reminder and not with the initial

letter. I am sorry, but I do not see that your excuses validate a

failure to comply with a simple request for a copy of the format of

the letters, redacted to omit personal information. Have you never

heard of 'cut and paste'?

Please supply this information as soon as possible.

May I point out that this second letter unfairly and wrongly states

council tax law. No discount is ever deducted on the 'basis' stated

in this letter. If you read the legal briefing on council tax

discount law provided by the Audit Commission Legal Officer you

will see that the discount is deducted at the start of the tax year

on the basis that entitlement to a 25% discount will apply for the

whole of the coming year.

If it is not then the council has committed maladministration.

This, one has to assume, is the reason for the complaints. People

do not like being misinformed.

You may be confusing the structure of Capita's data base with the

legal basis under which the discount operates. The two do not

correspond.

Coupled with false information set out in other places by

Oxfordshire councils using Capita, this is something which the

council should be investigating.

May I ask a second question which is what steps were taken by the

council in response to complaints? How is the council going to

ensure that the cause for the complaints is dealt with at source?

Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,

K Hodgkinson

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Dear K Hodgkinson,

Although I have removed the name (from the address field), the address and
also the account details from the documents attached to my last email I
have noticed that I failed to remove the name on the 1^st review letter
under `Dear...', which also should have been blank.

As such, although no address or account details are displayed I feel it
appropriate to get this attachment removed from the Whatdotheyknow
website. Would you require me to forward another one so that the review
letter does appear on their website?

Regards,

Trevor Gaffney

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Dear K Hodgkinson,

As detailed in my previous email, all but one of the complaints raised
were relating to postal issues - nothing to do with the actual wording of
the review letter or the interpretation of the legislation. I am therefore
unclear why you feel there has been a history of complaints concerning
this - there has not.

Concerning the term `sole occupancy discount', I agree this wording is not
contained within the legislation, however, it is a frequently used term
which has been adopted by the council since council tax commenced back in
1993 and is also a term which is understood by our taxpayers. I appreciate
you mention about households with more than one occupant and the other
occupant(s) is disregarded, however, for all those particular cases
separate review letters are issued and the term Sole Occupancy does not
appear on any. The reason these cases are reviewed separately, from those
where we know there to be only 1 resident, is because there are numerous
situations where an occupier could be disregarded for council tax
purposes, such as: students, care workers, hospital patients, visiting
forces etc and this are looked at individually (full list of disregards
are contained within Schedule 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992).
Each disregard type has its own standard review template with appropriate
wording to capture the reason why the other occupant is disregarded.

The council must get the balance right when issuing letters and of the
16,500 review letters issued every year to date I have not received a
single complaint or even an enquiry about the term `Sole Occupancy'. Using
other titles such as: Discount of 25% (Section 11(1) Local Government
Finance Act 1992) - Only 1 resident who does not fall to be disregarded,
would in our opinion create confusion and unnecessarily overcomplicate
matters for the purpose of the review.

Regarding your final sentence, please find attached a further copy of the
discount review form.

The council believes your Freedom of Information request has been
fulfilled and therefore considers this matter closed.

Regards,

Trevor Gaffney

Dear Gaffney, Trevor (LGS),

I can see why you received complaints about these letters.

You sent out letters telling a lot of completely innocent people

that they were committing a crime. This sort of thing generally

gives rise to complaints.

In the initial letter you make a number of completely false

assertions. These include a false statement that it is a crime not

to declare a person over the age of 18 who lives in a house. This

is complete nonsense.

The letter also makes a false statement about the basis of the

discount. You will see if you refer to the law that the amount must

by law be deducted at the start of the year on the basis that the

same amount and rate of discount will apply for the whole of the

coming year. Only if this assumption proves to be incorrect does

the taxpayer have any duty to inform the council.

People in receipt of this letter would have been wholly justified

in complaining.

Few things are more annoying than being informed by a council that

a perfectly legal situation is a crime.

The letter refers to a 'sole occupant' discount. There is no such

thing as a sole occupant discount. This term is even more

misleading than the term 'single person discount' - another term

that appears nowhere in council tax law.

It is perfectly legal to have a second adult living in your house

when council tax data bases record only one.

The only situation in which this would be unlawful would be when

the second adult affected the discount ie did not fall to be

disregarded.

The question is whether the council knew it was sending out letters

stating the legal position falsely and was trying to frighten

people or whether this was just a 'cock up'.

I wonder whether you could clarify this for me please.

You mention audits. This matter has been raised with the Audit

Commission which has published a great deal of misleading

information on this subject.

For your information, the Audit Commission has posted on this web

site a full review of council tax discount law relating to just

this question. This review, by their legal officer, says that 'of

course' it is not a crime to be receiving a discount in this

situation.

Therefore, what you say about auditors suggests that your own

auditor may be ill informed. I suggest that if they give you any

trouble on this issue you refer them to the legal advice provided

to the Audit Commission by its own solicitor!

Regarding the repeated threats to cancel discounts for non reply to

letters: this action would of course be a flagrant breach of the

law governing adjusted demand notices and the taxpayer would have

several rights, including a right of appeal to a tribunal, which

could make the council carry out its legal obligation to deduct the

appropriate amount.

The fact that you have posted the real name of a person on line is

ironic since the misuse of personal information kept electronically

on badly designed data bases would appear to be at the heart of

this problem.

I would suggest that you provide a properly redacted version of the

document in question.

Yours sincerely,

K Hodgkinson

This email and any attachment to it are confidential. Unless you are the
intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose either the message
or any information contained in the message. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should delete this email and notify the sender immediately.

Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender
only, unless otherwise stated. All copyright in any Capita material in
this email is reserved.

All emails, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded by Capita and monitored
for legitimate business purposes.

Capita exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising or resulting
from the receipt, use or transmission of this email to the fullest extent
permitted by law.