Questions about Council tax single person discount review.

susansue

I am a volunteer at a local advice centre. The local council is carrying out a Single Person Discount review, handled for the first time by Capita. Whilst I can help with general questions, I know that many other areas have already gone through this process, so I hope there is knowledge and actual experience to answer some more specific questions already raised by clients of CAB colleagues:

1. Do these review letters go out to all claimants of this discount, or only to those already identified by Capita as suspect?
2. Are the credit and data checks automatically carried out on the addresses of all claimants who respond to the letter?
3. If a claimant fails to respond to the letter, they will lose their SPD, Does nil response also automaticallyntrigger an investigation?
4. What happens if a claimant continues to claim, and is caught later by a credit or data check ?
5. What happens if a claimant now owns up, and offers to pay off the arrears? Is there any further action or repercussions?
6. If a claimant can only afford to pay the arrears in small increments. Is that likely to be acceptable?
7. Can the types of check used reveal when a 2nd occupant moved in, or just the present/recent occupancy?
8. Would the checks find someone with no driving licence, no credit or credit cards, and not on an electoral roll? *
9. Do I need to prove / how do I prove that someone is using my address just to receive correspondence? *

* (There are quite a number of 'off grid' and semi-travelling folk locally. Some also move in with friends for the winter months.)

I am sure further questions will be asked!. 

I hope I have posted this in the correct forum area.

CIS

1)

Depends on the council.

2)

Depends on whether or not it's a targeted review.

3)

That would be up to the council.

4)
The council withdraw entitlement and could prosecute for fraud.

5)

They'll proably just withdraw it, but the could prosecute. They may also issue a penalty notice.

6)

Up to the council and depends on when the arrears are from and how much.

7)

Depends on what and how they check.

8)

Possibly, depending on what checks are done.

9)

That rests on the facts of the individual case.

Discount arguements can rest a lot on 'sole or main residence'. A full argument on this is above what CAB can really assist with and would be in to specialist territory (I work dealing with council tax cases and valuation tribunals - they're often a deep dive in to legislation and case law).

susansue

CIS,  Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for your answers which clarify the general position,
I am still hoping to hear from others (advisors or claimants) regarding how these matters were actually handled by other councils in practice.

CIS

susansue said:

CIS,  Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for your answers which clarify the general position,
I am still hoping to hear from others (advisors or claimants) regarding how these matters were actually handled by other councils in practice.

They're handled exactly as I mentioned - every council deals with them differently. I deal with councils all over the country and each  does it diifferently (even the council I worked with for a decade did it differently each year). There's a 1001 different permutations of how it can be done and a lot depends on the facts of the individual case.

poppy12345

susansue said:

I am still hoping to hear from others (advisors or claimants)

You won't get better advice from anyone else. CIS has been on the forum for a long time giving good advice regarding council tax.

susansue

Thanks again for the replies, and I'm sorry if I appeared ungrateful. You will understand that I was hoping to gain information, maybe from claimants, to be able to respond to clients with "Other people have found that..." or "In many cases...", rather than just "It depends".-Even if it does!

CIS

poppy12345 said:

You won't get better advice from anyone else. CIS has been on the forum for a long time giving good advice regarding council tax.

Just looked out of complete curiosity how long I have been registered - 16 years. Time flies.

emmajones1976

Surely the only advice needed is if you have been honest in claiming this then you have nothing to worry about?

MalMonroe

You said "The local council is carrying out a Single Person Discount review, handled for the first time by Capita". So wouldn't the council and Capita have the best answers to the particular questions you have asked? Someone from your advice agency could have a meeting with respective representatives from both, which I think should have happened in the first instance, before the review began. Then you'd know how to answer the questions you're asked.

I'd imagine that everyone who receives a discount will be contacted, whether they are 'suspect' or not. Otherwise the results are biased from the outset. Assumptions cannot be the right way forward where government departments are concerned, surely?

poppy12345

CIS said:

poppy12345 said:

You won't get better advice from anyone else. CIS has been on the forum for a long time giving good advice regarding council tax.

Just looked out of complete curiosity how long I have been registered - 16 years. Time flies.

Wow that's a long time!

CIS

MalMonroe said:

I'd imagine that everyone who receives a discount will be contacted, whether they are 'suspect' or not. Otherwise the results are biased from the outset. Assumptions cannot be the right way forward where government departments are concerned, surely?

How the council review it is entirely down to them. It's quite common that certain situations are targetted in reviews. Not all reviews are of every discount in place. They may, for example, review every one that has been in place for more than 2 years or they may choose those that hit any one of a number of different criteria.