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Salford City Council - Record of Decision
 
I Councillor Jack Youd, Lead
Member for Finance, Support Services and Industrial Relations, in exercise of the powers
contained within the Council Constitution, do hereby:
 
Approve, in accordance with the Local
Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations
2012, the amount 76,722 calculated by Salford City Council as its
council tax base for the financial year 2024/25.
 
The reason is:
The council is required to calculate the council tax
base for 2024/25. This "base" figure, expressed as the number of
band D equivalent properties in the city, is, for council tax
purposes, a fundamental element in the tax-setting
process.
 
Options considered and rejected
were: Other
estimates to reflect changes in the next financial year.
 
Assessment of Risk:
The Tax Base figure is
fundamental to the setting of the council tax levy and hence to the
whole budget process. Setting a tax base that is too low would
prevent the council from drawing the full amount of tax collected
from the collection fund in 2024/25, while setting a tax base that
is too high would create a deficit in the collection fund. However,
in normal years the exercise is regarded as low risk because:
-

·        
the starting figures are provided by the Valuation
Office and a year-on-year comparison of figures is undertaken by
the DLUHC and attention drawn to possible anomalies (if
any);
 

·        
the method of calculation is well-established and
familiar, and figures are checked for "reasonableness" and their
fit with expectations. While an element of judgement
needs to be made on
future anticipated dwelling changes, these are based on research
and information from other council sources.
 
The source of funding
is: N/A
 
Legal Advice obtained:
Jeanette Williams, Principal
Solicitor
The Local Authorities (Calculation of
Council Tax base) (England) Regulations 2012 set out the rules for
calculation of the Council Tax base, which is an amount required to
be used in the calculation of Council Tax by billing authorities
and major precepting authorities and in the calculation of the
amount of a precept payable by each billing authority to a major
precepting authority.
 
Under the rules, the council tax base is,
in essence, the number of dwellings in an area belonging to each
valuation band, modified to take account of the proportion applying
to dwellings in each band, discounts, reductions under a Council
Tax reductions scheme and the proportion of the Council Tax for the
year which the billing authority expects to be able to
collect.
 
The Levelling-Up and
Regeneration Act 2023 (the ‘2023 Act), came into force
on 26th October 2023.
Section 79 of the 2023 Act allows billing
authorities to make a decision to charge
of a premium for empty homes after a minimum of 1 year empty rather
than 2 years.
 
Financial Advice obtained: The report is produced by the
corporate accountancy team.
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: N/A
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
 

·        
Local Government Finance Act 1992

·        
The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax
Base) (England) Regulations 2012
·        
Various Working Papers
in the Finance division of Service Reform.
 
Contact Officer:
 David Eden    Tel No. 793 3228       e-mail:
david.eden@salford.gov.uk
 
 
This decision is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel to call-in
the decision is the Overview
and Scrutiny Board.
 
 

Signed: Councillor Jack Youd                                               
Dated: 5th January 2024
Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and Industrial
Relations
 

 
This decision was published on
5th January 2024.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 12th January 2024, unless it is called-in in accordance with the
decision-making process rules.