The Joint Committee approved a budget of £12,397,698 for 2025-26 and agreed to the adoption of the Anglia Revenues Partnership [ARP] Service Delivery Plan for 2025-26, as well as a proposal to expand the service to cover the collection of sundry debt on behalf of all of the partner councils. It also agreed to enter into a Section 113 Agreement with an unnamed local authority to provide Fraud and Enforcement Services, and to contract with a new Enforcement Agency Partner.

Anglia Revenues Partnership Budget 2025-26

The committee approved the proposed budget for 2025-26.

The budget has increased by £885k (7.6%) compared to last year's. The primary drivers behind this increase are salary costs including the national pay award increase (£559k), National Insurance changes in the autumn budget (£244k), software maintenance including cyber security and Microsoft licenses (£100k), a government grant reduction (£63k) and an additional efficiency target of £100k.

The recent budget announcements have not provided Local Authorities with clarity about how the increased National Insurance burden will be funded. The Committee has delegated responsibility to the Operational Improvement Board to determine the amount to be paid into the Anglia Revenues Partnership by each partner authority once the Draft Local Government Finance Settlement is announced by central government this month.

Councillor Ashton (East Suffolk DC) suggested that the Committee should consider investing more in the service in order to speed up progress toward the Partnership's vision, saying it would be better to spend a little money to reach the vision faster. The Chairman suggested that officers were best placed to consider this, and that any additional investment would require a business case.

Councillor Cowen (Breckland Council) agreed, saying:

this should be dealt with the Head of [the Anglia Revenues Partnership] and the Team of Officers to come up with some thoughts to establish what that balance might be and look to see if any further radical changes to the organisation could be made. Great work was already being done in terms of transformation and automation and this could be the platform going forward.

Anglia Revenues Partnership Joint Committee Service Plan and Risk Register Report

The Committee adopted the Anglia Revenues Partnership Service Delivery Plan and Risk Register for 2025-26.

The Service Delivery Plan is divided into two sections - a service plan, which describes both business-as-usual and innovative activities, and a risk matrix.

The plan directly supports the 2024-28 Business Plan for the Partnership and is structured around its five key strategic priorities: Customers, Relationships, Colleagues, Digital and Sustainability.

The plan sets out the Partnership's intention to:

• Continue to improve performance reporting, using new technologies where appropriate.
• Monitor workloads and resource levels, forecasting for anticipated changes and reporting regularly to the Operational Improvement Board.
• Develop online facilities to enable customers to self-serve.
• Focus on customer insights and improvement to customer service, including a partnership-wide workshop planned for 2025.
• Continue to invest in improving the customer experience.
• Expand Fraud and Enforcement services through promotion and networking.
• Influence national initiatives such as Universal Credit and Business Rates reform.
• Enhance data sharing to help inform service redesign.
• Further expand support function groups through workshops, improved performance reporting and sharing experience.
• Maintain a flexible workforce.
• Develop a plan to ensure business continuity and resilience in key roles.
• Continue to work with HR to develop and implement the partnership-wide leadership development programme.
• Continue to focus on automation.
• Plan ahead to procure efficient and effective systems.
• Continue to work with empty properties teams to maximise the tax base.
• Continue to plan resource against expected workload to achieve a balanced budget.
• Consider and promote the partner councils' green agendas.

The risk register highlights several risks that the partnership is monitoring and managing. These include:

• The need to monitor the impact of Universal Credit on customers and grant income.
• Potential reduction in funding from central government or county council partners.
• Business continuity.
• External factors that could impact on the Annual Billing deadlines being met.
• The impact of appeals on business rates retained.
• The cost of living's impact on customers' propensity to pay.
• Fraud and error.
• Housing Benefit subsidy loss.

Councillor Horgan (East Cambs DC) congratulated the Anglia Revenues Partnership team for recently winning the Revenues and/or Local Taxation Team of the Year (Unitary or Joint Working) at the National Institute of Revenues Rating & Valuation (IRRV) Awards. He asked for clarification of what was meant by low risk when referring to data breaches in the report. The Head of the Anglia Revenues Partnership explained:

It could be in terms of incorrect contact details, wrong address or it could be the fault of the postman delivering to the wrong house. It was pointed out that out of 1.2m letters only 36 contained the incorrect data.

Sundry Debt Provision Report

The Committee approved a proposal to provide a consistent service for the collection of sundry debt on behalf of all partner councils.

This work will be funded by the retention of 15% of the value of all sundry debts collected. Based on data from East Suffolk Council, the largest of the partners, this would equate to approximately £5,691 per year.

The Principal Fraud, Enforcement and Recovery Manager (ARP) told the committee that Fenland District Council had opted out of the scheme, but would be able to join it in the future if they change their mind.

Partnership working through a Section 113 Agreement

The Committee agreed to enter into a Section 113 Agreement with an unnamed local authority to provide fraud and enforcement services on their behalf.

This work will be funded by the local authority, on a full cost recovery basis.

The committee was told that the agreement would last for a minimum of two years and would begin on 01 April 2025.

Additional Anglia Revenues Partnership Enforcement Agency Partner

The Committee agreed to contract with a new Enforcement Agency Partner.

The new partner will provide additional capacity to the Partnership's existing team of Enforcement Agents.