Contact: Jon Pittam, ext 7400

1 Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

1.2 That Cabinet notes the attached report on the enquiries and complaints received about the County Council's council tax and budget for 2004/05.

2 Reason(s)

2.1 This decision supports aim 5 of the Corporate Strategy, improving services.

2.2 To provide feedback on the public's response to the County Council's 2004/05 budget and to the increase in the County Council's council tax of 4.7%.

3 Other options considered and rejected

3.1 Not applicable.

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted

4.1 Not applicable.

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 Not applicable.

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

7 Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor T.K Thornber, C.B.E.

Contact Colin Hudman, ext 7054

1 Summary

1.1 This report summarises statistics on the letters, emails and telephone calls received as a result of the County Council's 2004/05 council tax and budget. It includes enquiries to Information Centres and the County Treasurer's Department, but not those made directly to County Councillors.

2 Background

2.1 In November 2003 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his pre-budget statement that an extra £340m would be allocated to councils in England and Wales to keep council tax rises to low single figures. Furthermore the Chancellor announced in his budget in April 2004, that the Government would make a £100 contribution towards the council tax bills for the over 70's in 2004/05. These measures were in response to widespread criticism from the public about council tax rises in 2003/04.

2.2 For 2004/05 the Government increased its threats to cap the budgets of councils setting excessive increases and removed the protection against capping for `Excellent' and `Good' councils in the CPA assessment. The Government announced on 29 April 2004 that it was proposing to cap the budgets of 7 councils and make further councils subject to `controls' in 2005/06. Though following representations from these councils it now appears unlikely that all 7 will be capped in 2004/05. None of these are authorities in Hampshire.

2.3 The County Council set a council tax rise of 4.7% for 2004/05; the lowest increase in the County Council's council tax ever and the lowest increase in local taxation for 20 years. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority set its own council tax for the first time in 2004/05. The actual tax rises in 2004/05 are:

Hampshire County Council Hampshire Police Authority	4.7% 11.4%
England Counties average with CFAs England Counties average without CFAs	5.4% 5.0%
Hampshire Districts	2.5% to 11.5%
Overall Hampshire area	5.7% to 6.9%
Hampshire average	6.0%
England overall average (pre-capping)	5.9%

2.4 The County Council provides a budget leaflet to accompany every council tax bill issued by the district councils to the 525,000 council tax payers in Hampshire. The leaflet tells people how to contact the County Council if they require further information about the budget. The public also contact the County Council's Information Centres with queries and complaints about the council tax.

2.5 The more technical questions are answered by staff in the County Treasurer's Department.

3 Enquiries in 2004

3.1 Since the level of Council tax was set at 4.7%, 81 taxpayers have contacted information centres and the Treasurer's department with queries or complaints. These are analysed in the table below:

3.2 Many of the enquiries received by the Information Centres concern the person's own council tax bill, such as payment arrangements or their entitlement to benefits and discounts. These callers have been referred to the appropriate district council and are not recorded above. Other enquiries at information centres were generated by the County Council's `Claim the benefit' campaign, which encouraged pensioners on low incomes to investigate whether they were entitled to council tax benefit. These enquiries were recorded outside the normal council tax queries data collection exercise and are therefore also not included above. They are currently being analysed by Corporate Communications.

3.3 Most of the calls were from taxpayers wishing to complain about the level of the council tax or seeking further information about the budget. These were referred to the County Treasurer's Department. (The statistics have been adjusted to avoid double-counting calls passed on by the Information Centres).

4 Concerns raised directly with County Treasurer's staff

4.1 The enquiries dealt with by the County Treasurer's Department represent the core of those that wished to raise points of substance. The number of enquiries dealt with by the Department in 2004 at 64 was significantly lower than the previous year's total of 175 (when the County Council council tax rise was 15%), and remains a small proportion of the total number of council taxpayers. The trends are shown in the following table:

5 Questions asked

5.1 The 64 enquirers dealt with by the County Treasurer's Department raised 88 issues. Inevitably the majority of enquirers were either seeking further clarification or had negative comments to make. The issues can be grouped into the following categories.

Complaint re size of council tax increase	13
Detailed budget query	12
Queries about adjustment made for separate fire precept	10
Presentation of figures on bill, including presentation of fire precept
increase as "0%" in some districts (paragraph 6.2)	9
Comment on leaflet /Hampshire Now/ website	6
Queries about pay inflation and total staff costs	5
Queries about increase in staff numbers	5
Service related complaints	4
General queries about the council tax	3
Queries about eligibility and timing of £100 pensioner payment	3
Queries regarding funding of the County Council's pension fund	3
Pensioners directly expressing reluctance to enquire about benefits	3
Queries regarding County Council spending on asylum seekers	2
Queries about council tax banding	2
Queries about councillor's allowances	2
Complaints arising from perception that services/resources are being prioritised to favour immigrants	2
Queries/complaints about the police authority council tax increase	2
Other	2

6 Council tax increase

6.1 The majority of queries related to the size of the council tax rise or related to spending on specific services and how the overall budget is funded. The low council tax rise in 2004/05 had the effect of reducing the number of complaints about the increase. Whilst many council taxpayers were angry about the increase being above inflation or the annual rise in the pension, a small number felt that the increase was `reasonable' or `lower than expected'.

6.2 A number of queries were raised as a result of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority setting its own council tax for the first time. In presenting the Fire Authority council tax on the bills, the majority of district councils left the percentage-change column blank or inserted a dash as specified in the regulations. However some district councils found that the computer software used to calculate figures on the bill required a figure in the percentage change column. Therefore for taxpayers living in these districts Hampshire Fire and Rescue was represented incorrectly as having a 0% increase in their council tax for 2004/05.

6.3 The separate Fire Authority precept also created confusion for some taxpayers over the County Council's council tax. In accordance with Government regulations taxpayers' bills showed the change in council tax unadjusted for the change in fire precept, therefore suggesting that the council tax had decreased by 0.5% for 2004/05. A footnote to the bill countered this false impression, explaining that the 2003/04 and 2004/05 council taxes were not comparable. In addition the County Council's budget leaflet, the budget article in Hampshire Now and budget related press releases explained that the real increase in the council tax was 4.7%.

6.4 There is some correlation between the number of complaints about the council tax over the last eight years and the size of the increase in the tax, as the following graph shows.

7 Council tax and pensioners

7.1 Although it is not possible to ask too many questions about callers' personal circumstances, some volunteered that they were pensioners or on fixed incomes whose total income, whilst not rising as fast as the council tax, is still above the threshold for council tax benefits. Few, if any, of the calls were from people on low incomes who were unaware of their eligibility for benefits. Some callers on low incomes showed that they were aware of the benefits systems but were unwilling to investigate whether they were eligible due to pride. Other calls appeared to be from those more able to pay but who were concerned about having to contribute towards the costs of services for others.

7.2 Claim the Benefit campaign leaflets were included with all written responses to council taxpayers queries and, where the taxpayer mentioned that they were a pensioner, the campaign was specifically mentioned.

8 Analysis by district council area

8.1 The districts from which enquiries originated are analysed in the following table:

8.2 There are probably too few enquiries, and too many whose district origin is unknown to extract a clear pattern from this table. In fact, one of the more "affluent" districts (East Hampshire) has generated the most enquiries per 10,000 taxpayers whilst Gosport (which also had the largest council tax rise) received among the least.

9 Recommendation

1 That the report be noted.

Section 100D Local Government Act 1972 background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Council Taxpayer's queries 2004/05 (CT/CF/F145a)

Appendix 1

Sample of comments received by County Treasurer's Department

"Your aim should be to keep council tax increases to no more than inflation. If you were in the private sector you would be moving towards bankruptcy!!! Next year I expect your costs to increase by no more than inflation. Ideally you should come in less than inflation to demonstrate that you really are working hard on behalf of your public."

"You pat yourselves on the back because your 4.7% council tax increase was the lowest for 20 years. Every year well above inflation. I would say that was a record of which to be ashamed!"

"Every year I complain and get told by Fareham Council that it is Hampshire County Council's fault, which blame the Government, who blame the Councils. Each agency I complain to results in getting fobbed off every year by very polite and sympathetic letters and then expected to go away. What no one has ever told me is how I can find the money to pay for these diabolical price hikes and when, if ever they will stop. Although pensioners have been "bought off" by the budget, what about the normal hard working family (including civil servants), who are struggling to make ends meet and are not eligible to tax relief or handouts. "

"I have just received my new council tax bill. As a 75 year old disabled pensioner who over the years have seen my pensions unable to meet the rises I pay out. I am one of the rebels refusing to pay the council tax until I get some true answers.... As a policeman's widow I do not look forward to court or prison - which you have threatened me with, but someone has to stick up for the pensioners."

"Health care, law enforcement, and education still suffer massive shortages in manpower thus limiting the facilities they are able to provide and yet we are still expected to pay increased bills."

"I have recently received your demand for Council tax for 2004/05 and once again it far exceeds inflation. Private business cannot increase prices without the likelhood of losing business, but it appears local authorities can implement increases without any regard for economic consequences. Your council must be able to find more efficient ways of working to keep costs down."

"I am appalled by the increase in this tax.  It has increased by many times more than inflation.  This is not acceptable.  Before I decide whether to pay the increase above inflation or not would you please answer the following questions. - 1: what payround increase has been allowed for in the 2004/2005 budget?  I want this as a percentage increase over this year please. 2: what has been the increase in manpower charged against operational costs for council services? 3: what increase has there been in councillor costs? 4: what efficiency gains have been built into the 2004/2005 budget?"