To: All Parish and Town Council Chairman Copied to: Parish and Town Council Clerks From: Paul Cresswell, Corporate Director (s151)

Localisation of Council Tax Support Scheme 2013/2014 Impact on Parish Councils

You may be aware that the Government have determined that Council Tax Benefit will end on the 31 March 2013 and Local Authorities will have their own ‘Local Council Tax Support Schemes’. The funding for Authorities for these schemes has been cut by 10% lower than the current spend on Council Tax Benefit.

The Council has considered this at various times this year and the most recent report can be found as agenda item 14 at:

http://democracy.ryedale.gov.uk/documents/g967/Public%20reports%20pack%2006th-Dec- 2012%2018.30%20Policy%20and%20Resources%20Committee.pdf?T=10

The Legislation was only passed in October this year, however the authorities have worked to a ‘Statement of Intent’ issued by the Government earlier this year. This included an obligation to consult with the Major Preceptors (North County Council, Fire and Rescue and North Yorkshire Police Authority). This took place in July/August and public consultation took place in September and October.

On the 26 November 2012, having consulted on two options, the Government announced how the impact of Localisation of Council Tax Support on Parish Councils would be managed.

Impact on Parishes of the Government Decision: The Localisation of Council Tax Support affects the Council Tax Base (CTB) of every parish.

Each Parish has its own CTB, that is the number of band D property equivalents within that parish. If you take the parish precept and divide it by the Council tax base that gives the average charge per property.

The Council Tax base has to reduce by the estimated cost of Local Council Tax Support in each parish in 2013/2014. The Government have said that they will provide an additional grant for billing authorities ( DC in this case) to deal with this.

The Billing Authority can decide whether and how this grant is distributed to Parish and Town Councils. In the consultation earlier this year the indicative grant was £61,000. The final figure will be announced as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, expected on the 19 December.

You will see that the time frame for dealing with this is very short. I am proposing to produce a report for Council on the 10 January 2013 on this issue to decide on the way forward as the Council’s draft budget needs to be considered on the 7 February at the Policy and Resources Committee and at Council on the 26 February 2013. I am sure you will also want some certainty.

I attach a sheet with the CTB for each parish for 2012/13 and the proposed CTB for 2013/2014 reflecting the above. This calculation also takes into account other minor changes around Council Tax. I have then included the 2012/2013 band D precept for each parish to identify how much worse off each parish will be if no increase in the band D charge was made for 2013/2014.

You will see that some Parishes are not affected by this change and many only by small amounts. You will also see that if the Council covered this ‘loss’ in total by giving grants to Parishes affected, it would cost £65,189 and the indicative grant is £61,000.

It must be reiterated at this point that the Council will approve a scheme only for 2013/2014, future years will be considered based on the experience of next year and the grants available, therefore whatever option is chosen will be for 2013/2014 only and should not be relied upon in future years.

The likely options for the Council are:

Option Impact The Council passes on the grant received (est £61k) • The Parishes will get a grant, which does not to the parishes. fully cover the impact of the reduction in Council Tax Base • Parishes who are proposing to levy the same total precept in 2013/2014 as 2012/2013 will see the charge to residents increase. • Parishes proposing to increase the total precept in 2013/2014 compared to 2012/2013 will see the charge to residents increase by a greater amount than expected • Parishes proposing to reduce the total precept in 2013/2014 compared to 2012/2013 will see the charge to residents reduce but not perhaps by the amount previously expected. The Council provides a grant which will fully cover • Parishes who are proposing to levy the same the impact of the reduction in Council Tax Base for total precept in 2013/2014 as 2012/2013 will Parishes who set the same precept in 2013/2014 as see the charge to residents remain the same, 2012/2013. however the precept requirement will need to reduce to reflect the grant. • Parishes proposing to increase the total precept in 2013/2014 compared to 2012/2013 will see the charge to residents increase by a greater amount than expected

Importantly all Parishes who receive a grant from RDC to compensate for the reduction in their Council Tax Base arising from the Localisation of Council Tax support will need to consider whether they want to accept the grant and, if they do, whether they want to reduce their precept to reflect the grant.

I would therefore like to invite you to send a representative to a meeting on the 4 th January to discuss this in the Council Chamber at Ryedale House. I will then be able to feed back views/concerns/issues of the parishes to the Council meeting on the 10 January. We will of course accept written representations. I appreciate that you may not have a Council meeting to formally discuss this issue ahead of the 10 January.

Council officers do not have capacity to deal with calls from individual parishes to discuss this note at this time as we prepare the 2013/2014 budget; this issue is one of many as the way authorities are resourced by Government is fundamentally changing. I will attempt to deal with issues of clarification on this note via e mail to me at [email protected]

Setting Your Precept I appreciate the difficulty this late government decision causes. As stated those Authorities that have already supplied their precepts for next year may need to reconsider their position. At the meeting we can discuss the deadline for precept information for 2013/2014, but the Council will need figures in January 2013. It is important that we work together and understand each others position following this difficult late decision to ensure a smooth process for all Councils.

To Summarise: • All Parish Council Tax Bases will change for 2013/2014. • If you do not intend to levy a precept you will not be affected by this change (and therefore do not need to attend the meeting). • If you do levy a precept your income raised through your precept may be lower in 2013/2014, but there will be a grant from Ryedale District Council to offset some or all of this (subject to the decision of Council). • There are meetings on the 4 January in the morning and afternoon at Ryedale House to discuss the issue, please see below for the details of which one you should attend.

4 January Morning meeting (10am)

AMPLEFORTH SETTRINGTON APPLETON-LE-MOORS SHERBURN HELMSLEY SHERIFF HUTTON with CORNBOROUGH HESLERTON SLINGSBY KIRKBYMOORSIDE SWINTON MALTON THORNTON-LE-DALE NAWTON WEAVERTHORPE NORTON WESTOW PICKERING WILLERBY & STAXTON RILLINGTON

4 January Afternoon meeting (2pm)

ACKLAM HUTTON-LE-HOLE AISLABY MIDDLETON & WRELTON HUTTONS AMBO ALLERSTON & WILTON KIRBY MISPERTON AMOTHERBY KIRBYGRINDALYTHE BARTON-LE-STREET LASTINGHAM BARTON-LE-WILLOWS LEAVENING BARUGHS AMBO LILLINGS AMBO BEADLAM LOCKTON BIRDSALL LUTTONS BROUGHTON MARTON BULMER NEWTON-ON-RAWCLIFFE & STAPE BURYTHORPE NORMANBY BYLAND WITH WASS & OLDSTEAD NUNNINGTON CAWTON COULTON & GRIMSTONE CLAXTON & SAND HUTTON RIEVAULX CROPTON ROSEDALE EAST & WEST EBBERSTON & YEDINGHAM SCAGGLETHORPE FARNDALE EAST SCAMPSTON with E & W KNAPTON FLAXTON SINNINGTON FOSTON & THORNTON-LE-CLAY SOUTHOLME & FRYTON FOXHOLES with BUTTERWICK SPROXTON GANTON with POTTER BROMPTON TERRINGTON GATE HELMSLEY & UPPER HELMSLEY THIXENDALE GILLAMOOR THORPE BASSETT WARTHILL HABTON WELBURN (MALTON) HAROME WHITWELL-ON-THE-HILL & CRAMBE HAWNBY WINTRINGHAM & SCACKLETON WOMBLETON

The following Parishes did not levy a precept in 2012/2013 and unless you are proposing to levy a precept in 2013/2014 you do not need to attend. If you are proposing to levy a precept next year please attend the 2pm session. APPLETON-LE-STREET HOWSHAM BRANSDALE LANGTON BRAWBY LEVISHAM BUTTERCRAMBE MARISHES COLD KIRBY OLD BYLAND & SCAWTON CONEYSTHORPE POCKLEY EDSTONE SALTON FADMOOR SCRAYINGHAM with LEPPINGTON FARNDALE WEST SPAUNTON HARTOFT STONEGRAVE HARTON WELBURN (KIRKBYMOORSIDE) HENDERSKELFE WHARRAM