Local Government Finance Act 2012 an Lgiu Guide
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE ACT 2012 AN LGIU GUIDE Contents • Introduction • How different is the new system? • Business rates retention • Tax increment financing • Enterprise Zones • Localised council tax support schemes • Council tax: empty homes • References and external links This guide to the Local Government Finance Act 2012 brings together and updates a series of LGiU briefings on the major provisions in the Act. These were written by LGiU associate, Mark Upton and published in December 2012 and January 2013. It also gives an update on the current position on council tax support schemes which was the subject of a briefing by Janet Sillett. Introduction The Local Government Finance Act 2012 completed all of its parliamentary stages in both houses and received Royal Assent on 31 October 2012. The legislation extends to England and Wales only; (with the exception of new powers for HMRC to supply information for council tax purposes which will also apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland). This guide is primarily concerned with the legislation as it applies in England. The guide is a ‘plain-English’ guide to the legislation and isn’t meant to be comprehensive in its detail. More detailed explanatory notes on the legislation are available. There is a list of official documents on the new regime at the end of the guide. The Government consulted on draft secondary legislation and The Local Government Finance Act (Consequential Amendments) draft Order 2013 was published on 4 February 2013, which will give effect to the retention of business rates scheme. This guide covers in detail the two most radical changes to the local government finance system – the changes to business rates and the localising of council tax support. It also briefly describes provisions in the Act relating to Tax Increment Financing, Enterprise Zones and on council tax and empty homes. How different is the new system? The 2012 Local Government Finance Act, and in particular the changes to business rates, is the centre piece of a shifting local government finance system. The provisional finance settlement announced on 19 December 2012 is the first under the new system where councils will retain part of their business rates from 1 April 2013. The business rates retention scheme is turning the local government finance system on its head. Rather than handing this income back to Whitehall for it, in part, to be returned, it becomes in practical effect the starting point of meeting local funding requirements, levied and topped-up by exception rather than by rule by Whitehall. The system will evolve from now. There will be opportunities for councils that can show growth but major challenges for others. The changes to central government funding for local services which focus on the new system for distributing business rates are the key to this evolution. Business rates retention The Government published its proposals for business rates retention in December 2011, alongside the introduction of legislation to give the reforms effect. In July 2012 it published atechnical consultation paper setting out its detailed implementation proposals. A subsequent policy statement published in November 2012 confirms key policy decisions following that consultation. This change of policy originally arose from phase one of the Local Government Resource Review which concluded in July 2011. The new business rates retention scheme applies only to England. Part 1 of Schedule 3 of the new Act amends Schedule 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to retain the current system of pooling and redistribution of non-domestic rates in Wales. Business rate income is very significant in the financing of local government, for instance, in 2011/12 it accounted for seventy six per cent of formula grant from central government. The new Act allows local authorities to retain a proportion of non-domestic rates (business rates). LGiU 2 Since 1990-91 business rates have been collected by billing authorities (single tier authorities and district councils) and paid into a national pool and then re-distributed to local authorities as part of their formula grant allocation. The Government’s rationale for the change is that the current local government finance system is over-centralised with local authorities being over dependent on central government for funding; and that it does not provide financial incentives for local authorities to work towards promoting local economic growth and may even provide a disincentive for doing so. The legislation does not change the way in which business rates is collected by billing authorities and set by central government where a business ratepayer’s bill is calculated by multiplying its rateable value (as determined by the Valuation Office Agency) with the national rate or multiplier determined by the Government each year. The rate revaluation process will also stay unchanged as will ‘rate relief’ for groups such as charities, amateur sports clubs, voluntary groups, those in hardship, and eligible rural or small businesses. The Government has announced its intention to postpone the next business rate revaluation in England to 2017. Primary legislation will be taken forward through the Growth and Infrastructure Bill which has been laid before Parliament. The last evaluation took place in 2008. The business rate retention scheme will start from 1 April 2013; the Government intends to make the necessary secondary legislation early in 2013 subject to parliamentary approval. Overview of the new system • Instead of business rate income collected by billing authorities being returned to the Treasury, local authorities will now get to retain a proportion of their business rates generated in their area. • At the beginning of the scheme the Government will calculate a ‘baseline funding level’ for every local authority ensuring that there is a stable starting point for all local authorities. • Local government will be able to keep fifty per cent of locally collected business rates (‘local share’) with the other fifty per cent being paid to central government (‘central share’). • Should a local authority receive more in business rates than its ‘baseline funding level’ it will pay government a ‘tariff’, which will be used entirely to ‘top up’ local authorities who receive less than their funding level, funded through the ‘central share’ of business rates. • In addition to retaining their ‘local share’ of their business rates baseline, overall local authorities will also keep at least fifty per cent of their business rates growth. • But where local authorities gain a “disproportionate” increase in their business rates income the government will take some of their business rates growth as a ‘levy’ to fund ‘safety net payments’ for those local authorities whose income from business rates income falls disproportionately. • Where local authorities are charged a levy, even after the government’s fifty per cent central share, at least twenty five pence in each extra pound of business rates generated locally, will be retained locally. Eleven key components of the new system 1. All local government bodies, with the exception of local police bodies will be part of the scheme: • All billing authorities and major precepting authorities (county councils, fire and rescue LGiU 3 authorities and the Greater London Authority) will be included in the system. • Police and Crime Commissioners and other local policing bodies will not funded through the business rates retention scheme but will continue to be funded through a central government grant. 2. The starting point for the scheme will be a funding assessment for each local authority, which will become its baseline funding level for the scheme: • These funding assessments will provide the basis for redistributing business rates income between those authorities who collect more business rates than they need and those who collect too little. • The starting point for the calculation of the baseline funding level for each local authority will be largely based on 2012-13 formula grant methodology. • Some adjustments will be made including the transfer of funding for central education services, changes to the needs formula for concessionary travel and the adding in of funding for special grants that are being rolled in for 2013-14. • The formula will also be dampened at a service level to provide protection against excessive volitality. • The baseline funding level will be funded through a mix of Revenue Support Grant and funding and the ‘local share’ of business rates. 3. The local government spending control totals are used to establish the start-up funding assessment for local authorities. • Calculation of the aggregate start-up funding assessment will be based on the controls totals set out in the 2010 Spending Review and amended by the 2011 and 2012 Autumn Statements. • A number of adjustments are made to these control totals and therefore the aggregated start- up funding assessment for 2013-14. This includes a number of top-slices including for the New Homes Bonus, specific grants being transferred in (e.g. children services’ early intervention grant) and grants moving out of the control totals (e.g. central education services within Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant). • The estimated business rate aggregate includes two downward adjustments to help local authorities manage volatility owing to losses on appeals. • The estimated aggregated totals for business rates will be adjusted to reflect historic differences between forecast