Government reward for housing fraud whistle blowers

Housing Minister John Healey has launched the first-ever national crackdown on tenancy cheats to recover up to 10,000 council and housing association homes fraudulently sublet, and release them to those in real need.

Tenancy cheats can earn thousands of pounds a year by unlawfully subletting their properties whilst they live elsewhere. If caught they will now lose their tenancy, and could lose their right to social housing in future.

147 councils have signed up to the Government's first ever national crackdown on housing fraud, including every council in London. With councils working alongside the housing associations in their areas, they will benefit from a share of £4m to set up their own anti-fraud initiatives - including special hotlines and crack squads to investigate allegations of fraud.

Councils and housing associations have been given around 8,000 thousand leads to follow to potential tenancy cheats in their communities. But Mr Healey admits public tip-offs are vital to tackling the fraudsters - half of all homes recovered from cheats are done so after tip-offs from neighbours. So he is offering a reward/bounty of £500 to anyone whose information leads to the recovery of one of the first 1,000 homes.

The average cost of recovering a property from a tenancy cheat can be as little as £3,000 - while the total cost of building a new council or housing association home can reach well over £100,000.

Councils and housing associations are also being given practical advice on how best to tackle housing fraud, as well as access to posters and leaflets that they can adapt to meet their needs, to encourage people in their area to come forward with any information they may have on local fraudsters.

For further details please click here

LG Minister Barbara Follett predicts a 16 year low for council tax increase next year

The local government finance settlement for 2010-11 has been announced today. Local Government Minister Barbara Follett confirmed that English councils will get a four per cent funding increase for next year confirmed

Ms Follett said that given the current level of inflation and resources made available in the settlement, the Government expects the average Band D council tax increase in 2010-11 to be the lowest for at least sixteen years. However, the Government remains prepared to take capping action on excessive increases set by individual authorities if necessary.

The average Band D council tax increase has been steadily falling in recent years and this year's average increase of three per cent was the lowest since 1994-95. Ms Follett expects to see it fall further next year while councils protect and improve front line services. Already many councils have indicated that they plan to freeze or cut council tax next year.

The Minister said "We and the public also expect councils to play their part and find efficiency savings that make each taxpayer's pounds work as hard as possible. Local government has an excellent record saving £1.7bn this year and next year I want to see them build on that. We are helping them maintain high quality local services in a time of public expenditure constraint through our Total Place pilots and Smarter Government initiatives."

For further details please click here
For the full Ministerial Statement click here
Full local government finance settlement for 2010-11 available here

Civica OPENRevenues New Contact Numbers!

2010 Civica Customer Annual Conference

Explore the Civica User Conference 2010 with Sir Ranolph Fiennes Manchester: 27-28 January 2010

Please find below a link to the Civica Annual Conference - open to existing Civica customers and business partners.

Please click here for 2010 Civica Annual Conference Registration

Every year Civica invite customers from all our business areas to attend this event which includes specially selected seminars, interesting guest speakers such as explorer Sir Ranolph Fiennes OBE, Finance expert Rene Carayol, and comedian Hugh Dennis, plus an exhibition area where you can hear about all the latest product developments.

This year will be the first opportunity for Civica OPENRevenues customers to attend, so we’ve put together a special package offer - only £125 per person for a two day delegate pass, one night accommodation and a place at the Conference dinner OR if you choose not to stay overnight you can attend the Conference and dinner for free!

In 2009 over 400 customers attended the event and we’d be delighted if you can join us this January. For further details please click the link below where you’ll also find details of the Conference schedule and registration form.

We hope to see you there

For further details about the 2010 Civica Annual Conference please click here!

PS: Please pass this invite on to other members of your team who you think will benefit from attending. However, please note numbers may be limited depending on demand.

Local Authority Council Taxbase Data Released

Details of the local authority council taxbase 2009 for England have been announced today. The latest statistics release includes data from 2005 to 2009 updates those previously issued on 26 November 2008.
Below are summary details.

Download the full document here

Number of dwellings

• In England there were 22.0 million dwellings on the Valuation Office valuation list liable for council tax as at 14 September 2009. This is an increase of 1 per cent compared with 2008 and an increase of 3 per cent compared with 2005.
• The number of dwellings on the valuation list that are exempt from council tax increased by 1 per cent compared with 2008 and by 11 per cent compared with 2005.
• The number of class E exemptions (unoccupied dwellings because the resident has moved into hospital or a care home) increased by 7 per cent from September 2008 to stand at 32,700 in September 2009.
• The number of class G exemptions (unoccupied dwellings when occupation is prohibited by law) fell by 8 per cent between 2008 and 2009.
• The number of class L exemptions (unoccupied dwellings repossessed by a mortgage lender) broadly levelled off in September 2009 at 15,500 after having more than doubled between September 2007 and September 2008.
• The number of class Q exemptions (unoccupied dwellings where the person who would otherwise be liable is a trustee in bankruptcy) increased to 1,800 in September 2009 compared with 400 two years ago, in September 2007.
• 7.6 million dwellings were entitled to a discount as a result of being occupied by single adults. This represents 33 per cent of all dwellings.
• 2.7 million Band A dwellings (50 per cent of all dwellings liable to Band A council tax) were entitled to a single adults discount.

Empty properties

• While the number of long term empty properties has remained broadly stable between 2005 and 2009, the percentage of all long term empty properties that were subject to a discount has fallen from 67 per cent to 55 per cent.

Number of dwellings by region and valuation band

• Nationally, two thirds of properties are in Bands A to C and only 9 per cent are in the top three bands.
• The pattern varies widely across regions. In the North East 56 per cent of all properties are in Band A; in London the figure is just 3 per cent. London and the South East accounts for 70 per cent of all Band H properties in England.

Civica OPENRevenues: New Contact Numbers - Monday 23 November

From Monday 23 November 2009 our main contact telephone numbers will be changing. These changes are part of the next stage of our successful transition following the acquisition of the OPENRevenues business by Civica UK Limited.

New Numbers to Remember:
General Enquiries: 01635 264200*
Fax: 01635 264202
Benefits Hotline: 01635 264222
Workflow Hotline: 01635 264233
*including call escalation and critical calls

Please note: If you wish to log a call, e.g. to register a fault, you should still email the details to ORHelpdesk@civica.co.uk

And that’s not all....
We will shortly be introducing further improvements including a new helpdesk system, and in the New Year we’ll launch the new customer portal which will allow you to log calls through the Civica OPENRevenues website. This customer portal will also give you access to a whole range of information resources related to our products and company news. We will keep you informed of all the new developments.

We hope you find the new changes useful if you have any problems or questions please contact us by email at ORHelpdesk@civica.co.uk