Decisions

The council requires a single hybrid mail solution that enables teams to submit documents to secure production centres for printing and mailing.

A competitive procurement exercise has been undertaken via the CCS G-Cloud Framework to identify a suitable supplier and evidence VFM.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Commissioning awarded the contract to DSI Billing for 24 months with two optional extensions of 12 months.

The Cabinet:

1.1          Noted the progress of the Staffordshire Sustainability Board in developing a unified 2023 programme of activity across the county and eight district and borough councils, to tackle climate change and work towards our net zero targets.

1.2          Approved the Staffordshire Sustainability Board joint communications plan (attached as Appendix 1 of the Cabinet report), which sets out our 12-month programme of climate change awareness-raising and behaviour change activity.

The Cabinet:

1.1          Approved the Council Tax Discretionary Policy (see Appendix 1 of the Cabinet report)

1.2          Delegated authority to the Cabinet Member for Finance & Commissioning, in liaison with the Assistant Director for Customer, Resident and Business Services and the Council’s S151 officer, to make minor amendments to the policy, and to create appendices to the policy that enable the council to award reliefs to individuals or classes of individuals in circumstances such as COVID or other emergencies, where the relief is fully funded by government.

The Cabinet:

1.1          Reviewed progress to date of the programme and in particular the indicators of success set.

1.2          Agreed the need to become ‘entrepreneurial’ in order to continue our improvement in Being A Better Council, and achieve our place shaping ambitions for the district

The council’s approved Local Taxation Debt Recovery Policy sets out the circumstances in which council tax debts can be written off by the council. This includes where:

•           It is uneconomical to purse the debt.

•           There is financial hardship.

Each financial year the council’s debt provision is reviewed, and 100% debt provision is allowed for all outstanding balances older than one financial year.

The council’s previous Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) Scheme was introduced in 2013 and required working-age claimants, regardless of their income, to contribute at least 20% towards their council tax liability. Many working-age claimants on lower incomes have struggled to pay their council tax bills as a result and have built up several years’ debt.

The council’s new income banded Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) Scheme, approved by Full Council on the 28 February 2023, is more generous and allows for up to 100% support for those residents in the lowest income band. As a result, the new scheme will prevent many residents from incurring council tax debt into the future.

Approval is sought to write-off debts owed by those in receipt of LCTS (across all bands) up to and including 31 March 2019 to the maximum value of £244,576.66 (of which £29,349.20 is LDC’s share) in accordance with the financial regulations and provisions included in the Local Taxation Debt Recovery Policy. If approved the council will aim to write off the debts by 31 March 2023.

To write-off of debts owed by those in receipt of Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) on the grounds that it is uneconomical to pursue the debt, or that pursuing the debt could cause financial hardship during the cost-of-living crisis.