Project Overview
A UK metropolitan council managing £480M in annual revenues (Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefit, and...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK metropolitan council managing £480M in annual revenues (Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefit, and Sundry Debts) needed a unified digital revenues platform — replacing 4 separate legacy systems (Northgate Revenues, Capita Academy, InHouse BEN, and a bespoke debt management Excel tool). GDS Service Standard, UK GDPR for taxpayer data, PSBAR accessibility, GOV.UK Pay, GOV.UK Notify, the Welfare Reform Act (Universal Credit passporting), and the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (Council Tax legal framework) were mandatory. Budget: £180,000.
Our Approach
Service
Council Tax self-service portal: GOV.UK Design System throughout.
Key journeys
- apply for a discount or exemption (Single Person Discount — 25%, student exemption, SMI exemption), report a change of address, set up Direct Debit, and view bill and payment history.
- GOV.
UK Pay
- Direct Debit setup and one-off payment.
- GOV.
UK Notify
automated bill and reminder notifications (SDCT — Summary of Demand, Reminder Notices, Final Notices — all legally required format).
Digital exclusion
telephone and paper channel maintained alongside digital.
Business Rates
- Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 (mandatory revaluation April 2023).
- VOA (Valuation Office Agency)
API
Rateable Value lookup by UPRN/address, business rates relief eligibility check (Small Business Rate Relief, Retail Relief, Hospitality Relief).
Portal
ratepayer can view current Rateable Value, apply for relief online, challenge their assessment (check and challenge — via VOA portal link), and set up payment plan.
Completion Notices
automated generation and GOV.UK Notify dispatch for new properties entering the rating list.
Housing Benefit
legacy benefit (being replaced by Universal Credit but still paid to approximately 1.2M pensioners and complex cases).
DWP interface
- DWP HB data direct (RTI feed of UC Housing Cost Component — cases passporting from HB to UC automatically).
- Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP): award management, payment scheduling, and overpayment recovery.
- UC Local Support Services Framework (LSSF): council Tax Support passporting data exchanged with DWP via DWP API.
Debt Management and Recovery
Sundry Debt (parking fines, housing rent arrears, commercial property debts): unified debt register across all streams.
Recovery workflow
automated reminder sequence (Reminder, Final Notice, Summons, Liability Order), means-tested payment plans, and enforcement agent management (bailiff referral with legally required 7-day warning notice).
Vulnerability flag
income-assessed customers flagged for enhanced support — no enforcement without vulnerability check and welfare referral offer.
The Results
GDS Beta assessment: passed first attempt.
Platform live at 22 weeks, £164,000 — under budget.
Digital Council Tax self-service: 64% of transactions now digital (target: 55%).
Direct Debit adoption: 72% (target: 65%).
Housing Benefit processing time: 18.4 days → 9.2 days.
GOV.UK Pay: £28M processed in first 6 months.
Business Rates relief applications: 100% digital (previously 40%).
WCAG 2.1 AA: zero non-compliances.
Council customer satisfaction: 4.3/5 (legacy systems: 2.2/5).
“64% digital self-service versus our 55% target. £28M through GOV.UK Pay in 6 months. Housing Benefit processing halved from 18.4 to 9.2 days. GDS Beta first attempt. Customer satisfaction from 2.2 to 4.3 — that reflects an entire service transformation, not just a new website. Business Rates relief 100% digital — our revenues team spent 40% of their time processing paper applications." — Director of Revenues, UK Metropolitan Council (name withheld)”
Project Details
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