The Minutes of the last meeting held on 9 September 2014 were signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Assistant Director (Corporate Performance) and Assistant Manager (Revenues & Benefits) provided Members of the Performance & Administration Committee with a report on the progress made by the council in delivering the Strategic Objective and Measures of Accountability, relevant to the committee, as set out within the Corporate Plan 2011-15 (Midterm review).

The Assistant Director (Corporate Performance) highlighted the key areas of  improvement/good performance:

CBP 31a-d – Self-help (pay-me, e-billing, direct debits and web forms)

Performance in respect of CBPs 31a-d was successful as each recorded

outturn was ahead of their respective 2014-15 quarter three targets.

CBP 33 – Collection of council tax

The outturn for the council tax collection rate as at the end of Q3 was

84.29%, ahead of both the set target and the equivalent outturn for the

same period last year (84.25%).

CBP 34 – Collection of non-domestic rates (GBC)

The outturn for the non-domestic business rates collected by the council

as at the end of Q3 was 81.68%. This is ahead of the set target (73.50%)

but below what was achieved in the third quarter of 2013-14, primarily due

to a number of large businesses having changed their instalment

arrangement to 12 months from 10 months.

CBP 35 – Benefits New Claims

The processing time for new claim during Q3 was 18.4 days, ahead of

both the set target of 21 days and significantly ahead of the equivalent

outturn for Q3 in 2013-14 at 26 days, continuing the success seen

throughout 2014-15.

Performance has improved for a number of reasons including the fact that

the caseload and workload facing the team has dropped and also that the

team has automated 70% of the Automated Transfer to Local Authority

System (ATLAS) changes in to the back office system.

CBP 36 - Change of Circumstances

The processing time for change of circumstances during Q3 was 4.8 days,

ahead of both the set target of 9 days and the equivalent outturn for Q3 last

year which was 7 days.

Following questions from Members the Assistant Manager (Revenues & Benefits) advised the Committee of the following:

·         Gravesham has seen a 4.27% reduction in benefit claimants (4% reduction in Housing Benefit and 4.6% reduction in Council Tax claims).

·         The total reduction of benefit claimants (as at 1 February 2015) is 671.

Following a request from Members of the Committee, the attending officers agreed the following:

·         The Assistant Manager (Revenues & Benefits) circulate a Gravesham web-link to the rent allowances.

·         The Assistant Director (Corporate Performance) circulate details of the Business Rates impact caused by the departure of Marks & Spencer in the Town Centre.

·         The Assistant Director (Corporate Performance) liaise with Darren Everden, Service Manager (IT Services) with regards to IT Training (previously an action recorded at item 9, in the minutes dated 9 September 2014) and report back to the Committee.

The Committee congratulated the Revenues & Benefits team on their hard work and success with Borough collection rates.

Members discussed and noted the information contained within the report appendix.