MD2075 2017-18 Council Tax and Precepts

1.1 The Mayor's final draft budget for 2017-18 was considered at the meeting of the London Assembly held on 20 February 2017. The Assembly made no amendment to the final draft budget and this budget is therefore the Authority's consolidated budget for the next financial year. Approval of the final draft budget allows the calculation of the GLA council tax and precepts which must be notified to the 33 council tax billing authorities in London (the 32 London boroughs and the City of London) by 28 February 2017. This decision form asks the Mayor to approve the Band D council tax and precepts on the 33 London billing authorities for 2017-18 as set out in Appendix A.

1.2 The Mayor is also asked to approve the two alternative versions of the explanatory supporting information that the GLA will submit to the 33 billing authorities for the information of council taxpayers as set out in Appendix B.

2.1 The final draft budget set out the component council tax requirements for the GLA and each functional body and the consolidated council tax requirement for the GLA group. The purpose of this decision form is to request that the Mayor confirms the approved council tax requirements which are set out below. These figures are rounded to the nearest pound.

2.2 The first table in Appendix A sets out the statutory calculations under sections 88 and 89 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the GLA Act as amended) for determining the two component parts of the Mayor’s precept –

Item (A) the basic amount of council tax excluding the special item for the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC), which applies in all 33 London billing authorities. This is calculated by dividing the consolidated council tax requirement, excluding the MOPAC component, by the council tax base for the whole of the Greater London Authority area. This is calculated as £73.89;

Item (B) the basic amount of council tax including the special item for MOPAC (which does not apply in the area of the Common Council of the City of London which has its own police force). This is calculated by dividing the council tax requirement for the MOPAC by the council tax base for the Metropolitan Police District area (i.e. excluding the City of London). This is calculated as £206.13.

2.3 Items A and B are added together to determine the Mayor’s precept for the 32 London boroughs. For 2017-18 this is £280.02 for a Band D property. Item A is the precept applying in the area of the Common Council of the City of London only (£73.89 per Band D property).

2.4 The second table in Appendix A sets out the amount of council tax for each of the eight different valuation bands (A to H) applying in the 32 boroughs and the City of London. The third table sets out the amounts of the precept to be issued to each billing authority (i.e. their individual Band D taxbases multiplied by £280.02 in each of the 32 boroughs and £73.89 in the City of London). The sums in the third table exclude the GLA’s share of each billing authority’s declared collection fund surplus or deficit for 2016-17 which will be added to or deducted from the precept amount shown when determining the instalments payable in 2017-18. The GLA’s share of the estimated collection fund surplus for council tax for 2016-17 is £24.82 million.

2.5 Appendix B contains two alternative versions of the explanatory information (i.e. the council tax leaflet text) for 2017-18 which will be issued to the 33 council tax billing authorities in London. The text provides an important opportunity for the Mayor and GLA to communicate with the occupiers of the estimated 3.5 million properties liable to council tax, its estimated 301,500 non domestic ratepayers (who may also receive this information at the discretion of their billing authorities) as well as Londoners more generally on the GLA Group’s budget and priorities for the next financial year.

2.6 Depending on how each billing authority chooses to exercise their flexibilities under the 2012 Local Government Finance Act and the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Amendment) (No.2) (England) Regulations 2012 this supporting information will either be circulated to council taxpayers directly alongside their bills or made available on billing authority websites. Where the supporting information is only made available on billing authority websites then taxpayers should be provided with the web address as part of the billing information they receive. Council taxpayers may also request a hard copy of the supporting information be supplied to them by post by the billing authority if its general policy is to provide the information on their website only.

2.7 The long version represents the GLA’s preferred text and the short version sets out a shorter summary text which billing authorities may, at their discretion, circulate instead as part of their billing material in order to reduce their administration costs including postage. Both versions comply with the requirements of the Council Tax (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations 2011 as amended. These regulations specify what information must be included in communications to council taxpayers from major precepting (i.e. the GLA in London), levying (i.e. the London Pensions Fund Authority, Environment Agency and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority in London) and billing authorities. Printing and billing deadlines mean that billing authorities require the leaflet information as soon as is practicable.

2.8 It is proposed to publish the consolidated budget for the year and the component budgets for each constituent body for the next financial year by:

 Placing the consolidated budget, the component budgets and the supporting explanation considered by the Assembly on 20 February 2017 on the GLA website;

 Requesting the functional bodies place their budgets on their own websites; and

 Making copies available for inspection at City Hall.

3.1 Public authorities, such as the GLA (Mayor and Assembly) and the five functional bodies, must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic, taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low.

3.2 The “protected” characteristics and groups are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation and marriage/ civil partnership status. Compliance with the duty may involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without the characteristic. The duty has applied to the formulation and approval of the GLA’s and functional bodies’ individual budgets and component council tax requirements, and the Mayor’s final draft budget, approved without amendment. This decision form now implements the approval of the precept calculations and issue of the GLA precept to the 33 billing authorities. Part 3 to the final draft budget provided advice on the equalities implications of the Mayor’s final draft budget.

3.3 Additionally, and complementarily, the Mayor is required by section 33(1) of the GLA Act to make appropriate arrangements with a view to securing that in the formulation and implementation of the Mayor’s statutory strategies due regard is had to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all.

3.4 Compliance with the public sector equality duty is necessarily iterative and on-going. It includes carrying out a process at a level proportionate to the decision being taken to identify and actively consider potential detrimental impacts (if any) that may arise for individual protected groups and what mitigations (if any) could be implemented to address them. The GLA (Mayor and Assembly) and the functional bodies will continue to carry out this process in the implementation of their individual budgets, strategies, policies, programmes and projects.

Links to Mayoral Strategies
4.1 There are no direct implications in relation to any GLA strategies arising from performing the precept calculations that are required to be made in accordance with the GLA Act and the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended. Where relevant these were addressed in the Mayor’s draft and final draft budgets presented to the Assembly.

Consultation arrangements
4.2 The Mayor issued guidance in July 2016 to the Greater London Authority and the functional bodies for preparing their budget submissions. The guidance sought to ensure that the Mayor’s budget proposals were an accurate reflection of his priority aims and objectives within available resources.

4.3 The subsequent budget process itself involved:

 budget development by functional bodies and both parts of the GLA between July and November 2016;
 budget submissions scrutinised and approved by the functional bodies before formal submission to the Mayor in November 2016;
 the Mayor’s draft budget proposals considered, prepared and issued for consultation on 21 December 2016;
 consultation undertaken on that document between 21 December 2016 and 12 January 2017;
 scrutiny by the Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee throughout the process;
• the presentation of the Mayor’s draft consolidated budget which was considered by the Assembly on 25 January 2017 and approved without amendment; and
• the presentation of the Mayor’s final draft budget which was approved without amendment by the Assembly on 20 February 2017.

4.4 The precepts and council tax requirements recommended for approval in this Decision are identical to those approved without amendment by the Assembly on 20 February 2017.

Risks
4.5 The Mayor’s precept and council tax requirement have been considered and approved in line with the requirements of the GLA Act. The precept will be collected and enforced by the 33 London billing authorities in line with established practice and having regard to relevant legislation.

4.6 On the basis of the Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles) (England) Report 2017/2018, the council tax precept levels (on the basis of both the adjusted and unadjusted relevant basic amount of council tax) proposed by the Mayor in his final draft budget were also determined to be compliant with the excessiveness principles contained in that Report as they apply to the GLA. There will therefore be no requirement for a referendum to be held to approve the precept.

4.7 There are no further implications for risk management therefore as these have been addressed as part of the budgetary process.

5.1 There are no specific financial implications in addition to those already included in the final draft consolidated budget documentation. The calculations set out in this Decision have been made in compliance with sections 85 to 89 of the GLA Act. The Authority must now issue the proper notices to the 32 boroughs and the City of London to facilitate their own budget and council tax setting processes. The costs of billing and printing of supporting information (if applicable) are met by billing authorities - as this is a statutory function they are required to undertake.

6.1 This section deals with legal matters not mentioned elsewhere in this Decision. Under Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, which sets out the procedure for the setting of the GLA budget, the Mayor must present a draft consolidated budget to the Assembly. This was considered by the London Assembly at its meeting on 25 January. The Assembly approved the Draft Consolidated Budget without amendment.

6.2 On 10 February the Mayor published his final draft budget. After considering the Mayor’s final draft budget and supporting material at its meeting on 20 February 2017, the final draft budget was approved by the Assembly without amendment. In accordance with paragraph 8(6) of Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, that final draft consolidated budget becomes the GLA's consolidated budget for the next financial year.

6.3 Under paragraph 11 of Schedule 6 to the GLA Act, the Mayor must 'as soon as practicable' publish the GLA's consolidated budget for the year and the component budget for each constituent body for the year. This decision form constitutes approval for the publication of those budgets for this purpose. Copies of that consolidated budget document must also be made available for inspection by the public at the GLA's principal office. The GLA intends to make the final budget available on its website.

8.1 Following the approval of this Mayoral Decision the timeline set out below will be followed.

SEE SIGNED PDF VERSION ATTACHED FOR APPENDICES

Appendix A – GLA council tax requirement and precept calculations for 2017-18
Appendix B – Proposed explanatory communication to council taxpayers to be submitted to the 33 London billing authorities

Supporting Papers
The final draft consolidated budget for 2017-18 and Assembly decision in relation to this at its meeting on 20 February 2017

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