Purpose

The council is in a contract
with NEC Software Solutions UK to provide a robust on-premise
system to support the administration of council tax, business
rates, overpayment of housing benefit and pay council tax support,
housing benefits and discretionary housing payments. 
 
The system helps to collect
over £130 million of income each year, as well as manages
historic council tax and business rates debts. It also provides a
customer portal for residents and businesses to access their
accounts. 
 
The current contract ends on 31
March 2025 with an option to extend for 1 year, plus 1 year. In
line with this provision, the council wishes to extend the current
contract from 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026.
 
Longer-term the council is keen
to explore a move to a cloud-based solution, as well as the
delivery of customer portal enhancements. The one-year extension
will allow for the necessary due diligence and exploratory works to
take place to support any future procurement.
 
Approval is sought to extend
the current Revenues and Benefits system contract with NEC Software
Solutions UK limited with a cost of £174,406.42 which will be
met from existing revenues budgets and allocation of new burdens
funding.

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Finance &
Commissioning approved to award a one-year extension to NEC
Software Solutions UK for the provision of the council’s
current revenues and benefits system from 1 April 2025 – 31
March 2026.