The Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee meeting included discussion of the performance of the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service, financial monitoring, business rates, and cost of living support. The meeting was scheduled to take place at NKDC Council Offices, Sleaford.

Cost of Living Support

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the national welfare reform agenda and local cost of living initiatives.

The report pack included statistics on Universal Credit (UC) claimants in the City of Lincoln (14,355) and North Kesteven (9,254). It noted that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was continuing its UC managed migration programme, with the aim of completing the migration of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) cases to Universal Credit by September 2025.

The report pack also provided information on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). The DHP government grant for 2025/26 was £132,330 for City of Lincoln Council and £86,931 for North Kesteven District Council.

The committee was also scheduled to discuss the Household Support Fund wave 7 (HSF7). The primary objective of HSF was to provide support with the cost of essentials, namely energy and water, wider essentials, and food. The government had allocated £9,631,345.40 to Lincolnshire for HSF7, to be used between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. The indicative allocations for City of Lincoln Council and North Kesteven District Council were £523,945 and £360,212, respectively.

The report pack noted that the Assistant Director Shared Revenues and Benefits was part of a group of local authorities working with the DWP to discuss the new Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF).

The Lincolnshire Financial Inclusion Partnership (LFIP) was scheduled to update the committee on its work to promote financial inclusion across the county.

The report pack also included links to cost of living support web pages for City of Lincoln Council, North Kesteven District Council and the Connect to Support Lincolnshire website.

Business Rates Update

The Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee was scheduled to discuss an update on Non-Domestic Rates (NDR), including reference to City of Lincoln Council, North Kesteven District Council and West Lindsey District Council.

The report pack included information on the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief (RHL), which had been extended for the year 2025/26. Properties that benefited from the relief for 2025/2026 were occupied hereditaments that were wholly or mainly being used as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas, and live music venues; for assembly and leisure; or as hotels, guest & boarding premises, and self-catering accommodation.

The report pack stated that at the Autumn Statement on 30 October 2024, the Chancellor announced that the government would continue to provide a package of NDR measures to support businesses in England.

The report pack stated that going forward from 2026/27, the government intended to introduce two permanently lower multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties. This would be paid for by a higher multiplier for properties with a rateable value (RV) of above £500,000. This meant that overall, there would be 5 different multipliers depending on the rateable value of the hereditament¹ and the activities carried out at the hereditament. The five multipliers for 2026 were expected to be: standard multiplier, small business multiplier, standard multiplier RHL, small business multiplier RHL, and premium multiplier.

The report pack stated that significant changes would need to be made to the current software in order for officers to be able to override the standard and small business multiplier in favour of the RHL where the activities at the property meet the RHL eligibility.

Revenues and Benefits Financial Monitoring

The Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee was scheduled to discuss the revenues and benefits financial monitoring for Quarter 1 of 2025/26.

The forecast outturn for 2025/26 predicted an overspend against the approved budget of £94,580. The approved budget for 2025/26 was agreed by the Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee on 26 February 2025, setting a budget of £3,252,060 for the service.

The report pack stated that the current Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) assumptions reflected a pay award of 2% in 2025/26, however given the recently approved pay award of 3.2% the impact had been calculated at £36,760, split between each authority as follows: City of Lincoln £19,520 and North Kesteven £17,240.

Performance Update

The Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee was scheduled to receive an update on performance in the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service.

Up to the end of Quarter 1 2025/26, in-year collection for Lincoln was up by 0.31% and North Kesteven up by 0.07%. The table below demonstrates the trend in Council Tax Support (CTS) caseloads.

Up to the end of Quarter 1 2025/26, compared to the same point in 2024/25 in-year collection is the three local authorities, are as follows: Lincoln up by 3.09%; North Kesteven down by 1.98%; West Lindsey up by 1.72%.

As at the end of Quarter 1 2025/26, there were 5,193 Benefits customers outstanding and awaiting assessment (split Lincoln 3,511, North Kesteven 1,682).

In Quarter 1 2025/26, the Welfare and Money advice team enabled weekly value of additional benefits of £7,349 in City of Lincoln and £4,564 in North Kesteven.