The Executive - Individual Member Decisions of Wokingham Council are scheduled to meet on Thursday 9 October 2025. The meeting will consist of a discussion of the council's response to a consultation from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on modernising and improving the administration of council tax. The consultation considers how council tax is billed, collected and enforced.

Modernising Council Tax Administration

The meeting will include a discussion of the council's response to the MHCLG consultation on modernising council tax administration. The Labour government believes the current system is outdated, inefficient, and perceived as unfair, and is looking to create a more efficient system for both taxpayers and councils by improving billing, collection, and enforcement processes, and making support systems more modern and accessible.

The report pack states that in Wokingham, council tax is a critical funding stream, as the borough receives the lowest settlement funding assessments (government grant) per head of population for unitary authorities. The report pack also notes that proposed changes to government funding (Fairer Funding Review) are likely to place even more pressure on council resources and its need to effectively utilise council tax income.

The consultation sought views on the administration of council tax, including how council tax is billed and how payments are collected and enforced, but the report pack states that it does not propose changes to areas such as the banding of properties, a number of discounts currently in place or an update of the current valuation of properties.

The council responded to the consultation with concerns about the government's approach. While acknowledging opportunities to improve current arrangements, the council does not believe that restricting the ability to collect monies in a timely manner from those able to pay is fair to residents who diligently pay and may see critical services adversely affected. The report pack states that this would also negatively impact local authorities who will have a further financial pressure on collection costs and increased bad debt at a time resources and funding are under huge pressure.

The council's response to the consultation included several points:

• Payment instalments: The council strongly disagreed with the proposal to change the default bill instalments from 10 months to 12 months. They argued that the current system allows councils to benefit from improved cashflow and arrange recovery actions to maximise collection during the year. The council also stated that changing the arrangements would cause significant financial pressure through reduced cashflow, additional bad debt and collection costs, as well as an administration burden and confusion for residents.

• Understanding of council tax revenue: While the council believes it provides a clear breakdown of its costs by key services, it does not believe it is easy for residents to fully understand the differences between services provided by different public sector organisations.

• Support offered by the council: The council is clear and aware of various financial support available but believes it is complex for residents to find and understand how it fits together, or which support is for which elements and where/how to claim.

• Terminology: The council agreed that the term Severe Mental Impairment is outdated and should be changed.

• Council tax band challenges: The council believes that 6 months after moving into a property is not long enough to make an appeal against their banding. They also feel that there should be a limit for reassessment to a maximum period of 6 years and only relevant for the current taxpayer who submitted the appeal.

• Full liability: The council currently enforces full liability at approximately day 46 when they issue a summons for non-payment, not at day 7 immediately following a reminder as allowed within legislation.

• Liability order costs: The council strongly opposes a cap on the reasonable costs that a court can award for a council's costs for an application for a liability order.

• Enforcement: The council believes the current enforcement is proportionate in the context of council tax collection and is demonstrated to be effective.

The report pack states that the council has outlined the importance of allowing councils to continue to have the flexibilities of their current collection model which is in-line with The Local Government Finance Act 1992¹.

To change the current arrangements would cause significant financial pressure on Wokingham through reduced cashflow, additional bad debt and collection costs. This will inevitably lead to an even higher volume of calls and contacts from residents either confused or needing to check their balance.

2.2, Public reports pack

The report pack also notes that any changes that impact the council financially will need to be considered as part of the MTFP budget setting process.