Edinburgh City Council increases council tax collection year on year

Accurate council tax billing based on up-to-date resident data boosts collection rates and improves the customer experience.

Keeping residents’ details up to date to ensure accuracy of council tax bills is a challenge for any large city as people move in, move away, or change address within the city.

Several years ago, faced with a backlog of approximately 10,000 council tax items, Edinburgh City Council decided to look for external resource to help clear it. Following a procurement exercise the council chose Civica OnDemand to provide an experienced team able to efficiently process address changes, applications for discounts and exemptions, and general correspondence.

With secure access to Edinburgh’s processing systems, a seven-member Civica OnDemand team worked remotely to help the council clear the backlog. To prevent another backlog forming, a smaller Civica team continued supporting the council while it focused on recruiting and training new members of staff.

Keeping on top of changes to residents’ information means that a much higher proportion of the council tax bills issued by Edinburgh are correct, which helps the council to maximise the amount of council tax income it collects. This is particularly important in the current landscape where funding is limited and councils are under pressure to bring in as much income as possible.

Outcomes:

• Backlog of 10,000 council tax items cleared by Civica OnDemand in conjunction with the council’s back office team

• Flexible, scalable resourcing to meet Edinburgh’s changing needs

• Productivity target to handle 23 items per person per day consistently met or exceeded

• Year-on-year improvements in council tax collection through more accurate billing

• Edinburgh City Council shortlisted for Revenues Team of the Year in the IRRV Performance Awards 2018

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