Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Empty Property Review and One Year Contract Revenues Maximisation Suppliers
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Executive Decision Notice – 26 April 2023 Page 1
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE
PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES
Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by
Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon:
Title of decision
EMPTY PROPERTY REVIEW AND ONE YEAR CONTRACT
REVENUES MAXIMISATION SUPPLIERS
Reference No. 759
Date of decision Wednesday 26 April 2023
Call-in expiry date Thursday 04 May 2023
Relevant Select
Committee
Finance and Corporate Services Select Committee
Relevant Wards All Wards
Decision made
Cabinet Members
making the decision
Councillor Martin Goddard – Cabinet Member for Finance
Approved
That the Cabinet Member for Finance:
1. Agreed to a direct award contract with Analyse Local
for a one-year period from 01 April 2023 to 31 March
2024 for revenue maximisation activity on a no win
no fee basis with fees set at 6.5%;
2. Agreed to vary the Revenue & Benefits main contract
with Liberata to include revenue maximisation
activity for a one-year period from 01 April 2023 to 31
March 2024 on a no win no fee basis with fees set at
6.5%; and
3. Agreed to the contract variation f or Liberata to
perform a one -off empty property review from 0 1
June 2023 to 30 September 2023 to reduce the
number of empty properties to increase the New
Homes Bonus Grant. At a 15% fee of the income
generated by the reduction in empty properties from
the New Homes Bonus Scheme at the cost of
c£26,000 for the period.
Reason for decision Decision One and Two (Revenues Maximisation)
During 2022/23 Analyse Local and Liberata conducted their
year-one Revenues Maximisation project. Both suppliers used
data sets to identify businesses that either were not listed for
ratings or were undervalued. The cases identified by the
Executive Decision Notice – 26 April 2023 Page 2
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
suppliers led to a rateable value increase within the ratings list
of c3.1m with Hillingdon Council retaining 15% under the
business rates retention model, which equates to c£238k with
in-year costs of £98k.
Officers perceive limited risk to a one- year contract and are
satisfied with supplier performance, cost effectiveness and
service received. An approved contract direct award of one-year
for Analyse Local and a con tract variation for Liberata for
2023/24 would lead to further generation of income through
business rates.
Decision Three (Empty Property Review)
Historically the empty properties review has been carried out
each year by the Counter Fraud Team. This has b een
successful, with the team achieving actual New Homes Bonus
Grant funding above financial forecasting set in the consultation
budget. However, with a significant increase in the risk of fraud
due to the cost-of-living crisis, the service needs to priori tise its
resourcing into high-risk areas of fraud and loss. This means
contracting the empty properties review to Liberata will provide
additional capacity in Counter Fraud to conduct activity in other
areas of Revenues which are deemed high risk.
Alternative options
considered and
rejected
Decision One and Two (Revenues Maximisation)
Listed below are alternative options that were considered by
officers and subsequently dismissed:
1. To cease the Revenues Maximisation work with suppliers
in its entirety. This would lead to a lost opportunity to
increase retained Business Rate income for the Council.
2. To consider working with alternative suppliers. The
market is limited in terms of suppliers that can undertake
this work making Analyse Local and Liberata the only
viable options.
3. To undertake Revenues Maximisation work in- house in
its entirety. Though the team have been and will continue
to undertake proactive revenue maximisation work, the
service
does not have the resources or access to the
external data that suppliers offer.
Decision Three (Empty property Review)
Listed below are alternative optio ns that were considered by
officers and subsequently dismissed:
Executive Decision Notice – 26 April 2023 Page 3
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
1. To cease the Empty property review in 2023/24. This
would lead to a significant decrease in funding received
from the New Home Bonus Scheme.
2. To continue the Empty property review in- house,
however, this would reduce the counter fraud capacity in
high-risk areas of fraud and would not provide value for
money for the Council.
Classification Part II – Members’ Only and Not For Publication
Link to associated
report
That this report be declared as exempt from publication as it
involves the disclosure of information in accordance wi th
Section 100(A) and paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) to
the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), in that the report
contains information relating to the financial or business affairs
of any particular person (including the authority holding th at
information) and that the public interest in withholding the
information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
Relevant Officer
contact & Directorate
Alex Brown – Resources Directorate
Any interest declared
by the Cabinet
Member(s) /
dispensation granted
N/A
Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in
[Internal Use only]
When can this
decision be
implemented by
officers?
Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice
only from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is:
5pm on Thursday 04 May 2023
However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a
valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise
the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold.
Councillor scrutiny
call-in of this
decision
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this notice
may request to call -in this decision. The request must be before
the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above.
Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call -in App (link below) on
their devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be
sought from Democratic Services if required:
Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure)
Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The
Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and
Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
Executive Decision Notice – 26 April 2023 Page 4
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive
decision, including links to the reports where applicable.
If you would like more information on this decision, please contact
Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email:
democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk.
Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people including
Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group
Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on the
Council’s website.
Democratic Services
London Borough of Hillingdon
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