Agenda and draft minutes

The Monitoring Officer opened the meeting and sought nominations for the position of Chairman. On receiving nominations and being voted upon unanimously, it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Cotton be elected as Chairman of the Appeals Board for this meeting.  

Councillor Cotton took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting and round the table introductions were made.

Members may make any declarations of interest at this point but may also make them at any time during the course of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made at this point in the meeting.

Please note the procedure to be taken by the Committee (as attached).

The Chairman explained the procedure for the appeal hearing, as had been shared with all parties in advance of the meeting. There were no questions from Members, the appellant or the Revenues Team Manager and so the procedure was noted.

To resolve that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

In view of the nature of the appeal, and in consideration of the fact that details contained within the case documents revealed information relating to a particular individual that would disclose personal data in contravention of the principles of GDPR, it was moved and seconded that the hearing be conducted within closed session.

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

            Appeal Type: Section 13A Application in respect of Council Tax

The Chairman enquired of all present whether they had received all relevant documents. All confirmed this to be the case. The Chairman highlighted that the appellant had provided additional information and enquired of the Appeals Board Members, and the Revenues Team Manager, whether all parties were satisfied to accept the documents as late representations. All confirmed this was acceptable. With that agreed, the Revenues Team Manager was invited by the Chairman to present her case. She explained that the appellant had applied for Section 13A payments in relation to Council Tax and this had been refused by the council. An initial appeal to the Section 151 Officer had upheld the decision and so the final stage of review was to meet before the Appeals Board.

It was stated that the application had been refused as it was not found to meet the eligibility criteria as detailed within the council’s Section 13A policy document. Members heard the specifics of the application and the information provided by the appellant. The Revenues Team Manager explained that not all requested documents had been provided by the appellant at the time of the application. It was highlighted that Section 13A payments were considered to be a discretionary payments scheme.

On conclusion of presenting these details, the Chairman offered the appellant the option to ask questions of the Revenues Team Manager. The appellant thanked the Chairman and commenced her questions. It was enquired of the Revenues Team Manager whether she was familiar with the case law provided by the appellant and whether she was aware of the appellant seeking alternative housing options for the period in question. The Revenues Team Manager stated she had not been aware of the case law, had not had sufficient time to read the documentation and she was not aware of the appellant seeking alternative housing options. This had not been disclosed previously and the Revenues Team Manager did not have access to the computer systems of other services.

Owing to an anomaly with the specifics of the appellant’s rental property contract, there was significant discussion regarding liability for properties and the associated council tax. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that whilst the panel could not pass decision on liability, the appellant had made an application for Section 13A payments in relation to two properties and therefore both applications were under consideration. With this confirmed, the appellant thanked the panel and concluded her questions.

The Chairman invited Members of the panel to ask questions of the Revenues Team Manager. A Member enquired why she had gone ahead with the applications when all requested supporting information had not been provided by the appellant. The Revenues Team Manager explained that she had sought to act in the best interests of the appellant and had therefore used information provided for an earlier, separate application in order to progress. It was confirmed that in the absence of the requested information, the application could have been declined. The Chairman enquired as to the circumstances of previous applications  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.