The London Borough of Ealing: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The London Borough of Ealing was one of the teachers on a CIPFA course held in Edinburgh earlier this year.

CIPFA, as we know, is currently circulating legally inaccurate guidance to the effect that so long as kept up to date the electoral register is a reasonably good guide as to whether there is entitlement to a 'single person discount' which as we also know simply does not exist.

How do Ealing's council tax practices match up to the legal requirements?

Their web site will be used as a guide.

Does it provide accurate information about the obligation arising under Regulation 16?

No.  It tells people that they should tell the council if a resident turns 18 as this may affect their discount.

It says this:

A sole adult occupier discount will continue for as long as you occupy the property as a sole adult. 

So on the basis of the requirement for councils to provide clear accurate and fair information Ealing falls down.

It does include a list of disregards, but unhelpfully describes the people who fall into a disregard category as 'excluded from assessment'.

The form which people are asked to complete when applying for a non existent 'sole occupancy' discount says, and this is seriously inappropriate,

The information I have given on this form is true and complete. I understand that I have a legal duty to inform the Council Tax office within 21 days if these circumstances change.

(The Council Tax Administration and Enforcement Regulations 1992.)

Not only does this form provide legally inaccurate information but it attributes it to the Council Tax Administration and Enforcement Regulations 1992.

The information leaflet provided by the council is also misleading. It speaks of applying for a discount because you live alone and then mentions applying for 'other discounts' when some residents are disregarded.

It repeats the incorrect information on the web site:


If you have received a discount or exemption
and your circumstances have changed or you
think the reduction is wrong, you must tell
the council tax office immediately.

The leaflet does not contain the information required by law, but it may be that this is provided elsewhere in the letters sent out to discount recipients.

A council whose practices are not in line with the law perhaps ought not to be giving lessons to others on how to administer discounts.

Kensington also taught on the course . Their booklet for 2011 shows no sign of the information required by law (though of course the council may comply with its obligation in other paperwork sent with the demand notice) and includes misleading information very similar to that put out by Ealing.

It is hardly surprising, perhaps, that CIPFA gets things wrongs when its courses are taught by councils which need at the  very least, some revisions to their practices.

It appears that we have a following.  The Audit Commission has been reading this Blog.

Let us hope that it decides to modify its Audit Guides so that they accurately reflect council tax discount law and electoral law as a result.  Perhaps signing them before they edit them would help?

Stranger things have happened.

And they don't seem to understand the electoral register either

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that in cases arising from NFI council tax data mismatching, where it has been assumed that for council tax purposes a particular address is not the residence of an individual who appears on the electoral register then they are not entitled to be on the electoral register either.  A typical example would be 'the information was passed to the electoral registration officer to update their records'.  


Well excuse me, but there is nothing to suggest that the electoral registration  records are wrong.  


So not just one set of laws misunderstood but two sets. 


And yet more interference with the right to vote.  


If you ARE entitled to a discount then there MUST be something wrong with electoral registration. You MUST be doing something wrong, we are certain of that, and will invent potential wrongdoing almost without limit because you are one of those people we regard as suspects from the start. This is the general line of thinking, it seems. 


Here is what the CAB has to say on the topic of registering to vote:  


Your position if you have more than one home is complex.  Your rights to be included on the register and vote in a particular constituency depend on your circumstances. It will be necessary to consult the electoral registration officer (chief electoral officer in Northern Ireland) in this situation. It is illegal to vote twice in an election.

You can be entered on more than one electoral register if you are resident in more than one constituency. For example, if you are a student you may be registered at one address by your parent/guardian and may also register yourself at your college/university town if you are living away from home.

However, in some situations, you may be prevented by the electoral registration officer (chief electoral officer in Northern Ireland) from registering in two places. For example, if you have a holiday home but spend only a few days there each year, you may not be considered to be 'resident' there. However, if you spend most weekends there, the registration officer (chief electoral officer in Northern Ireland) may well consider you are eligible to be included in the register. If you wish to appeal against a decision to exclude you from the register, you should follow the correct procedure (see under heading How is the electoral role register compiled).

Although it is not illegal to be registered in more than one place, it is illegal to vote twice in an election. For example, in a general election, you may choose which constituency to vote in on polling day.