Council Tax Reduction Scheme, Universal Credit Analysis

Descriptions

In April 2013, the Council Tax Reduction Scheme replaced Council Tax Benefit in Wales and is the mechanism through which local authorities provide support to low-income households in meeting their council tax liability. It currently provides financial support to almost 290,000 low-income households. It is a key policy lever in making the council tax system fairer than it otherwise would be.The Council Tax Reduction Scheme in Wales is interrelated with the wider UK benefit system – over which the Welsh Governmenthas no direct control.There are three different types of claims: passported cases, non-passported cases and Universal Credit cases. The Council Tax Reduction award is calculated differently in each case.The majority of CTRS applicants (195,000) are passported onto CTRS from certain UK benefits whilst the remainder of applicants (93,000) are means-tested for support.There is reason to believe take-up of our scheme amongst eligible households has fallen in recent years, and that this is impacting on the overall fairness of council tax in Wales. The number of CTRS applicants has fallen from 323,000 in May 2013 to 288,000 in November 2017 with little socioeconomic evidence to suggest household circumstances in Wales have substantially improved.There is also little evidence yet as to how changes to the UK welfare system have impacted or will impact on CTRS and take-up of CTRS going forward, particularly in the context of the roll out of Universal Credit. There is recent concern that increased confusion and a lack of clarity in signposting from Universal Credit to other types of support could further reduce CTRS caseloads.Through a piece of detailed analysis utilising data held by local authorities and other organisations, the Welsh Government wishes to understand the impact of recent changes to UK benefits on the CTRS in Wales and to identify households at risk of falling into arrears.Description of the goods or services requiredThe analysis required will include, but may not be limited to:• developing a clear picture of the winners and losers under Universal Credit in the context of council tax support, across Wales bylocal authority (and smaller geographies if possible) and by other characteristics (eg. family type), to inform the CTRS Uprating Regulations for 2019-20;•assessing the impact of updating non-dependant deductions that form part of the calculation for a council tax reduction; and•developing an understanding of patterns of council tax debt and arrears across Wales and within and between Welsh local authorities, identifying individual households in financial crisis or at risk of falling into arrears.Prospective tenderers should be able to deliver on all of the analysis requirements above. They should be able to demonstrate access to any required datasets that will allow delivery of the analysis.Initial drafts of the analysis with regards to bullet points 1 and 2 above would ideally be required over the summer to inform the CTRS Uprating Regulations for 2019-2020.The Welsh Government value of the contract will be around £80,000 - £100,000. The length of the contract will be two years initially.The purpose of this Speculative Notice is to:•Alert the marketplace to a prospective contract opportunity for the requirements set out above; and•Invite expressions of interest from suitable providers.The next stage of the process will be to invite quotations from interested parties through the Sell2Wales website. In the first instance, prospective tenderers should respond to this Speculative Notice to register their interest in this opportunity. The form of response should be limited to the provision of a single point of contact – company name, contact name, job title, e-mail address and telephone number.If you are interested in providing this service please forward your details, by 9th May 2018 to the contact details listed in section 1.2 of this notice .NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=81132.