Statement of Accounts 2011/2012 - Blackburn with Darwen Borough ...

NOTES TO THE COLLECTION FUND ACCOUNTS
1 Income from Council Tax
The Council Tax is a tax based on property valuations with each domestic property being allocated to one
of eight bands (A to H) according to its open market value at 1 st April 1991. There is a basic tax for the
middle band (Band D) with proportionately higher and lower taxes for the other bands. Specific discounts
and exemptions are made, in accordance with Government regulations, for a variety of reasons including
single person occupation, physical disability, status (e.g. for students or care workers) and empty
properties.
The Council’s tax base i.e. the number of chargeable dwellings in each band (adjusted for discounts and
exemptions where applicable) converted to an equivalent number of Band D dwellings was calculated as
follows:
Estimated 2011/12 Council Tax Base (before non-collection):
Band
Chargeable
dwellings
Reductions/
exemptions
Equivalent
number
Ratio to
Band D:
Band D
equivalent:
A- 73 ( 2 ) 71 5/9 39
A 33,327 ( 4,178 ) 29,149 6/9 19,433
B 8,567 ( 780 ) 7,787 7/9 6,057
C 7,983 ( 604 ) 7,379 8/9 6,559
D 4,113 ( 239 ) 3,874 9/9 3,874
E 2,008 ( 95 ) 1,913 11/9 2,338
F 783 ( 42 ) 741 13/9 1,070
G 541 ( 34 ) 507 15/9 845
H 48 ( 4 ) 44 18/9 88
2 Income collectable from business ratepayers
57,443 ( 5,978 ) 51,465 40,303
The Council collects non-domestic rates for its area which are based on local rateable values multiplied
by a uniform (national) rate. A small business multiplier has also been introduced to assist qualifying
small businesses. The total amount, after deduction of certain reliefs and other allowable adjustments,
and less an allowance for the Council's collection costs, is paid to a central pool (the NDR pool) managed
by Central Government, which in turn pays back to authorities their share of the pool based on a standard
amount per head of resident population.
The total non-domestic rateable value for the Council’s area at 31 st March 2012 was £127,181,625
(£124,023,267 in 2010/11). For 2011/12, the standard national non-domestic multiplier for the year was
43.3 pence (41.4 pence in 2010/11), and the small business rate multiplier was 42.6 pence (40.7 pence in
2010/11).
3 Precepts and Demands on the Fund
There is a statutory requirement for the Council to prepare an estimate on the 15 th January each year of
the surplus or deficit expected to arise on the Collection Fund at the end of the financial year. This
estimate surplus/deficit is distributed to / recovered from the "billing authority" (Blackburn with Darwen
Borough Council) and the major “precepting authorities" (Lancashire Police Authority and Lancashire
Combined Fire Authority) as part of the following year’s Council Tax figure in proportion to their respective
demand or precept on the Collection Fund.
When setting the Council Tax for 2011/12 (in January 2011) the Council estimated that there would be a
surplus carried forward from 2010/11 of £17,064 (£216,772 surplus was estimated in January 2010),
which was distributed as shown in the table below:
2010/11 2011/12
£ £
186,182 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 14,656
21,254 Lancashire Police Authority 1,673
9,336 Lancashire Combined Fire Authority 735
216,772 17,064
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