The Council Tax (Demand Notices) (England) Regulations 2009

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Local Government Finance Act 1992;

“the 1999 Act” means the Greater London Authority Act 1999(1);

“the 2004 Act” means the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(2)

“the Administration Regulations” means the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992(3);

“authorised person”, in relation to a billing authority, means a person authorised in accordance with the Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996(4) to exercise functions on the authority’s behalf in relation to the administration of council tax;

“baseline document” means the document “Baseline year for authorities required to publish efficiency information on and with council tax demand notices” dated 2nd December 2009 which is published on the Department’s website(5) and of which a copy has been deposited at the Department’s principal office(6);

“budget requirement” means—

(a)

in relation to a billing authority, the amount calculated under section 32(4) of the Act (calculation of budget requirement),

(b)

in relation to major precepting authority other than the GLA, the amount calculated under section 43(4) of the Act (calculation of budget requirement),

(c)

in relation to the GLA, the amount calculated under section 85(8) of the 1999 Act (calculation of component and consolidated budgets),

(d)

in relation to a constituent body, the amount calculated for the body under section 85(6)(a) of the 1999 Act (calculation of component and consolidated budgets),

(e)

in relation to a local precepting authority, the amount calculated under section 50(4) of the Act (calculation of budget requirement);

“constituent body” has the same meaning as in section 85(3) of the 1999 Act(7) (calculation of component and consolidated budgets);

“the Department” means the Department for Communities and Local Government;

“efficiency authority”, in relation to a billing authority’s area and a year, means—

(a)

the billing authority, and

(b)

any—

(i)

county council,

(ii)

fire and rescue authority, or

(iii)

police authority,

which has power to issue a precept to the billing authority for that year;

“efficiency document” means—

(a)

in relation to a fire and rescue authority—

(i)

the document “Measuring and Reporting Efficiency Gains: A Guide to Completing Annual Efficiency Statements” dated March 2007, and

(ii)

the document “CSR07 Guidance on Measuring and Reporting Efficiency Gains: A guide for fire and rescue authorities on completing annual efficiency statements” dated June 2008,

which are published on the Department’s website(8) and of which copies have been deposited at the Department’s principal office,

(b)

in relation to a police authority, the document “Efficiency and productivity strategy for the police service: 2008-11: Technical Note” which is published on the website of the Home Office(9) and of which a copy has been deposited at the Department’s principal office, and

(c)

in relation to any other efficiency authority, the document “Measuring and Reporting Value for Money Gains: A Guide to Compiling the Data for National Indicator 179” dated October 2009 which is published on the Department’s website(10) and of which a copy has been deposited at the Department’s principal office;

“fire and rescue authority” means—

(a)

a fire and rescue authority constituted by—

(i)

a scheme under section 2 of the 2004 Act (power to create combined fire and rescue authorities),

(ii)

a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies (combined authorities under the Fire Services Act 1947),

(b)

a metropolitan county fire and rescue authority, or

(c)

the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;

“fire and rescue functions” means the functions specified or referred to in Part 2 of the 2004 Act (functions of fire and rescue authorities);

“GLA” means the Greater London Authority;

“Integrated Transport Authority” means—

(a)

an authority which is known as an Integrated Transport Authority by virtue of section 77(2) of the Local Transport Act 2008(11) (change of name of passenger transport areas and PTAs), or

(b)

an authority established under Part 5 of that Act (Integrated Transport Authorities etc.);

“levying body” means—

(a)

an Integrated Transport Authority,

(b)

the Broads Authority, and

(c)

the Environment Agency;

“multi-function authority” means any efficiency authority which exercises fire and rescue functions but is not a fire and rescue authority;

“notice” means a council tax demand notice within the meaning of Part 5 of the Administration Regulations (billing);

“police authority” means a police authority established under section 3 of the Police Act 1996(12) (establishment of police authorities);

“preceding year”, in relation to a notice, means the year before the relevant year;

“relevant local precepting authority” means a relevant precepting authority which is a local precepting authority;

“relevant precepting authority”, in relation to a billing authority and a year, means a precepting authority which issues a precept to the billing authority for the year, but does not include—

(a)

the chairman of a parish meeting,

(b)

charter trustees,

(c)

the sub-treasurer of the Inner Temple or the under-treasurer of the Middle Temple unless the amount of the precept is more than £100,000,

(d)

a parish council unless the amount of the precept is equal to or more than £140,000; and

“relevant year”, in relation to a notice, means the year to which the demand for payment made by the notice relates.

(2) In these Regulations—

(a) any reference to a precept includes a reference to a substitute precept,

(b) any reference to a levy includes a reference to a substitute levy,

(c) any reference to the council tax base for an authority’s area is a reference to the council tax base for that area as calculated in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992(13), and

(d) any reference to a year is a reference to a financial year.

(1)

1999 c.29.

(2)

2004 c.21.

(3)

S.I. 1992/613, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(4)

S.I. 1996/1880.

(5)

The document can be found on the Department’s website at the following address http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/efficiencybetter/deliveringefficiency/counciltaxnotices/ .

(6)

The document and others referred to in these Regulations are available for inspection at the following address; The Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU

(7)

Section 85(3) was amended by section 12(2) of the Greater London Authority Act 2007 (c.24). Section 12(3) of that Act inserted a new section 85(3A) which defines certain terms for the purposes of section 85(3).

(8)

The document “Measuring and Reporting Efficiency Gains: A Guide to Completing Annual Efficiency Statements” can be found on the Department’s website at the following address http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/publications/localgovernment/measuringreporting, and the document “CSR07 Guidance on Measuring and Reporting Efficiency Gains: A guide for fire and rescue authorities on completing annual efficiency statements” can be found on the same website at the following address http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/csr07guidance.

(9)

The document can be found on the website of the Home Office at the following address http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/human-resources/police-efficiency-target-2008-11.

(10)

The document can be found on the Department’s website at the following address http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/reportingvfmguide.

(11)

2008 c.26.

(12)

1996 c.16.

(13)

S.I. 1992/612, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.