Issue - meetings
Fees and Charges 2021-22
Meeting: 27/01/2021 - Cabinet (Item 6)
6 Fees and Charges 2021-22 PDF 561 KB
Additional documents:
- 6.2.1 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 1 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Health, Adults and Community, item 6 PDF 186 KB
- 6.2.2 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 2 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Children and Culture, item 6 PDF 237 KB
- 6.2.3 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 3 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Place, item 6 PDF 426 KB
- 6.2.4 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 4 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Governance, item 6 PDF 206 KB
- 6.2.5 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 5 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Resources, item 6 PDF 212 KB
- 6.2.6 Fees and Charges 2021-22 Appendix 6 – Statutory Fees and Charges (All Directorates), item 6 PDF 276 KB
- Webcast for Fees and Charges 2021-22
Decision:
DECISION
1. To approve the proposed changes to discretionary fees and charges as detailed in the appendices, with effect from 1st April 2021, subject to the conditions set out in Recommendation 4.
2. To approve new discretionary fees and charges as detailed in the appendices, with effect from 1st April 2021, subject to the conditions set out in Recommendation 4.
3. To note the revised statutory fees and charges as detailed in Appendix 6 to the report.
4. To note the Equalities Implications as set out in Section 4 of the report and that, where it is highlighted in section 4.5 of the report that a proposed fee or charge requires a full Equality Impact Analysis (EIA), this EIA will be undertaken prior to the introduction of the change to the respective fee or charge.
5. To approve delegation for amendments to fees and charges, including those to take account of the result of EIAs, to the relevant Corporate Director in liaison with the Lead Member and the Mayor.
Action by:
INTERIM CORPORATE DIRECTOR, RESOURCES (K. BARTLE)
(Head of Strategic and Corporate Finance (A. Bannin)
Minutes:
The Mayor introduced the report proposing the Council’s set of fees and charges for 2021-22. He highlighted that the report was the same as the one presented earlier in the month except a freeze on lettings charges at community hubs. The Mayor then moved the recommendations as set out and these were agreed without dissent. It was:
RESOLVED
1. To approve the proposed changes to discretionary fees and charges as detailed in the appendices, with effect from 1st April 2021, subject to the conditions set out in Recommendation 4.
2. To approve new discretionary fees and charges as detailed in the appendices, with effect from 1st April 2021, subject to the conditions set out in Recommendation 4.
3. To note the revised statutory fees and charges as detailed in Appendix 6 to the report.
4. To note the Equalities Implications as set out in Section 4 of the report and that, where it is highlighted in section 4.5 of the report that a proposed fee or charge requires a full Equality Impact Analysis (EIA), this EIA will be undertaken prior to the introduction of the change to the respective fee or charge.
5. To approve delegation for amendments to fees and charges, including those to take account of the result of EIAs, to the relevant Corporate Director in liaison with the Lead Member and the Mayor.
Meeting: 11/01/2021 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 6)
Fees and Charges 2021-22
The Committee is asked to note and comment on this report that details the proposed changes to fees and charges across the Council for the financial year 2021-22.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
v Part of the budget making process, an annual review of fees and charges reflects on the challenges the Council faces and has potential impact on the budget proposal.
v Fees and charges would be increased by rate of inflation with rounding, fees and charges come in different categories some are statutory set by government, majority is set locally and described as being discretionary e.g. parking and use of leisure centres and used to help balance the budget pressures faced by the Council.
v Some fees and charges being more contentious e.g. parking control because of the supplementary charges on diesels vehicles and a proxy for emissions or three car households for additional third car or differential charge rate on engine sizes for a proxy for emissions from vehicles. Some of these are recent policies so may be above rate of inflation.
v Charges have increased for street trader accounts (market traders) which is ringfenced account to pay for its own costs including cleansing and inspection.
v Some of the charges will be subject to an equalities impact assessment decision will be delegated assessment in consultation with lead Members and vary these if they are in breach of the equality policies.
v Council also benchmarks the fees and charges against other local authorities and are prepared to make adjustments if there are variation inconsistencies.
v Committee questioned why fees and charges were showing significant increase above the inflation rate across the Council and further suggested rounding up to the nearest pound (£) or pence in the future.
v Huge variations within a directorates and services that council offers so comparison for fees and charges is not like for like.
v Future interpretations of fees and charges should go back to Scrutiny (informally) to ensure clarity and avoid in accurate answers.
v Committee questioned the charges for resident permits parking (in Band ‘A’ being significantly high) and market traders pitch can be reconsidered because of the impact of the pandemic.
v Committee asked if the situation with the pandemic remained the same or became worse, is there scope to freeze the parking charges and to qualify any projections that savings/ income generated will arise from fees and charges.
v Committee questioned if the increases to the community hub space charges and rental (income source to the Council) will act as a deterrent to people using the assets including market trader fees.
v To consider better ways of comparing rises in fees and charges e.g. market pitches and parking charges.
v The policy on increasing parking charges assists in the reduction of unnecessary car use/ownership and aims to address the levels of congestion in what is one of the most densely populated local authorities in the country.
v LBTH considers that their charges are comparable with or lower than those of other councils.
v Increasing in parking charges is consistent with policy position agreed and outside of this increase would-be set-in line with CPI rate of inflation and is also influenced by ... view the full minutes text for item 6
Meeting: 06/01/2021 - Cabinet (Item 6)
6 Fees and Charges 2021-22 PDF 564 KB
Additional documents:
- 6.3a Appendix 1 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Health, Adults and Community, item 6 PDF 186 KB
- 6.3b Appendix 2 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Children and Culture, item 6 PDF 237 KB
- 6.3c Appendix 3 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Place, item 6 PDF 430 KB
- 6.3d Appendix 4 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Governance, item 6 PDF 206 KB
- 6.3e Appendix 5 – Discretionary Fees and Charges within Resources, item 6 PDF 212 KB
- 6.3f Appendix 6 – Statutory Fees and Charges (All Directorates), item 6 PDF 276 KB
- Webcast for Fees and Charges 2021-22
Decision:
The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Question and officer response were noted.
The recommendation in the report was amended and then agreed.
DECISION
1. To welcome the report as set out but to defer a final decision until the Cabinet meeting on 27 January 2021 to allow the Overview and Scrutiny Committee time to comment on the fees and charges proposed.
Action by:
INTERIM CORPORATE DIRECTOR, RESOURCES (K. BARTLE)
(Interim Divisional Director, Finance, Procurement and Audit (H. Jolapara)
Minutes:
Councillor Candida Ronald, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector, moved the report proposing the fees and charges across the Council for 2021-22. The decisions in the report related to discretionary fees and charges but statutory charges are included for completeness. The report highlighted that most changes were based around a marker such as inflation or the ‘Consumer Prices Index’ but other varied changes were noted as well.
The Mayor welcomed the report but noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were due to consider this report at their meeting next Monday. To allow them time to submit comment he therefore proposed to confirm that cabinet was content with the contents of the report but to hold off on the final decision until the Cabinet meeting on 27 January 2021.
The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Question and officer response were noted, in particular discussing why percentage rises varied across directorates. It was noted that these increases could be very small as a financial value (e.g. 10p).
The Mayor then put forward the amended recommendation. This was agreed without dissent and it was:
RESOLVED
1. To welcome the report as set out but to defer a final decision until the Cabinet meeting on 27 January 2021 to allow the Overview and Scrutiny Committee time to comment on the fees and charges proposed.