The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/612) (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for the calculation by billing authorities and major precepting authorities in England of the council tax bases for the whole and parts of their areas. These Regulations amend the principal Regulations in consequence of the insertion into the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”) of section 11A by section 75 of the Local Government Act 2003.

Section 11A of the 1992 Act, allows billing authorities in England to reduce from 50% to a minimum of 10% the discount which applies under section 11 of the 1992 Act to dwellings falling into classes prescribed in regulations, or to reduce or end the 50% discount for dwellings falling into other classes prescribed in regulations. The classes of dwellings are prescribed in the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings) (England) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/3011).

Regulation 2 of these Regulations includes in regulation 1(3) of the principal Regulations, a definition of “relevant percentage”. This is in addition to the definition of the appropriate percentage as section 11A of the 1992 Act allows a billing authority to reduce the council tax payable by percentages other than the appropriate percentage (25%) or twice the appropriate percentage.

Regulation 3 of these Regulations inserts a new regulation 5AA into the principal Regulations. This provides for the calculation of “the relevant amounts” by a billing authority for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2004. The relevant amount for each council tax band is a measure of the number of dwellings in that band after taking account of exempt dwellings and discounts. The council tax base for the whole of a billing authority’s area (item T in section 33(1) of the 1992 Act) is found by adding together the relevant amount for each council tax band and multiplying this by the authority’s estimate of its collection rate (see regulation 3 of the principal Regulations). When calculating the tax base for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2004, regulation 5AA requires the authority to take account of discounts under sections 11 and 11A of the 1992 Act. The relevant day for the financial year commencing 1 April 2004 will be 20 December 2003 (regulation 3(11) of these Regulations). For financial years commencing on or after 1 April 2005, the relevant day will be 30 November in the financial year preceding the year for which the calculations are made.

Regulations 4, 5, 6 and 8 of these Regulations insert references to the new regulation 5AA, and to items in the calculations in the new regulation 5AA, into regulations 5A, 6, 7 and 9 of the principal Regulations. The latter regulations provide for dwellings in band A in respect of which the amount of council tax payable is reduced in accordance with the Council Tax (Reductions for Disabilities) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/554) to be treated as if they were in an additional lower band, for the calculation of the tax base for part of a billing authority’s area, for the calculation of the tax base for the purposes of a major precepting authority and for the determination by a major precepting authority of a billing authority’s tax base where the billing authority has failed to notify its tax base to the major precepting authority in the prescribed period.

Regulation 7 provides that for the financial year commencing 1 April 2004, the prescribed period within which the council tax base calculations must be carried out begins on 21 December 2003 and ends on 31 January 2004.