Business Rates

Making the complex simple

• Business Improvement Districts

  

  Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are a firmly established way of improving the trading environment within a defined area. More BIDs are now being established outside the traditional town centre locations, for instance in industrial estates. Local authorities must administer BIDs of different models with different durations, payment methods, bid levy calculation methods and reliefs. BID administration is beginning to represent a significant administrative overhead.

   

  Capita Business Rates includes the only specialist BID software available, allowing you to administer BIDs of different models effectively and with minimal administration and costs. The solution helps you rapidly and accurately calculate levies and reliefs using ratepayer and liability information held within Capita Business Rates.

• Bailiff Interface

  

  Capita Revenues Bailiff Interface lets you communicate electronically with bailiffs. It dramatically reduces time spent on manual data entry, whilst improving accuracy and ensuring that both bailiff and authority systems are up to date.

   

  Bailiffs receive electronic files containing all the information required to process a case, including debtor names, outstanding balance and address. They can use these files to update their own debt management system. Amendments to cases, such as a change in outstanding balance or address, can also be transferred in this way. Details of work completed may also be returned electronically and automatically processed by your systems, with the next appropriate recovery stage selected by default.

• CRM integration

  

  Capita’s Integration Portal helps you improve customer service, reduce avoidable contact and eliminate duplication between front and back offices. Your front office staff can handle more queries by accessing and updating real-time citizen, account and claim information contained within the Capita Revenues and Benefits suite via their CRM system.

   

  Queries are resolved faster, improving customer services, while calls to expensive back office staff are reduced and performance against local government performance indicator NI14: avoidable contact” is improved.  Front office staff use a web-based interface specifically designed for non- professionals, which can be plugged into any major CRM system for quick deployment with minimal training requirements.

• Mobile business rates

  

  Mobile solutions from Capita Revenues and Benefits can lead to substantial efficiency savings by eliminating duplication and using the ability to access data on and offline. The data needed for business rates inspections can be downloaded to a tablet PC, minimising visit preparation time, and updated data can be uploaded to the system on your officers’ return, eliminating manual keying  of data and consequent errors.

• Local Land and Property Integration

  

  Our Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) integration software can help you build a single view of your properties, improving cross-departmental communication and helping to ensure complete, accurate and rapid billing. The application ensures that all properties in the LLPG are also in your revenues system, so you know about every property you should be billing.

   

  Any properties missing from the revenues system are identified, while new properties are included for billing as soon as possible. This improves both revenues and cash flow. Properties are referred to by their UPRN, improving communication and reducing errors, both between internal departments and external organisations. Administrative overheads are reduced, saving time and resources.

• Valuation Office Agency Integration

  

  Our VOA Integration solution enables updated council tax schedules to be uploaded directly into your revenues system, halving the time taken to process schedules and eliminating problems caused manual data inputting. You can provide a faster valuation service, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.

   

  Reconciliation ensures that properties are billed correctly, leading to fewer appeals and enquiries which cause a significant overhead. Bills are distributed faster, with fewer backdated bills that customers may have difficulty paying. Reconciliation and update schedules ensure that the correct valuations are applied to all properties.

   

• Self Service

  

  Our Business Rates module from Capita Revenues and Benefits’ Self Service gives businesses online access to their rates account at any time. This quickly delivers the clear benefit of reducing the burden on call centres and front office staff. Businesses can see their account and balance information, including payments made and detailed calculations of their charges, plus payment schedules, helping them to budget appropriately. They can also see correspondence including bills and reminders – so they no longer need to bother contact centres for reprints.

   

  This software can also receive information: customers can input a change of address or sign up for e-Billing or direct debit payment. Self service validates the information and passes it into the Capita Revenues and Benefits suite without the need to manually key in the data, increasing the speed and accuracy of information flow.

• Process and Performance Manager

  

  Our Process and Performance Manager (PPM) application improves the performance of your Revenues and Benefits team by guiding users through work processes in a consistent and efficient way. The software can also assist the user by opening relevant screens and guiding your staff accurately through tasks.

   

  In addition, Capita’s Process and Performance Manager can monitor staff performance, identifying any that fall below the benchmark for additional training. PPM helps ensure that processes are completed correctly, avoiding costly problems.  It can also assist with training new staff and monitoring the performance of contractors and homeworkers.