Ex-council leader wrongly claimed tax discount

A former Conservative council leader has itted claiming the single person discount for council tax despite not being eligible.

Phil Broadhead, who spent three months leading Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (B) Council in 2023, said it happened when he moved house in 2022 and blamed the local authority's online forms for not being in "plain English".

Broadhead, who voted on the authority's budgets at a time when he was in council tax arrears, said he repaid the underpayment as soon as it was noticed and that the council agreed it was an honest mistake.

B Council said it had "worked hard to make our online systems clear and easy to use".

Under the Local Government Act, an offence is committed if a councillor votes on any financial or budgetary matters when they are themselves in council tax arrears for two months or more.

Broadhead - leader of the Conservative group at the council - has not confirmed to the BBC how long he was in arrears.

In a letter, published in the Bournemouth Daily Echo, he itted to the error but said he wondered "how many other examples there are of people getting caught out by the complications of online intricacies".

"Surely we need a team whose focus is on making sure that the council's processes the plain English and ease test," he added.

In January this year, B Council said it had recovered £654,000 by re-checking who was claiming single person's council tax discount and checking against other records such as the electoral roll.

Details of that investigation are due to be published shortly.

In a statement to the BBC, Broadhead said: "When I was informed by the council that I'd been claiming this discount, I was shocked.

"At no point had I had any correspondence by post that this was applied. When I asked to see the form to show I'd selected to receive the discount, I was told it had been lost.

"I've since discovered that in the council's previous (and now scrapped) change of address form, if you didn't list those moving with you - which I must have inadvertently skipped - it automatically applied this discount without even telling you.

"This is perhaps why so many others have fallen into this same trap, with the council reporting £700k collected for those mistakenly doing the same thing.

"Once noticed, I rectified immediately and have repaid the full underpayment. The council agreed that it was an honest mistake and agreed no further action was needed.

"I sincerely hope they've closed this quirk in the system so others don't fall into the same trap."

A B Council spokesperson said the online form used to for council tax at a new address included a confirmation screen showing any discounts being requested.

"They are then sent an email every year, asking them to check that the details are still correct and that their circumstances have not changed, which also confirms any discounts being applied," the spokesperson said.

"We have worked hard to make our online systems clear and easy to use and residents are also able to us if they have any questions.

"As part of routine checks undertaken by B Council, working alongside the national fraud initiative, discrepancies between council tax payments and individual circumstances are flagged to us.

"We then those individuals to make them aware and discuss repayment options, including applying a penalty where appropriate."

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