Written question asked by Nigel Waterson (Conservative) on Tuesday, 23 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 25 March 2010. It was answered by Helen Goodman (Labour) on Monday, 29 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Council Tax Benefits

Question: (6) what surveys her Department has undertaken of local authorities to assess the capacity of their IT systems to facilitate the renaming of council tax benefit as council tax rebate.

Answer: Renaming council tax benefit will have significant impact on the administration of the benefit, with major delivery implications for local authorities. The main impact will be on IT systems, including where these link to Department for Work and Pensions systems. There will also be necessary changes to forms, leaflets and billing arrangements in order to give accurate information to existing customers, and maximise the impact of the change in improving take-up.Officials are engaging with local authorities in a number of ways. There have been preliminary formal discussions with the local authority associations and with practitioners from local authorities. This will be followed by more detailed survey of the requirements of individual authorities. Proposals have been outlined to the local authority software suppliers to enable them to start to prepare requirements and costs for the changes and enhancements to IT systems.

Secondary information