First published in IRRV Insights April 2026 – This is the full article
In December 2005, a new business sprang into life and after a lot of angst around choosing a name, Destin Solutions was formed. In the early days the focus was around consultancy and performance within Revenues teams and devising processes that would get more out of existing resources. Roll on twenty years and the emphasis is still on performance improvement but using cutting edge technology incorporating automation, AI and machine learning.
We’ve witnessed significant change during our time in the Revenues and Ratings arena, not just in technology but operationally, procedurally and legislatively. Who better to comment on that than our customers, and so we spoke to some industry professionals for their take on the biggest challenges they have faced and their thoughts on what the future might hold.
Julie Smethurst, Assistant Director of Revenues & Benefits at Tameside Council started her work in Revenues and Benefits in 1991, when Poll Tax was still the system of Local Taxation. Julie comments “From where we are since then is night and day, everything was very resource intensive in those days, we did everything ourselves phone calls, correspondence, face to face visits even court visits.”
“We have effectively gone from a time where there was no management information and no in-depth knowledge on residents or the tax base and where running a year end return would take weeks to pull the data together, to doing it all at the click of a button.”
The evolution of Revenues and Benefits teams
From a personal point of view Julie feels that “the role of Revenues and Benefits has evolved more in the last five to ten years, than at any other time. The job is still effectively debt collection, but post covid and since the cost of living crisis we think of ourselves as more supportive. Collecting debt is still important but how we support residents and how we identify who is struggling, is more of a skill we apply, we are more focussed on how we can better identify the people that need help, but don’t come forward.”
“Thanks to more transactional processes and with the use of AI and robotics we have more automation, meaning Revenues staff can refocus on the things they need to do, like getting people financially resilient and dealing with anti-poverty.”
Legislation not fit for purpose
When asked whether Revenues processes have significantly changed in the last 20 years, Julie believes that the core processes have not changed in essence. Julie feels that legislation has not kept up with the changes Local Authorities are seeing in citizens’ lifestyles and demographics. Government has been tweaking around the edges with process and legislation and it is not necessarily fit for purpose any more. She gives liability orders as an example, “you still need to get a physical letter out to people, you can’t harness digital delivery. We are hampered by legislation that is not moving as dynamically as we need it to. The technology is keeping up but we are not keeping up with that technology.”
An opportunity to change the parameters around SPD’s
Looking towards the future Julie feels that the dynamics around areas like Single Person Discounts (SPD) have changed. “We have more single occupier households than ever, but these people are not necessarily pension age. They are choosing to live alone and independently and can afford to do so and so why should they get an automatic reduction on their council tax bill?”
Julie believes if you address SPD’s it might also help in terms of the housing situation “by removing the SPD for certain groups it may encourage housing market churn, where single occupiers move out of larger houses into smaller properties, freeing up larger properties for families who are homeless or are on a waiting list.”
It’s all about automation
We also spoke to Simon Rosser, Head of Revenues, Benefits & Fraud at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. Simon was a Senior Benefits Officer back in the early 2000’s before progressing on to Counter Fraud and Revenues. Simon feels that some of the biggest changes he has seen in this time have been around automation. Back in the early days it was very much spreadsheets and all forms were paper based, there was no electronic forms, anyone applying for anything would be sent a form containing around 50 pages with significant printing and postage costs.
Simon also notes that “council websites were very basic compared to today, now you have self-service elements, you can sign up online for a council tax account and to apply for discounts.”
A reduction in inbound calls and post
We have moved into the electronic age with most people completing forms online and they are automatically indexed. Very few items still come through the post and those that do are scanned and digitised. There have been massive changes since 2005 and this has reduced the workforce by a fair amount because of automation, process improvement and better work flows. Simon also notes that “in 2008 the Council received around 7,000 to 8,000 calls every month, now it’s around 2,000 calls per month. With a 75% drop it is clear that the way people want to engage is changing, they want to do more online rather than through the post or on a phone call.”
The downside of opening up digital channels
One of the downsides to the progress made, has been expectations of people, Simon comments “once we open up digital channels, if people contact us by email there is an expectation that the response will be immediate. It’s bittersweet really, you want the engagement but the more channels you open up, the more communication can come in and then you need to deal with it in an expected time frame.”
Chatbots and AI
Looking at the future Simon feels that “AI is going to have a big part to play, if we use it in the right capacity then for revenues collection we can make some big changes. The way we speak to our customers will move more towards chat bots and that kind of AI.”
Empty rates reform
For a Business Rates perspective, we spoke to Robin Gibbons, Business Rates Billing, Valuation & Support Manager at Bolton Council. Robin has been in a Business Rates role since the late 1990’s, and recalls one of the biggest changes he has seen in this time was the empty rates reform launched in 2008. “We went from a situation where empty industrial and warehouse properties were exempt from paying rates to a six month exemption, followed by them then having to pay full rates. Similarly for shops and offices who had previously enjoyed a 50% relief if they were empty, we moved to a 100% charge after just a three month exemption.”
Robin goes on to say “as a result of this we started to see the onset of empty rates avoidance schemes, which was a whole new area we had to deal with, it effectively created a new industry of people running avoidance schemes for financial benefit.”
Small business relief
Going slightly further back, another major change was the introduction of small business relief. Robin notes that “this did bring relief for a huge number of businesses many of who went on to rely on their SBRR bill as evidence for then receiving COVID grants, years later.”
He also discussed how there is just so much more information available now, which you never had access to before. “The local paper used to be a source of information on what was happening with properties in your area, now we have, google and google maps. We use Destin’s HUB solution to do our verification and checking on new small business relief applications as they come in, they were one of the first companies that we were aware of that opened up the ability to access a raft of information. HUB is now an integral part of our SBR process and is used to help audit and verify that the entitlements are there before granting relief.”
Business Rates complexity
Robin also discussed how there is more significant and complex changes happening on an annual basis and Local Authorities need to be able to react to them almost immediately. “The pressures in the role have increased considerably, the big thing used to be revaluations and these were every five years, now we’ve moved to every three years. The complexity of what we are dealing with and what this generates in terms of queries raised, has increased. This is also putting pressure on technology providers to be able to adapt quickly to changes and update or build solutions that can help meet these ever-changing requirements.”
Conclusion
In conclusion there has been significant technological advancements in the last twenty years which have been instrumental in helping Revenues and Ratings teams keep on top of the ever-growing demands placed up on them. Being agile and able to react quickly as a technology supplier is key, alongside understanding our customers challenges. One of our main priorities in the year ahead will be enabling our customers to better harness the power of data, opening up access to data and pulling it all together in a way that makes sense and can lead to more informed decision making.
