Issue - decisions

The existing contract for the Council Tax, Business Rates, and Housing rent letters annual billing printing & associated services expired on 31 March 2024. It was originally awarded in 2021to DSI and run for four years.

At this point we would normally carry out a commissioning and procurement process in order to determine our service need and consider what our annual billing contract requirements are moving forward.

However, currently all printing and posting including production of our annual bills and Housing Rent letters is corporately undergoing a review, and a corporate project plan is in place to award a new corporate printing contract by April 2026.

Therefore, whilst the project board determines the outcome of the corporate printing and posting solution, a two year contact with our current providers DSI needs to be in place.

The yearly Annual billing process is a statutory requirement. Collection and enforcement of Council Tax, Business Rates and Housing Rent could not be carried out, without the bills being issued in line with the relevant legislation

This service is a high profile one to the Council, and any mistakes could bring substantial consequences.  Ensuring our data is keep confidential and secure is paramount to this contract. Data processing agreements have been signed between both parties and there have always been adhered.

Any data breach would be catastrophic and the reputation of the Council would be affected.

DSI over the past four years has demonstrated their ability to handle and process data, they have a robust quality assurance process, have been able to separate customers details from the next when enveloping, have achieved deadlines, and have be able to handle additional tract

With the introduction of the digital platform, this will also enable e billing, and at this time we are unable to offer this service