Agenda item

This report provides Members with information concerning the proposed level of fees and charges to be made by the Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service during 2018/19.

Members received a report that provided them with information concerning the proposed level of fees and charges to be made by the Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service during 2018/19.  Mr Simon Legg (Senior Regulatory Service Manager) explained that in accordance with Paragraph 13(f) of the Consortium Agreement between the London Borough of Brent and the London Borough of Harrow, Brent’s Cabinet agreed a new ‘Fees and Charges Policy’ in February 2018 which provided delegated authority to permit Strategic Directors to vary fees within set parameters. Where appropriate circumstances provided, the Service had utilised this policy to maximise income and to create an efficient mechanism for agreeing fees without the need to bring reports before Cabinet or other decision making bodies.

During 2018, Brent Council’s Civic Enterprise Board suggested a raise of 10% across all fees which were not statutory (which most of the Service fees are).

Trading Standards fees fall into one of three categories, as follows:

Statutory fees

This was set by statute and its application is nationwide, although some offer discretion to vary the amount up to a maximum value. Generally, local authorities have no discretion to change these fees although on occasions, the legislation will permit a fee to be set locally up to a maximum value. The following fees fall under this heading:

Explosive License Fees

The fees to process explosive (firework) licenses, charged by the Harrow team are set by the Health and Safety Executive by virtue of the Health and Safety and Nuclear Fees Regulations 2016. These fees vary subject to the exact License required although they were typically £54 to renew a short term license rising to £500 for an all year round license.  In Brent, this function is carried out by the Licensing Team who receive the income, it was not a responsibility for Trading Standards. There have been no change to the fees for explosive licenses in the last 12 months from the figures reported to the Board last year on 11 May 2017

Letting and/or Property Management Penalty Fees

Other forms of statutory fee charged by the Service are  found under the Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015.  To bring Brent’s fees in line with those charged by Harrow, it was agreed that the penalty notice charge for breaches of the Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 be set at the maximum of £5,000, reduced by 50% for an early payment made within 14 days.  This decision conflicts with the charges imposed under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 where the penalty charge is set at £5,000 with no discount for early payment. It was suggested that the discount for early payment be removed for breaches of the Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 in order to bring the two charges in line with each other.

It should be noted that both pieces of legislation permit representations to be made by a recipient of a penalty notice detailing any mitigating factors that may apply and the Service can vary the value of the penalty if it considered appropriate.

RPI linked fee (Agreed previously by Brent’s Executive)

A RPI escalator (Retail Price Index) applies to our Primary Authority partnerships where the Service had created statutory partnerships with businesses who work across the country and who wish to receive assured advice from one regulatory service as opposed to multiple authorities wherever they trade.  The proposed increases are as follows:

Discretionary fees (Discretion to increase or decrease them)

He drew members’ attention to the proposed increases for weights and measures as set out within the report.  In respect of Registration of Premises for Auction, the current fee of £327 was proposed to be increased to £332, adding that it was rare to get applications for this purpose with none received during 2017/18.  The Fee for Officers Carrying Out Duties at Wembley Events wascurrently set at £40 per hour per officer. This fee is managed by Brent Council’s Licensing team who take the lead in negotiating any change to the fee so there are no proposals to change this fee contained within this report.

Financial Investigator’s fees

It is proposed to increase this fee from £36.09 to £37.00 per hour. Whilst this may appear a low rate compared to other officer fees, the main financial benefit from this service is obtained from any subsequent incentivisation scheme payment.

In conclusion, Mr Legg stated that any rise in fees for 2018/19, will generate negligible increase in income as the proposals are only small and the amount of fee based work undertaken is limited.

RESOLVED:

That the proposed increases set out within the report be agreed.