Update to the Council Tax, benefits and business rates system

We previously used 3 Revenues and Benefits software systems covering different areas within Buckinghamshire and so decided to move to a single system serving the whole of Buckinghamshire.

A single unified system will:

• mean a more efficient, and consistent service to council tax payers, benefit recipients and business rates payers
• provide a range of self-service options
• allow customers to access, check and update their details quickly

During the upgrade we closed our systems down for a period of time to allow for all the information to be moved across to the new system.

The single system is now live.

The council tax, benefits and business rates systems were closed between:

• Friday 12 August and Friday 28 October 2022 for former Chiltern and South Bucks district areas
• Thursday 22 September to Friday 28 October 2022 for former Aylesbury Vale and Wycombe district areas

The majority of residents will not have been impacted by the system close down.

Online forms were still available during the close down so that you could tell us about changes to your circumstances, and make requests to the service.

We continued to support vulnerable customers and those who were less able to self-serve.

The system went live on Friday 28 October 2022.

We will process requests and reply to emails in date order once we are able to do so at the beginning of November 2022.

The council will have additional staff available to clear the backlog of requests so that when items can be processed, they will be done as quickly as possible.

We anticipate being back to normal service levels by the end of January 2023.

Any successful claims that have been submitted during our close down period will start from the date the application was made.

The Customer Access system that we currently use for former Wycombe and Aylesbury Vale district residents, will be rolled out to residents in former Chiltern and South Bucks district areas so that all areas will be using the same system.

Former Chiltern and South Bucks district area residents will:

• be allocated a new account number to be used in future correspondence (the old account number will continue to work for payments)
• if they are Direct Debit payers, be notified that the Direct Debit service user number that appears on bank statements will be changing from Thursday 3 November 2022

Otherwise no action is needed, and Direct Debits will continue to be taken on the agreed schedule.

View our advice on how to find your new account number.

If your question hasn’t been answered, you can contact us online or by email:

• Council Tax: contact us online
• Housing Benefits: [email protected]
• Business Rates: [email protected]
• Recovery: [email protected]
• Housing Benefits Over Payments: [email protected]