Birmingham City Council

Finding £4.8m additional revenue while taking the pressure off in-house teams

By reviewing a range of Council Tax Discounts and Exemptions, we’ve helped Birmingham to generate additional revenue while taking the pressure off in-house teams.

In 2024, Birmingham City Council asked us to complete an Empty Properties Review. This fully managed service checks if properties that are registered as empty; genuinely are. This helps to maintain an accurate tax base and at a time when vital funds are needed by Local Authorities, can also trigger additional payments under the government’s New Homes Bonus scheme.

After reviewing more than 8,000 properties in just eight weeks, we found that 25% were incorrectly classed as being long term empty, leading to approximately £4.2m in additional revenue received in the form of New Homes Bonus once the records were correctly updated. The service had zero impact upon day-to-day operations at Birmingham because we took care of everything including all customer enquiries, visits to properties to verify occupancy and system updates.

Extending to other discounts and exemptions

After the success of this programme, Birmingham then asked us to complete a wider review of all discounts and exemptions, for example student disregards. Between January and April 2025, we reviewed more than 10,000 discounts and 2,000 exemptions, identifying a further £650,000 in revenue.

As a council with 462,000 properties, dealing with more than 250k items of correspondence annually, we needed a service that identified additional revenue without adding to the pressure our team is already under. That’s what we got with NEC

REIBINA MCGLINCHEY, REVENUES OPERATIONS MANAGER

Our discount and exemption reviews manage the whole process from end to end to enable busy teams stay focused. Here’s what we do:

Request a data extract of the cases receiving discounts or exemptions
Run a rigorous data matching exercise with Experian to validate correct claims
Write to the remaining claimants and request evidence for their claim
Manage all follow-ups and responses via phone, post and online portal
Cancel claims as required, in full consultation with the council’s team

For us, the whole process was seamless. We had regular catch-ups with our service manager and had full sight of timetables and plans. NEC dealt with everything from beginning to end, which was brilliant.

LISA HAYCOCK, SECTION MANAGER AT BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Their caseload is so high, we knew they needed a service that would deliver results without impacting their working day. By sensitively managing all contact with their customers, we were able to identify additional revenue while also keeping calls away from their contact centre.

Amy Picken Service Manager

Reviewing discounts and exemptions is a great way to keep the council’s support directed to the right place. We were delighted with the amount of income raised and felt the whole thing ran like clockwork. The NEC team definitely delivered on its promises.

Reibina McGlinchey Revenues Operations Manager