Agenda and decisions

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To receive any apologies for absence.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear).

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST FOR THIS ITEM:

Mone

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services:

1.    Approved the award of contract for the provision of secure print and post services for the Revenues and Benefits, Housing, Planning and Pensions Service Areas to DSI Billing Services Limited as permitted under Contract Standing Orders 7.02 (access and call off a framework) and 2.01(c) (approval of awards at £500k or more) for a period of up to 2 years up to a total contract value of £1.398 million.

2.    Agreed that the proposed contract commence on 1st February 2026 for a period of 2 years until 31st January 2028.

Reasons for decision

The current contract expired in January 2026.

Production of the notices laid out in section 1.4 was an essential service, with the Council having a statutory requirement to issue notices for Revenues and Benefits under the Local Government Finance Acts 1988 & 1992.

£193 million in Council Tax and £84 million for NNDR (Business Rates) had been billed that financial year. All customers who had not opted into e-billing had to be issued a respective bill by post; otherwise, they did not have to pay.

DSI Billing Services Limited specialised in high-volume hybrid mail solutions for Revenues and Benefits, Housing, Planning, Pensions and related services, providing secure printing and postal services for Council Tax, NNDR and Housing Benefit correspondence and recovery notices.

The award of this contract resulted in a fixed unit cost for production, which spared the Authority index-linked price increases and maintained economies of scale where volumes of outbound correspondence fell. The cost of Royal Mail postage, however, continued to be variable.

Alternative Options Considered

Do nothing – This was not an option and would have placed the Council in breach of its statutory obligations. It would also have resulted in a significant reduction in income to the Council, as Council Tax and Business Rates could not be collected unless the associated statutory notices had been issued.

Undertake a full procurement – This was discounted, as procurement through a framework allowed the Council to take advantage of accumulated pricing based on the framework.

Item 8 is likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST FOR THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Resources:

1.    Noted the exempt report and agreed the exempt recommendations