Form

CTR: Council Tax requirement return - validation checks

Updated 8 February 2024

Applies to England

Validation checks for CTR1, CTR2, CTR3, CTR4 in 2024-25

Please read this note before submitting the Council Tax Requirement (CTR) form

1. The Council Tax Requirement return 2024-25 is designed so that:

• billing authorities (required to complete the CTR1);
• major precepting authorities except the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (required to complete the CTR2);
• Greater London Authority (required to complete the CTR3); and the
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (required to complete the CTR4)

provide information to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on their council tax requirement and setting of council tax for 2024-25. On receipt of your form, we will carry out various checks to satisfy ourselves that the form has been completed correctly.

2. We have four types of validation query:

• checking for consistency of information within the form;
• calculations (Excel form only);
• comparing information already known to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC); and
• comparing significant changes in data with that provided on last year’s comparable CTR return. This includes percentage checks to highlight significant increases/decreases. The purpose of these validation warnings is to alert authorities to significant changes, which could be the result of incorrect information, or the incorrect amount being entered (e.g. completed to the nearest thousand rather than the nearest pound).

3. When completing the CTR form, please ensure that the information is checked against the following notes and, where necessary, that an explanation is provided for data that will fail our validation checks when the form is submitted to us.

4. We will contact the authority if a validation has flagged and no comment or an inadequate comment has been provided. An inadequate comment is one which provides little explanation as to the reason of the change, such as ‘OK’, ‘It’s correct’ or ‘It’s gone up or down’. An adequate comment will provide some evidence as to why the figures are correct, and so will aid our understanding of changes. This then helps us explain the figures that are published.

5. We also have validations that are calculated after the forms have been returned, particularly where we are checking figures reported on the CTR1 form against those reported on the CTR2, CTR3 and CTR4 forms. If there is a difference in the figures, we will contact both authorities involved in the comparison.

6. Please note that all financial information is required to the nearest £ except for average (Band D) Council Tax data which is required to the nearest penny.

CTR Form

7. Please note that most validation checks and all calculations have been built into the CTR forms (both the DELTA and Excel versions of the form). The CTR form provides space for comments to be provided on any data that have failed the validation checks. Details of the checks that are incorporated in the CTR form are set out below. Where this note refers simply to the “CTR”, we mean whichever of the CTR1, CTR2, CTR3 and CTR4 is relevant for your authority.

8. We have retained the validation tabs in the Excel version for consistency. Where appropriate, comment fields have been included in the Upload template if this is used.

9. In DELTA, validation sections are within the form rather than at the end of the form. If a validation comment is required, then this box will be visible.

Pre-populated cells

10. Data for 2023-24 have been pre-populated with data submitted on your 2023-24 form. If you think that these cells are incorrect, then you will need to contact us at ctr.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk .

Arithmetic calculations

11. Arithmetic calculations have been built into the DELTA form and will be shown once the component parts have been completed. They are also built into the Excel form and are checked in the validation tab as Test 5-15 to make sure they have not been overwritten.

12. Before returning the form, please ensure that all arithmetic calculations are correct, and that data is specified to the correct number of decimal places. If you think that these cells are incorrect, then you will need to contact us at ctr.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk

13. In particular, the following lines in DELTA should be checked to make sure that calculated average Band D council tax amounts are as expected

• Line 8 which equals Line 1 divided by Line 7
• Line 9 which equals Line 3 divided by Line 7
• Line 11 column 1 which equals Line 10 divided by Line 7
  • Line 11 column 2 which equals Line 11 column 1 divided by Line 9 column 1 as a percentage
  • Lines 16a-16d (average council tax for major precepting authorities) equals the council tax precept reported in Lines 16a-16d divided by Line 7
  • Line 17 (area council tax including local precepts) which equals Line 8 plus Lines 16a to 16d

Specific validation checks

We compare data provided on CTR forms with information held by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We ask for an explanation if any of the following validation checks fail (i.e. the result falls outside of the expected difference thresholds).

CTR1 form – Billing Validation

DELTA section: Part 1a validations

Test 1: We check the aggregate figure for 2024-25 local precepts (line 2) against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10%.

Test 2: We check the aggregate figure for 2024-25 levies and special levies (line 3a) against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10%.

DELTA section: Part 1b validations

Test 3: We compare the estimated collection rate for 2024-25 (line 5) against that entered for 2023-24 and require an explanation if there is a difference of more than 0.5 percentage points (plus or minus).

Test 4: We check the figure for 2024-25 tax base for council tax setting purposes (line 7) against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any increases in excess of 2.5% or any decreases in excess of 0.5%.

Validations run by DLUHC once the forms are submitted

We will compare the figures in Lines 16a to Lines 16d against the figures submitted by the major precepting authorities in Section 2 of their CTR2 form. We will query with both parties where there are inconsistencies.

We will compare the figure in Line 2 against the aggregated precepts submitted on the CTR1-Parish form. These figures are for the same amount and must therefore match. As it is not possible to aggregate the parish level data in DELTA, and if you have multiple parishes, we recommend that these are checked against the data compiled in Excel.

We will compare the figures in Lines 19 to 21 against the aggregated figures from the submitted parish returns. As it is not possible to aggregate the parish level data in DELTA, and if you have multiple parishes, we recommend that these are checked against the data compiled in Excel.

In-form warnings

We have included in-form warnings in the form. Please consider resolving these warnings before submitting as we may query them once submitted.

We check that the average Band D council tax including adult social care precept but excluding local precepts (Line 9) does not exceed the referendum principles, unless a referendum is due to be held.

We check that the adult social care precept (Line 11) does not exceed the referendum principles, unless a referendum is due to be held.

We check that the tax base for local precepting authorities (Line 18) is not greater than the tax base for the billing authority (Line 7).

CTR1 Parish form (Local Validation)

10% change in parish tax base

This validation highlights where there has been a large change in tax base from 2023-24 to 2024-25. In the past this has often been due to a transposition of data when the latest year’s information has been cut and pasted into the form.

If there has been a genuine increase or decrease of 10% or more in tax base compared to last year, then please make us aware of this in the comment box.

£20 change in average band D

This validation highlights where there has been a large change in average band D from 2023-24 to 2024-25. In the past this has been due to a transposition of data when the latest year’s information has been cut and pasted into the form.

If there has been a genuine increase or decrease of £20 or more in tax base compared to last year, then please make us aware of this in the comment box.

We will review these detailed checks during April ahead of the publication of the parish data in May.

CTR2 form

Test 1: We check the aggregate figure for 2024-25 levies and special levies against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10%.

Test 2: We check the figure for 2024-25 tax base for council tax setting purposes against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 5%.

Test 3: Compares the figure shown on line 3 with the figure calculated by dividing line 1 by line 2.

Test 4: Compares the figure in line 1 with the total at the bottom of Section 2.

Test 5-7 We check the calculations for the ASC element of the increase in Band D council tax are correct (Test 5 & 6).

We also check the ASC precept does not exceed the maximum 2% increase on the previous year’s average Band D council tax (Test 7).

CTR3 form

Test 1-1a: We check the aggregate figure for 2024-25 levies and special levies, for both components, against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10% respectively.

Test 2-2a: We check the figure for 2024-25 tax base for council tax setting purposes, for both components, against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 5% respectively.

Test 3: Compares the figure in line 3, column 1 with the figure in line 3, column 2.

Test 4-4a: Compares the figure in line 4 with the figure calculated by dividing line 1 by line 3 for both components.

Test 5: Compares the figure in line 1 with the total for Annex A.

CTR4 form

Test 1-1a: We check the aggregate figure for 2024-25 levies and special levies, for both components, against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10%.

Test 2-2a: We check the figure for 2024-25 tax base for council tax setting purposes, for both components, against the figure for 2023-24; you need to explain any changes in excess of 10%.

Test 3-3a: Compares the figure shown on line 4 with the figure calculated by dividing line 1 by line 3 for both components respectively.

Test 4-4a: Compares the figure shown on line 1 with the total for section 2 for both components respectively.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

February 2024