Local Authorities

Centurion has longstanding clients in the local authority sector and has been very active in supporting councils across the UK as they devolve the delivery of services such as leisure and cultural away from the council itself.

Our Engagement with Local Authorities

We have, since 1998, looked after a number of councils but as our reputation for delivering high quality VAT expertise in a friendly and efficient way has grown.  We have partnered with other leading project advisers such as Alliance Leisure as they evolve major development projects for their local authority clients across the UK.

Sector VAT Issues

Local authorities remain complex organisations from the VAT perspective due to the special VAT regime within which they operate under Section 33, VATA 94. The sector faces continuing pressures as economic strategies across the UK look toward Regional Approaches and “Powerhouses” alongside city regeneration projects and Business Improvement District initiatives.  Centurion has been heavily engaged in supporting both councils and the new charitable trust bodies taking over the delivery of leisure and cultural services in the community.  A clear example of VAT getting complicated and where VAT expert advice is important.

Currently the repercussions of the Ealing Borough Council case on the option now available for councils, who retain their leisure services provision in house, to apply the VAT exemption is creating opportunities for some councils.

The benefit of applying the VAT exemption retrospectively - has to be tempered by the requirement to be consistent in its application to leisure revenue in future where councils have major capital plans for their leisure centres this can result in breaches in the de-minimis input tax calculations and the potential loss of VAT recovery.

How Centurion help

With joined up communication key in a large organisation we ensure that, through our VAT Management Program meetings a member of the Estates Team attends to identify the projects where VAT issues need to be addressed in advance of any contractual undertakings. This approach has produced real compliance benefits from the early identification of VAT issues. 

The current interest in local authorities to invest in projects e.g. Retail Parks, Industrial Estates, Solar farms to deliver revenue is another area where VAT planning at an early stage is important.

The increasing collaboration across authorities and with bodies such as charities and housing associations, particularly on social care provision, is often an area where Centurion assist.

The local authority sector has developed quite a sophisticated VAT awareness over the years particularly through the engagement of CIPFA and direct communication from the CIPFA VAT Committee with HMRC. Centurion’s VAT support role has expanded as the sector increasingly recognises the financial costs which can arise from poor compliance and HMRC show no “light touch” in their application of penalties to a public sector body. 

National Procurement Framework for VAT Services to the Public Sector

Centurion VAT are registered on this current framework and public sector bodies from councils, government bodies and the not-for profit sector has access to this framework. 

 

Related Services

Open the tabs below to see how each service is specialised to the local authorities sector.

Training

We have developed courses bespoke to the needs of our local authority clients including a rolling short VAT session targeted at raising VAT awareness for 200 staff within one council.

Upcoming training events
Consultancy

VAT Support delivered is as diverse as the sector itself - any time where VAT gets complicated:

  • property projects – collaborations with other parties, regeneration schemes, renewable energy schemes
  • Transfer out of leisure, cultural or property services to third parties
  • maximization of VAT recovery through partial exemption methods
  • accounting systems adaptations to ensure VAT compliance as new systems are implemented
  • Ensuring that internal digital links meet the new requirements under Making VAT Digital byt the time deadlines set by HMRC
  • Planning for changes arising from the Brexit process
  • protective appeal and retrospective VAT claims
  • Interaction with HMRC in respect of assessment and penalty appeals

Where we identify VAT savings that could be accessed by the client we can offer to undertake the project on a contingency fee basis to ensure our clients always secure a financial benefit.

Compliance Support

To give flexibility without exposure to high costs our local authority clients can receive ongoing support on managing their VAT compliance needs though our Annual VAT Helpline offering. Linked with our VAT Management service we can visit prior to the submission of the VAT return and run audit checks on the data produced prior to its submission. This has been particularly valuable in organisations faced with staffing pressures, or periods of management change in delivering consistency on VAT compliance.

Advising on special projects - new Revenue Generation projects, capital development plans for Leisure Services provision, collaboration projects with third parties are all areas where Centurion help when VAT gets complicated.

 

VAT Management Program

With the VAT complexities within the sector and the challenges to access expert VAT support without exposure to burgeoning costs our VAT Management Services offers the financial director/manager that reassurance that VAT expert help is on hand to sense-check any VAT concerns as they arise. Set annual budgets are agreed to deliver a VAT helpline through email and phone contact and this is often combined with periodic meetings on site to look ahead at areas of future VAT impact and is particularly valuable when managing development projects, systems or staff changes.

Meet the team

Within the five strong VAT team our local authority specialists are:

 
 
Louise Gray
Louise Gray

Director

Email Louise
Liz Maher
Liz Maher

Director

Email Liz

Centurion has looked after local authorities for many years but Liz and Louise's knowledge of the sector goes back through their long careers in VAT across the UK.

Providing VAT support for Centurion is about knowledge transfer as well as helping resolve technical issues for our clients when concerns do arise.

Therefore the team is proud of their long association with the local authority sector and their finance teams and particularly the way in which the VAT awareness of our client council teams has grown over the years of Centurion's involvement.

Get in Touch

Our Local Authorities Clients

Case study

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Sporting Services and Sports Trusts/Charities

With the recent move from local authority to trust control for the provision of leisure and cultural services Centurion has been closely involved in the business planning for a number of councils. There are a range of VAT compliance aspects to address within these types of arrangements especially as sizeable land assets - leisure centres, sports facilities may be disposed of or leased to the new trust body.

With our expertise across local authorities and charities we have been well placed to work, to best VAT effect, for both sides of the transaction in terms of ensuring a smooth process of transfer and supporting a sustainable model for the new entity without exposing the council to risk.

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