The LoCTA Hub


Historically the LoCTA Hub has been used extensively by Revenues, Benefits and Business Rates teams. More recently, Authorities have been letting us know that they are using the Hub more widely across a variety of departments.

The departments listed in the section below show some of the uses that Authorities have shared with us.

For every department that uses the LoCTA Hub, there must be a permitted use for using the Hub, which must be covered by your agreement with LoCTA Ltd.

Housing Benefits Data within the LoCTA Hub

The Housing Benefits Overpayments data that is shared in the LoCTA Hub is particularly ring fenced and has a very small, prescribed use. Access to this data is purely for the purposes of Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit administrative purposes.

In line with the NINO Board Decision the use of the NINO for the purposes of Council Tax administration (as opposed to Council Tax Benefit) is not approved. We are tasked with making this clear to any and all prospective and current Local Authority customers and reserve the right to refuse or remove access that may be outside of the above permitted use.

Overview

    • Easy access to your own data in as accessible, aggregated format.
    • Easy access to data from 60% of UK billing Authorities
    • Restrict data access at user level
    • Ability to search by just a name, an address, a phone number, or an email address
    • Finding phone numbers where none exist in your records via national telephone directory
    • Checking other occupants at an address to verify entitlement to benefits and discounts
    • Check on multiple occupancy houses to look for forwarding information that could be attached to another occupant.
    • After a debtor has been found, check details of other occupants that may be jointly liable.
    • Confirm occupancy at an address.
      Access to more than one million employer records and forwarding addresses.
    • Wildcard and fuzzy logic name searching.
    • Access to database of the deceased, Post Office Address file, credit reference reports (consumer and commercial)
    • Access to the full UK Voters Roll
    • Ability to receive alerts when debtors appear on the Voters Roll
      Assist with cleaning up data
    • Finds data errors
    • Links to relevant third-party websites.

Education

Where schools report that a child is no longer attending due to relocation, allowing the benefits team to check that benefits are not still being received.

Finance and Procurement

  • Verify names and addresses to perform anti-fraud checks, including money laundering, in order to prevent and detect crime
  • Confirm additional occupants to perform anti-fraud checks, including
    money laundering, in order to prevent and detect crime
  • Confirm occupancy at an address to perform anti-fraud checks, including
    money laundering, in order to prevent and detect crime
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR payer to perform anti-fraud checks, including money laundering, in order to prevent and detect crime
  • Access to forwarding addresses
  • Access to Bank Validation and Verification

Neighbourhood Services

  • Verify names and addresses
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR payer
  • Verify Property Owner
  • Verify Property Owner’s Address
  • The LoCTA Hub Uses V1.1 7
  • Check the Liability Indicato

Post Room

  • Check returned mail from gone aways
  • Check the deceased database

Revenues

  • Chasing non-payment of council tax
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • See Liability Order Granted status
  • Check for additional occupants
  • Find other liable parties
  • Confirm entitlement to discounts
  • Check discounts given
  • Access to forwarding addresses
  • Check on multiple occupancy houses to look for forwarding information
    that could be attached to another occupant.

Anti-Social Behaviour Teams

  • Verify the Property Owner
  • Verify the Property Owner’s Address
  • Check the Liability Indicator

Business Rates

  • Checking for non-payment of NDR
  • Check for false SBRR/SBBS claims
  • Access to forwarding addresses
  • Access to Companies House data
  • Automated weekly report shows duplicated SBRR/SBBS claims with
    analysis to interpret the results

Corporate Debt

  • Easy access to own and other LAs Council Tax and NDR data
  • Access to SPD information
  • Verify and confirm addresses
  • Access to forwarding addresses
  • Access to additional occupant information
  • Trace goneaways
  • Help with second home status
  • Use Profile to build up a picture of a business or individua

Empty Homes

  • Trace missing owners
  • Find alternative addresses details for empty home owners
  • Find alternative contact details for empty home owners
  • Information to help progress a Compulsory Purchase Order
  • CPOs used to help urban regeneration, bring empty homes back into use
  • Easy access to Companies House information
  • Provides EH teams with the facility to search independently of other teams
  • Speeds up results and reduces strain on other teams and resources

Fraud

  • Verify names and addresses
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR payer
  • Checking for aliases.
  • See Liability Order Granted status

Parking

  • Verifying that people have given the correct address
  • Access to forwarding addresses

Private Landlord Licensing

  • Verify name and address of landlord
  • Check high-risk licensable properties if this is necessary to protect
    vulnerable tenants
  • Check for aliases.
  • Check Application process
  • Verify liability of landlord by checking dates when occupant moved in
    and/or out
  • Verify details of rented property
  • Confirm multiple occupancy status for properties in Multiple Occupation
    (HMOs)

Serious Environmental Crime Teams (SECT)

  • Verify names and addresses
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • Confirm land and property owners
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR liability

Benefits

  • Checking for fraudulently claimed benefits
  • Confirm entitlement to benefits
  • Check for additional occupants
  • Finding other liable parties
  • Access to forwarding addresses
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • Confirm the beneficiary isn’t on the deceased database
  • NINO Match alert – an automatic check for duplicated NINOs in the Hub, with analysis to interpret the results.

Community Protection

  • Verify names/addresses for service of legal notices
  • Verify names/addresses for initial investigation/ progressing complaints
    received
  • Use one platform to access both Companies House/Land Registry to
    progress complaints
  • Identify alternative contact details for possible offenders inside/outside
    Borough. Especially useful for Flytipping/Taxi Enforcement/Scrap Metal
    Locating and checking non-payers of FPNs for littering or fly tipping
  • Find information to identify and liaise with other Councils directly on
    enforcement issues
  • Void property issues in particular, the ability to check if owner is deceased

Environmental Services

  • Verify names and addresses
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR payer

Housing

  • Check for sub-letting, confirm the Council Tax payer
  • Verify and trace individuals
  • Verify housing applications
  • Use the start and dates in the searches to prove if landlord or tenant are
    liability for Ctax
  • Check emergency housing for the homeless
  • Check additional occupants

Pensions

  • Tracing people who haven’t given forwarding addresses
  • Reuniting people with their pensions
  • Adding telephone numbers to records
  • Discovering details of people moving to live with family members or into
    care
  • Finding executor details via Ctax records
  • Verifying details found elsewhere
  • Check the deceased database

Private Sector Licensing

  • Finding absentee landlords
  • Enforcement for properties not licensed or in disrepair
  • Bringing landlords to prosecution

Sundry Debt

  • Verify names and addresses
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Confirm occupancy at an address
  • The LoCTA Hub Uses V1.1 8
  • Confirm Council Tax and NDR payer

Trading Standards

  • Checking for aliases
  • Checking who pays CTax or Business Rates at a property
  • Find additional postal and email addresses
  • Find financial associations via CRA reports
  • Confirm additional occupants
  • Receive alerts on First and Final Notices
  • Receive alerts for Dissolved Companie

Features

Searches

  • Search Capabilities: Flexible and secure with features like ‘wild card name’ and ‘fuzzy logic’ to find individuals or businesses with altered names.
  • LoCTA Plus: Comprehensive one-time searches against all ‘person’ data, increasing hit rates and saving time.
  • Quick Search: Instant results using data like telephone number, email address, or postcode.
  • Batch Options: Trace Batch allows searches to be run in bulk.

Alerts

  • Flag individuals or businesses and receive alerts when information appears or reappears.

Features

Profiles

  • Build a complete debtor picture, share within Authority groups, and keep profiles up-to-date.

Links

  • Links to external organisations that Authorities may find useful

Credit Reports

  • Integrated access to consumer and commercial credit reference agency reports with preferential rates.

A secure and efficient way of tracing debtors and tackling fraud.

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