Council Tax

Council Tax mailings are not only confidential but also complex and time sensitive, all areas where Document Despatch excels.

Having reviewed their Council Tax production and selected Document Despatch, a local authority first looked at their payment booklet to make it easier to use for residents. The new format provides all the billing and council budget information together with personalised bank giro slips in one A5 booklet. The new booklet is lasered and stitched and trimmed in a single in-line operation. As only the cover is printed in house colours, the need for pre-printed stock has been reduced, providing an overall cost saving.

The production process involves first receiving the residents' data (incorporating different payment types and frequencies) and loading into our print production system. Financial totals are produced and cross-checked with the council to ensure that all data has successfully been transferred.

After sign-off of proofs from a selection of representative records, the live print run and enclosing is carried out. Our Xerox print production systems offer high integrity, ensuring that booklets contain all pages relating only to that property and that all items are produced.

Council tax production has to operate

• accurately, as any errors would result in a huge amount of calls to the council and incur the cost of a remail
• within a short leadtime, to comply with local authority guidelines and allow direct debit details to be checked
• For a high-coverage mailing such as this, Walksort is used to provide maximum postage discounts.

Document Despatch also work with many local authorities to manage the distribution of resident communication, such as newsletters and refuse calendars.