The Anglia Revenues and
Benefits Partnership (ARP) was originally established in 2003 by
Breckland Council and Forest Heath District Council to jointly
manage the delivery of revenue services in partnership to give
advantages and economies of scale and provide a robust flexible
service.
The Partnership was expanded to
include East Cambridgeshire District Council, Fenland District
Council, St Edmundsbury District Council, Suffolk Coastal and
Waveney District Councils.
On 1 April 2019, East Suffolk
Council and West Suffolk Council were created. Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils were
merged to create East Suffolk Council and Forest Heath and St
Edmundsbury District Council were merged to create West Suffolk
Council.
The Partnership now consists of
five Councils including Breckland, East Cambridgeshire, East
Suffolk, Fenland and West Suffolk.
The purpose of the ARP Joint
Committee is to discharge the revenues services and benefits
functions on behalf of all the aforementioned Councils, including
council tax collection, national non-domestic rates collection,
council tax benefit and housing benefit as set out in the various
relevant Acts. By coming together, each
council has saved money by pooling resources and staff. Over the last few years the Partnership has saved
over £2,000,000 across all councils involved.
The Joint Committee has a total
of five members (one member for each partner authority, appointed
annually).