Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

Alan Sullivan, Management Consultant

Alan spent over 35 years working in the public sector in DWP, latterly working for 22 years with Local Authorities. Alan led and delivered key projects, notably responsible for setting up the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate in 1996 which successfully drove up performance of LAs in tackling Fraud and Error for over 10 years. He delivered the Benefit cap in partnership with all 380 LAs and the LA IT suppliers, launching the project on time in April 2013. He was also instrumental for delivering the Housing Benefit Debt Service into 380 LAs, delivering this on time in April 2018. The service has received widespread acclaim from LAs, significantly increasing debt recovery in HB to unprecedented levels exceeding 100% of in-year recovery Nationally. In 2019 Alan left DWP to set up his own management consultancy venture. This included the development of a strategic partnership in Giblin and Sullivan Consultancy Services. Alan has already worked in a private capacity with a large number of local authorities in driving through improvements in Revenues and Benefits Services and continues to promote and share good practice amongst his many existing Networks.

Alex Cleland, Implementation Lead, Investigation and Enforcement Services, The Insolvency Service

Alex has had a varied career at the Insolvency Service, initially working in the for the Official Receiver in administrating bankruptcy and liquidation insolvent estates, realising assets and pursuing investigations of bankrupt and director conduct. Alex has worked in Investigation and Enforcement Service’s Compliance and Targeting Team, leading teams responsible for triaging director conduct reporting issues and complaints of breaches of Insolvency and director disqualification legislation. Alex is currently acting as Implementation lead for Investigation and Enforcement Services, his including looking at the opportunities brought about by Companies House reform and recent legislative changes.

Alex Worthington, Barrister, Greenhalgh Kerr

Alex joined Greenhalgh Kerr in 2017 and is involved in each of the firm’s practice areas; Local Government Finance, Asset Finance, Insolvency and Landlord & Tenant. As a Barrister, he appears for the firm’s clients regularly in the Magistrates’ Court, County Court, High Court and Valuation Tribunal for England, specialising in litigation relating to National Non-Domestic Rates and issues arising from avoidance. In addition to appearing as Counsel, Alex has an advisory practice providing opinions on issues relating to business rates, council tax, insolvency, asset finance and property. Further, Alex provides training to clients, speaks regularly at events and is frequently published in the IRRV’s Insight magazine.

Alistair Townsend, Director, Alistair Townsend Ltd

Alistair has been a member of the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation for over 20 years and is currently Commercial Services Portfolio Holder. He has previously held the roles of National President, Council Member, Chair of the Local Taxation and Revenues Faculty Board and Law and Research Portfolio Holder. He has worked within Local Taxation, Revenues and Benefits throughout his career, working for a variety of local authorities. His career has developed from operational to strategic roles within Revenues & Benefits and board level positions. After a brief departure from local government, when Alistair joined a national Enforcement Agency as Group Client Services Director, he rejoined the public sector working for Peterborough City Council as Head of Service Delivery as well as a number of clients in his consultancy business. Alistair has spoken at numerous national conferences and written for many professional journals. He has often advised both local and central government on practices, procedures and legislation development and review. Most recently Alistair was asked to give evidence to a parliamentary committee on Council Tax collection practices.

Andrew Hobley, Assistant Ombudsman, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Andrew Hobley is an Assistant Ombudsman with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, leading a team of investigators in our London office. With 23 years experience of investigating complaints of all varieties he has a particular interest in local taxation matters. This originates from 12 years working as local taxation recovery officer, in London, Surrey and Hampshire. He is a member of the IRRV and wrote a regular column in their Insight magazine for many years. He has spoken at many local taxation events. In 2018 he appeared before the Justice Select Parliament Committee as one of the experts asked to give evidence of the enquiry into enforcement agent reform and now represents the Ombudsman on the Enforcement Law Review Group.

Ben Mowbray, End-User Computing Lead, Amazon Web Services

Ben leads End User Computing Sales and Go To Market for AWS UK Public Sector, previously managing UK Public Sector at Citrix. Ben has been involved with the workforce evolution within UK Public Sector, seeing many trends, challenges, and innovations. Ben is focussed on helping achieve improved citizen services and long term positive strategy for the modern workplace.

Carla-Maria Heath BA IRRV Hons, President, IRRV

Having graduated from London University, Carla-Maria Heath entered local government in the Rates Department at the London Borough of Lambeth and then moved to the City of London Rates Section in 1982. In 1994 she was appointed to the post of Head of Revenues at the City, a post she held for 23 years, responsible for collecting around £1.5 billion in non-domestic rates, council tax, commercial rents and miscellaneous income. Since leaving the City Corporation, she has become an independent consultant on local authority revenues. She is President of the Institute and sits on the Nominations Committee and Policy & Resources Committee. Carla-Maria is a member of the London & Home Counties Association and her primary Faculty is Local Taxation & Revenues.

Charles Metcalfe, Head of Corporate Revenues, Manchester CC

Charles started his career as a volunteer at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Stourbridge in 1984. He has worked in various roles in Housing Benefit, rent arrears collection and finally Revenues in Sandwell, London, Scotland and Cumbria before moving to Manchester in 2005 as Revenues Manager.

Charlotte Crane, Operations Manager (Income), Southwark Council

Charlotte Crane (Acutt) brings nearly 30 years of experience in Local Government Revenues, having worked across two London Boroughs. Her expertise spans Council Tax, Business Rates, Valuation, Enforcement, Training, Performance, Improvement, Strategy, Compliance, and Management. Currently, as the Income Operations Manager at Southwark Council, Charlotte is responsible for the collection of various income streams and managing an in-house enforcement agent function. Charlotte is also a notable leader in the industry, being the founder and President of Women In Revenues and Enforcement, a networking and advocacy group for women in the industry. She has served on the IRRV National Council, is a past President of the London and Home Counties IRRV Association, and was a member of the London Revenues Group executive committee.

Christopher Grose, Director - Business Rates, Hartnell Taylor Cook

Christopher is a Director in the Business Rate team at Hartnell Taylor Cook. Having joined the business rates world in the run up to the 1990 revaluation he has dealt with appeals on many different property types in every Revaluation since including a spell in the Valuation Office. Christopher is Vice Chair of the IRRV Valuation Faculty, Secretary of the London & Home Counties IRRV Association and a member of IRRV Council

Ciara O’Hanlon, Recovery Officer, The City of Cardiff Council

Ciara joined the Recovery Section of Cardiff Council in 2016 and progressed to Recovery Officer in 2021. Her role includes co-managing a section of 19 recovery assistants and overseeing the collection of outstanding Council tax, Business rates, Sundry debts, parking and moving traffic offences with three other Officer colleagues. Ciara is familiar with all available avenues to recover outstanding debts. This includes advocating at the Magistrates court during Committal hearings. Welsh Government abolished committal for council tax in 2019. Ciara has experience of charging order and bankruptcy work and currently completing studies for the IRRV level 3 qualification.

Clare Elliott, Head of Local Authority Partnership Engagement and Delivery Division, DWP

Clare has worked in the Civil Service since 1986 starting her career as an Economist in the Manpower Services Commission. She has worked in numerous government Departments on a range of different policy areas including employment, skills and small business. She has been Head of Local Authority Partnership Engagement and Delivery division (previously known as Housing Delivery Division) in DWP since August 2013 with responsibility for Housing Benefit performance and assurance.

David Graaff, Head of Service Delivery, London Borough of Haringey

David leads the Revenues, Benefits and Debt services in Haringey. David is an experienced leader with a varied career across Revenues, Benefits, welfare, debt and enforcement. He has led services in authorities across London, the Midlands and Yorkshire, and has acted as a consultant and interim manager in many others. He has also delivered out-sourced services, debt recovery, and enforcement services in the private sector. An early adopter of Lean and Systems Thinking, he still uses these principles to focus on the customer experience and building the delivery of high quality, reliable, and cost-effective services.

David Phillips, Associate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies

David is an Associate Director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and helps lead two main areas of research at the Institute. First is work on devolved and local government finance, with a particular focus on the distribution of funding, and the incentives and risks that different funding regimes entail for sub-national government, as well as responses to these incentives. This includes work on the fiscal frameworks of Scotland and Wales and on the ongoing issues for English local government finance. Second is work on tax and social protection policy in developing countries, including the joint IFS - ODI Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TaxDev) funded by FCDO. This centre aims to generate new research, analysis and in-country analytical capacity in the area of tax and social protection policy and administration in (or of relevance to) FCDO-priority countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda.

Dominic Cain IRRV (Hons) MBA, Director of Customer & Exchequer, London Borough of Southwark

Dominic has been working in local government for over 30 years and is the Director of Customer & Exchequer at Southwark Council. He has also been an Exec Member of the London & Home Counties Association for many years and is a past president. His experience includes managing a broad range of services and in particular experience of both outsourcing and insourcing. As the lead Director in Southwark responding to the cost of living crisis he has a keen interest on how council’s are tackling rising levels of debt whilst maintaining support for residents.

Emma Cathcart, Head of Service, Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit

From 2004, Emma was employed as a Benefit Fraud Investigator prior to the transfer of Housing Benefit investigation, with Local Authority staff, to the Department for Work and Pensions. Not wishing to jump ship and following a successful bid for funding in 2015, Emma led the project to develop a Corporate Counter Fraud Service which supports all areas of Local Government. Working with Kate to create a shared service across five Councils, the team were made permanent from April 2019. Emma leads the continuing growth of the delivery and expansion of the service through legalities, regulations, and Local Government red tape to provide a service that is professional, resilient, and one that gives value for money. There are now six Councils making up the Partnership with several additional client Councils and Social Housing Providers. The team deliver counter fraud prevention and detection activities, and enforcement support in a specialist area that had seen little investment for many years. She spends her days managing resourcing, budgets, governance and writing vast numbers of reports whilst campaigning to promote counter fraud provision across Local Government.

Emma Riding, Service Director- Financial Management, Peterborough CC

Emma is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). After initially starting out in the private sector, she has worked in finance roles within local government for over 15 years. Her first roles were at Lancashire County Council, before moving to Peterborough City Council in 2015 where she has progressed her career in financial management through to strategic financial leadership. Emma is currently the Service Director- Financial Management (Deputy s151 officer) where she has been instrumental in the Councils financial improvement journey and implemented a refreshed approach to financial management. Emma has a passion for finances in Local Government. With extensive knowledge of the challenges across the sector and experience in developing financial strategies, turning around difficult in year position and recommending a balanced budget, which received a unanimous vote at Council.

Gareth Evans, Co-Director, Financial Inclusion Centre

Gareth is leading authority on financial inclusion, community finance and local welfare provision, with over 20 years’ experience. He is Co-Director of the not-for-profit Financial Inclusion Centre, which specialises in undertaking research/evaluation studies and implementing initiatives for diverse clients from banks and building societies to local authorities, social housing providers and charities. He also sat on the HM Treasury Financial Inclusion Policy Forum. In 2020, Gareth founded Cash Perks – a multi award-winning cash payment facility enabling emergency welfare payments to be instantly sent via SMS text message. This innovative solution allows the recipient to then collect their funds for free 24/7 at local ATMs nationwide – without the need for a bank card. It has already been adopted by a growing number of leading councils, housing associations and charities that have already sent over £7.5 million of welfare funds to struggling households facing financial crisis.

Jane O’Connor, Head of Revenues, Bradford MDC

Jane has worked for Bradford MDC for 38 years, starting her career collecting General Rates in the 1980s. She has worked in most areas of Revenues and Benefits and is currently Head of Revenues, having responsibility for Business Rates, Council Tax and Accounts Receivable

John Giblin, Management Consultant

John Giblin has been a Management Consultant for over 25 years. He created and launched John Giblin: Management Consulting in December 2014 and in 2019 he has taken his business into a strategic partnership with Alan Sullivan, Consultancy Services. Since 2014 he has worked extensively on business change & continuous improvement programmes with senior council officials across the UK. He has also worked in partnership with the IRRV, delivering dozens of welfare reform or management development events. He started work as a 16-year-old in front line delivery for the DHSS in 1977 but later joined the Department’s Consultancy unit where he helped successfully implement Incapacity Benefit and JSA as well as set up and close down the BFI.

Julie Smethurst IRRV (Hons), Assistant Director of Revenues, Benefits and Complaints, Oldham Council

Julie is an experienced practitioner within the Revenues and Benefits field; having worked both in local authorities and the private sector over her 33 year career. She is an IRRV National Council Member and a Past President of the Lancashire and Cheshire IRRV Association. Currently Assistant Director of Revenues, Benefits and Complaints at Oldham Council, she has also worked at both Lancaster and Preston City Council’s and Dukes Bailiffs.

Kate Seeley, Investigation and Enforcement Manager, Cotswold DC

Kate worked as a Benefit Fraud Investigator for far too many years before jumping at the chance to be part of a pilot project to set up a Corporate Counter Fraud team for a partnership of Councils. The pilot was funded by DCLG and focussed on Tenancy and Housing fraud, internal fraud and other previously overlooked services like Business rates. This proved successful so at the end of the two years became a permanent fixture. Kate manages the Investigation staff and is in charge of the operational delivery. She triages and allocates cases, advises the team on process and legislation and very occasionally gets to supervise or assist on an interesting case. She does get entangled in internal investigations to keep her hand in, but definitely misses the murky world of benefit fraud investigation and interviewing under caution. When not managing the ever-growing team of investigators Kate supports Emma with Policy writing and review, attending Audit or Governance meetings and rolling out training to staff and members. Kate also inputs on writing and implementing the annual service plans.

Lindsay Sayer, Partnership and Innovation Senior Manager at South Norfolk and Broadland Councils

Lindsay brings 20 years of dedicated experience in Benefits, specializing in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support. Over her career, she has co-managed two high-performing Benefit teams across both councils, successfully redesigning Council Tax schemes and authoring the Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) policies. Her collaborative work with the Housing Team has been instrumental in the acquisition of temporary accommodation, aligning financial objectives with improved housing outcomes for customers. Recently, Lindsay has advanced the Councils’ use of benefit data to adopt a proactive approach in customer support, aiming to deliver a more holistic service while mitigating incoming costly demand. Her interest in identifying customer needs and developing proactive ways of working highlight her commitment to ensuring comprehensive assistance, both financial and otherwise. Currently Lindsay is the partnership lead on Homelessness Strategy, future risks of supported and exempt accommodation, review of Council Tax Support schemes; as well as future housing delivery, preventative services and Benefits.

Lois Anderson, Operations Manager, Birmingham City Council

Lois brings over 15 years of invaluable experience in Local Government Revenues. Currently Operations Manager at Birmingham City Council, Lois has also made significant contributions in previous roles at a prominent London Authority. Her core skillset is linked to recovery and enforcement, having twice led on the creation of an in house enforcement team. Lois's voice has been heard at numerous industry events, and her leadership has been recognised through executive memberships and invitations to industry steering groups. She actively challenges the status quo, advocating for diversity and inclusion, leading to her appointment as Vice President of Women in Revenues and Enforcement, a networking and advocacy group for women in the industry.

Matt Kelly,Benefits Manager, Dacorum Borough Council

Matt started his career in 2005 as a Benefits Assessor at St Edmundsbury Borough Council in Suffolk, where he also spent a short period as a Revenues Officer. In 2008, Matt moved to Dacorum Borough Council in Hertfordshire as a Benefits Team Leader and has been Benefits Manager there since 2009. Matt has been a member of the IRRV since 2006, a former President of the London and Home Counties Association and part of the Exec for a number of years. You may also recognise him as the Association’s quizmaster!

Mark Fearn, Customer Engagement Lead (Revenues, Income Recovery & Debt), Walsall Council

Mark has worked within the Revenues arena for almost forty years and are currently the Customer Engagement Lead (Revenues, Income Recovery & Debt) at Walsall MBC. His previous posts have included Revenues Manager at Milton Keynes Council, Head of Revenues at North West Leicestershire DC and Revenue Collection Manager at South Derbyshire District Council. He first became a member of the IRRV in the late 1980’s and was elected to National Council in October 2023. He is currently the chair of the IRRV’s Local Taxation and Revenue Faculty Board. Mark has been a member of the East Midlands Executive since 1998 and have held the posts of Secretary and President during this time. Mark has spoken at numerous IRRV events, had articles published in Insight and carried out training across the country.

Patrick H. Bond BSc (Est.Man) FRICS Dip Rating IRRV (Hons)

Former Head of Rating Valuation at the VOA’s head office, honorary member of the Institute, sometime chairman of the RICS Rating Diploma Holders’ Section and a past president of the Rating Surveyors’ Association. Patrick had 43 years' experience with the VOA including as DV/VO for various London boroughs and Group Valuation Officer East Anglia. Since graduating from Reading University, he has taken keen interest in the special valuation practice of Rating and in 1986 obtained the RICS’ Special Diploma in Rating. He has undertaken work in the international field including advising on property tax in Addis Ababa. Additionally, Patrick is a visiting lecturer at Bayes Business School, City University, an IRRV tutor, a well-known speaker at numerous Rating, Valuation and Property Measurement events and at various international conferences. He is co-author of ‘Rating Valuation Principles and Practice’ the textbook for students and practitioners, now in its fifth edition (2024).

Paul Dalling FRICS, Dip Rating, IRRV(Hons)

Paul Dalling FRICS, Dip Rating, IRRV(Hons) has recently retired as a rating specialist within National Valuation Unit of the Valuation Office Agency with 36 years’ experience. Until recently he was a member of the IRRV Qualifications Management Board and examiner for the IRRV Rating Valuation paper. Paul continues to be involved in delivering the RICS Rating Diploma study course and is Treasurer of the Diploma Holders’ Section. Since retirement, Paul has started to work with a Trust that holds the freehold of over 100 church buildings and helps to deal with property issues as they arise including maintenance, enquiries over title and disposals.

Paul Whyte, Partner, Whyte & CO and Past President, CIVEA

Paul has been in the enforcement industry for over 35 years and has been Managing Partner at Whyte & Co for more than 20 years. Paul has been a member of the Executive Council of CIVEA since its inception and is the current past President. One of his first duties as President was to represent CIVEA as a witness giving evidence to the Select Committee on Levelling Up, Housing and Communities inquiry into council tax collection. The past twenty years has seen a lot of changes in the industry, not least the enforcement reforms of 2014 which have helped shape the way the profession approaches enforcement and in particular the way we interact with individuals at a bespoke level, the very subject of his talk today.

Paula Dixon, Chief Operating Officer, Valuation Office Agency

As Chief Operating Officer, Paula is part of the Agency’s Executive Committee contributing to the corporate leadership, strategic direction, and management of the VOA. As Chief Operating Officer (COO) Paula is responsible for the successful delivery of the mainstream operations across the Agency. Paula has worked for the Agency for 33 years and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor through the Agency’s Cadet Valuer Scheme in 1996. Paula is a member of both the Operational Delivery Profession and Government Property Profession. Alongside her role as COO, Paula is also the Champion of the LGBT + Ally Network in the VOA.

Paula Doherty, Revenues and Benefits Operations Team Leader, Dumfries & Galloway Council

Paula started her career with Dumfries & Galloway Council in January 2000 as a Clerical Assistant with responsibility for a stapler in the filing room. The introduction of a document management system and the many and varied changes since 2000 saw her career within Revenue Services develop. Current remit includes: • Housing Benefit - including overpayment recovery • Council Tax Reduction • Scottish Welfare Fund • Discretionary Housing Payments • Financial Assessments for care at home and residential care • Income Maximisation • Welfare and Housing Options • Council Tax administration • Non-Domestic Rates Paula is immediate past president of the IRRV Scottish Association, chair of the IRRV Welfare Reform consortium and current Education Liaison Officer for Scotland. As an active member of the IRRV Paula is a firm believer that by working together we can meet the challenges ahead.

Phil Black IRRV (Hons), Assistant Director Financial Shared Services, City of London Corporation

Phil is the Assistant Director, Financial Shared Services at the City of London Corporation. He is responsible for the collection and recovery of Business Rates in the Square Mile as well as the delivery of Council Tax , Housing Benefits, Payroll and Transactional Finance services. He has previously worked for over 20 years at Westminster City Council where he was Head of Revenues and Benefits. He is a Past President and current executive member of the IRRV London and Home Counties Association and an executive member of the London Revenues Group.

Rachael Tiffin, Director of Public Sector and Learning, Cifas

Rachael was Head of Audit and Counter Fraud in 3 London Boroughs. At the National Fraud Authority, Home Office in 2010 as Head of UK Public Sector Fraud she researched and drafted the first local government counter fraud strategy Fighting Fraud Locally (FFL) and created pilot data hubs using partnerships. In 2013 she joined the MoD as manager of the Fraud Defence Unit. In 2014 she created the CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre - creating qualifications and services, drafting the second FFCL Strategy for HMG, she then researched and drafted FFCL2020s whilst at Cifas . Whilst here she created a consortium of data partners leading the team to win the contract for the London Counter Fraud Hub. Rachael is a well-known speaker and author on counter fraud and corruption, sitting on a number of industry boards. She is the Independent Person for Standards and Ethics at the LB Tower Hamlets and sits on the Audit Committee for the Police Commissioner for Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. Rachael won Stella Walsh Award “Lifetime Achievement in Countering Fraud”, the TECA ‘Lifetime Achievement’ 2023 award, The 2023 FFCL Outstanding Contribution Award and the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award at the Public Sector Award 2024 . Rachael is Director of Public Sector and Learning at Cifas – the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service.

Rachael Walker, Policy and Research Director, Policy in Practice

Rachael Walker is Policy and Research Director at leading welfare policy and analytics company Policy in Practice. She has more than 15 years' local government welfare policy and delivery experience, specialises in unclaimed benefits, regional social policy, Council Tax Reduction, and local government funding. Rachael and her team are currently researching links between poverty, social care, debt collection, and income volatility, with the aim of increasing access to social security. Most recently, Rachael was lead analyst and co-author of “Missing Out 2024”, Policy in Practice’s flagship report into £23bn in unclaimed benefits annually. Working closely with their clients, the team at Policy in Practice have increased benefit income by more than £750 million in 12 months, and continue to spread the urgent message around unclaimed entitlements nationally.

Richard Dunsire, Head of Housing and Benefits, South Norfolk and Broadland Councils

Richard possesses 18 years of experience in Housing, with a significant portion of that time also dedicated to managing the Benefits team. His early work in income services provided him with a keen understanding of eligibility and guidance for clients navigating assessments and legislative housing policy. As the Housing and Benefit Manager for the South Norfolk and Broadland One Team, Richard effectively unified his team, addressing the challenges they faced and fostering collaboration. Currently, Richard chairs the Housing Alliance and contributes to various strategic workstreams, leveraging his broad knowledge gained from managing a diverse and integrated service. His responsibilities encompass a wide range of areas, including Housing, Homelessness, Rough Sleeper Services, Housing First, Asylum and Ukraine support, Benefits, Council Tax Support, Domestic Abuse Services, Prison Release, Temporary Accommodation, and compliance as a newly registered provider.

Sarah Naylor, Sales Director, Dukes Bailiffs Limited

Over the last 9 years Sarah has embraced new challenges and seized opportunities that have led her to assume roles of increasing responsibility. Currently serving as the Sales Director at Dukes Bailiffs Limited, Sarah oversees sales, client, and bid activity. Sarah is deeply committed to positioning her organisation as a leader in delivering accessible, innovative solutions for stakeholders, while prioritising exceptional customer service and fostering a positive, engaging work environment for employees. As a company free from external shareholders, Sarah collaborates closely with the board, including her sister, Zoe Naylor, HR Director, to ensure that Dukes remains resilient and adaptable in an ever-evolving digital world and continues to be an attractive workplace that encourages long-term employee engagement.

Steven McNally, Client Relationship Partner, Capita Local Public Service

Steve is a Client Relationship Partner for Capita Local Public Service, with over two decades of experience in the sector in both operational and transformation roles. Steve has consistently driven innovative projects that enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. He is passionate about delivering cutting-edge technologies while ensuring solutions have user centric design approaches and more vulnerable service users don’t get left behind. Steve is committed to fostering a culture of continuous improvement based on a data and insight driven approach and ensuring his colleagues are empowered to make changes that really make a difference. Steve is responsible for a diverse and geographically distributed remote workforce, using technology, process and leadership to ensure a cohesive and effective team. Steve believes innovation is an ongoing journey and is always looking for exciting new opportunities to challenge the status quo.

Sir Tony Redmond, Government Adviser

Tony has had a substantial career in local government encompassing senior roles in Liverpool and Wigan. Subsequently he occupied positions in Knowsley, Merseyside Police and Harrow as Finance Director, Treasurer and Chief Executive respectively. He then became Chair of the Commission of Local Administration in England and Local Government Ombudsman. He has since occupied the roles of Local Government Boundary Commissioner, Treasurer of Unicef UK, and Vice Chair of the Consumer Council for Water. He led the Government Review of Local Audit and Financial Reporting. He was Chair of the Improvement and Assurance Board at Nottingham City Council and is now the Lead Commissioner at Woking Borough Council. He was knighted for services to local government in 2011.

Tylor-Maria Johnson, Client Services Manager, Policy in Practice

Tylor-Maria is a Client Services Manager at Policy in Practice. She is leading Policy in Practice’s current work on the take up of benefits like Pension Credit, Universal Credit, and Healthy Start, collaborating with local authorities to use their data to tackle the £23 billion unclaimed benefits gap. She has contributed to analyses on the impact of income volatility on Universal Credit households for work commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. She has been featured in QuidsIn Magazine about the takeup of Healthy Start, and has spoken on webinars and at previous IRRV Conferences about the possibilities and potential of Universal Credit Data. She has a deep understanding of qualitative and quantitative social science research methods that is complimented by her knowledge of benefits programs in the UK.

Victoria Boateng, CEO, VS Boateng & Associates

Victoria Boateng is the CEO of a niche business rates consultancy dedicated to delivering exceptional client service. With a distinguished career spanning three decades, Victoria has held prominent roles, including Head of Investor & Developer Rates teams at CBRE, Montagu Evans, and Allsop. Her expertise extends to high-level case advocacy, having successfully taken cases to the Upper Tribunal and assisting with the intervention group in the landmark Supreme Court decision of Newbigin v Monk. Victoria began her career in 1995 as a Local Government Officer, where she spent 18 years safeguarding public funds. This unique dual experience across both the public and private sectors gives her unparalleled insight into opposing stakeholder objectives in business rates, making her a leading authority in the field and sought after for her insight by the VOA. Her commitment to excellence and deep understanding of the industry ensures her clients receive the best possible outcomes.

Zoe Kent, Revenues & Benefits Manager Swale BC and Interim Head of Revenues & Benefits Mid Kent Services

Zoe’s career started at the DHSS working on Supplementary Benefit and then Income Support. After a career break she moved into Local Government in 2003 working on the frontline of the Housing Benefit team at Swale Borough Council, then moving on to the roles of Training Officer, Assistant Revenues and Benefits Manager and from 2015 Revenues and Benefits Manager. Zoe worked with the DWP to set up the Kent Overpayments Network, to ensure that overpayment officers were able to meet, to discuss good practice and bring in new initiatives. She obtained her full IRRV qualification in 2010 and has been on the IRRV SE Association executive for many years becoming an IRRV Council Member in October 2018.

IRRV Annual Conference & Exhibition

Leading Our Profession

Telford International Centre 8-10 October 2024