Buckinghamshire Council's revenue and benefits functions will be out of use for weeks.

Following the merger of the former district councils and one county council into one authority in 2020, the Bucks Council is now merging the Council Tax, business rates and benefits services of the Chiltern and South Bucks systems with the already merged Aylesbury and Wycombe systems.

For residents, the overhaul means an 11-week temporary closedown of the Chiltern and South Bucks systems and a five-week long closedown for Aylesbury and Wycombe system users from August 15 onwards.

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Tim Butcher, Deputy Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources, said: “We realise that the temporary system closure may cause some inconvenience, but the vast majority of residents and businesses in Buckinghamshire will not be impacted. Payments and Direct Debits will continue as normal.

“Critically, support and help will remain available for anyone experiencing significant financial hardship and all requests will be dealt with as a matter of urgency. In addition, our online forms will remain live, and our Customer Support team can still be contacted.

“Residents and businesses will still be able to notify us of changes to their existing circumstances. However, our Revenues and Benefits team won’t be able to action these requests until the new system is implemented at the end of October.”

With the new system, Bucks Council seeks to make it easier for residents to use self-service functions, reduce administration, reduce printing and posting and increasing efficiency for council staff and it easier to clamp down on fraud. 

The aim for the new system launch is Thursday October 27, Bucks Council said.

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