Council Use of Bailiffs/Enforcement Agents between 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023
Case reference FOI2023/01810
Published 22 November 2023
Request
FOI Request - Herefordshire Council use of bailiffs/enforcement agents in 2022/2023
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we would like to request the following information.
1. The number of times between 1st April 2022 and 31st March 2023, or the nearest available twelve-month period, that private bailiffs/enforcement agents have been instructed to enforce debts to the local authority relating to each of the following;
a. Council Tax
b. Parking
c. Housing Benefit overpayments
d. Business Rates
e. Commercial Rents
f. Any other debt types, including any other overpayments.
By "private bailiffs/enforcement agents" we mean those who are self-employed or who work for private companies, including as high court enforcement officers. Please include cases where local authority employees have visited a property to enforce a warrant of control.
2. Before seeking a liability order for a resident for Council Tax arrears, do you take any of the following steps? Please indicate the steps you take.
* Assessment of their income and expenditure,
* Assessment of whether the resident (or anyone else) in their household is vulnerable,
* Referral to your Council Tax Reduction / Support scheme,
* Referral to income maximisation,
* Referral to a free debt advice organisation.
3. Do you signpost residents to one or more free debt advice agencies as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No) If so, which charities?
4. Have you adopted the Standard Financial Statement as a tool for objectively assessing income and expenditure as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No)
5. Do you have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances as part of your collections process for Council Tax arrears? (Yes/No)
If so, please may you provide a copy of the policy if it is for public consumption.
6. Do you currently have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support / Reduction from the use of bailiff action? (Yes/No)
7. Have you adopted the Citizens Advice/Local Government Association Council Tax Protocol? (Yes/No)
Please provide each set of information above separately in your response. We would prefer to receive your response in electronic format, either included in the body of an email or as an attachment in Excel, Word or PDF format.
Response
FOI Request - Herefordshire Council use of bailiffs/enforcement agents in 2022/2023
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we would like to request the following information.
1. The number of times between 1st April 2022 and 31st March 2023, or the nearest available twelve-month period, that private bailiffs/enforcement agents have been instructed to enforce debts to the local authority relating to each of the following;
a. Council Tax
2,221 cases sent
b. Parking
1,949 cases sent
c. Housing Benefit overpayments
75 cases sent
d. Business Rates
74 cases sent
e. Commercial Rents
0 cases sent
f. Any other debt types, including any other overpayments.
51 cases sent
By "private bailiffs/enforcement agents" we mean those who are self-employed or who work for private companies, including as high court enforcement officers. Please include cases where local authority employees have visited a property to enforce a warrant of control.
2. Before seeking a liability order for a resident for Council Tax arrears, do you take any of the following steps? Please indicate the steps you take.
* Assessment of their income and expenditure,
* Assessment of whether the resident (or anyone else) in their household is
vulnerable,
* Referral to your Council Tax Reduction / Support scheme,
* Referral to income maximisation,
* Referral to a free debt advice organisation.
We use the information we have available and will send out a letter asking for income and expenses and an offer of payment before looking at further recovery options.
3. Do you signpost residents to one or more free debt advice agencies as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No) If so, which charities?
Yes, Citizens Advice Bureau and Step change.
4. Have you adopted the Standard Financial Statement as a tool for objectively assessing income and expenditure as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No)
No, we use our own income and expenditure forms.
5. Do you have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances as part of your collections process for Council Tax arrears? (Yes/No)
If so, please may you provide a copy of the policy if it is for public consumption.
We follow our Debt Recovery Policy which details how known individual circumstances are taken into account prior to any recovery action.
The debt recovery policy can be found at the following link on the Herefordshire Council website - https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/directory-record/6533/debt-recovery-policy
6. Do you currently have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support / Reduction from the use of bailiff action? (Yes/No)
We will look to make an application for an Attachment of Benefits prior to considering other enforcement options.
7. Have you adopted the Citizens Advice/Local Government Association Council Tax Protocol? (Yes/No)
No, however we do liaise closely with our local Citizens Advice Bureau and other debt advisers.
Please provide each set of information above separately in your response. We would prefer to receive your response in electronic format, either included in the body of an email or as an attachment in Excel, Word or PDF format.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.