Council Tax debt management and arrears
Case reference FOI2024/00965
Received 30 May 2024
Published 26 June 2024
Request
I am just writing to submit a Freedom of Information request to your authority with questions around council tax debt management and arrears.
1. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what guidelines did you follow when setting arrangements for constituents to pay Council Tax arrears? (YES/NO)
- The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
- The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Wales) Regulations 1998
- The National Standards for Enforcement Agents
- Local Council Tax Support Schemes
- Income and Expenditure Assessments
- Flexible Payment Arrangements
2. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what industry standard tools did you use when assessing an individual’s ability to repay Council Tax arrears? (YES/NO)
- Income and Expenditure Forms
- Budgeting Software
- Affordability Assessments
- Credit Reference Agencies
- Debt Advice Services
- Legal Proceedings
3. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what % of Council Tax was:
- Paid on time?
- Paid after internal chase activities?
- Collected by an enforcement agent?
4. How much did you spend on collecting Council Tax arrears between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024. Can you also state the cost per method:
- Internal chase activities
- Enforcement agent
5. Do you have your own internal enforcement department? (YES/NO)
6. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, did you use a benefits calculator to help residents in arrears maximise their income? If so, which tool?
7. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, did you use attachment of earnings for constituents to pay Council Tax arrears?
Response
I am just writing to submit a Freedom of Information request to your authority with questions around council tax debt management and arrears.
1. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what guidelines did you follow when setting arrangements for constituents to pay Council Tax arrears? (YES/NO)
- The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
- The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) (Wales) Regulations 1998
- The National Standards for Enforcement Agents
- Local Council Tax Support Schemes
- Income and Expenditure Assessments
- Flexible Payment Arrangements
2. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what industry standard tools did you use when assessing an individual’s ability to repay Council Tax arrears? (YES/NO)
- Income and Expenditure Forms
- Budgeting Software
- Affordability Assessments
- Credit Reference Agencies
- Debt Advice Services
- Legal Proceedings
3. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, what % of Council Tax was:
- Paid on time?
- Paid after internal chase activities?
- Collected by an enforcement agent?
4. How much did you spend on collecting Council Tax arrears between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024. Can you also state the cost per method:
- Internal chase activities
- Enforcement agent
5. Do you have your own internal enforcement department? (YES/NO)
6. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, did you use a benefits calculator to help residents in arrears maximise their income? If so, which tool?
7. Between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, did you use attachment of earnings for constituents to pay Council Tax arrears?
With regards to question 3 this information is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested officers would need to manually check each Council Tax account to identify if accounts were paid on time, paid after internal chase or collected by enforcement agents during that timeframe.
An initial search has shown that at the end of March 2024 there were 89,742 Council Tax accounts that would need to be checked for this information in this way, and it is estimated it would take approximately 5 minutes to check each file.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 7,000 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
Within the time costs we could provide the responses to questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. If you would like us to continue to collate this information for you please let us know.
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.