Council Tax for the financial years: 21-22, 22-23, 23-24, 24-25
Case reference FOI2025/00699
Received 7 April 2025
Published 15 May 2025
Request
As a freedom of information request, please answer the following questions for the financial years: 21-22, 22-23, 23-24, 24-25.
1. How many accounts were raised at billing in financial year?
2. What was the total value of liability in financial year?
3. How many accounts were in arrears at the end of the financial year?
4. How was the value of arrears in that financial year?
5. How many council tax cases were referred to bailiffs?
6. How much money was retrieved by the bailiffs?
7. How much debt was written off by the council in that financial year?
8. Do you currently have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances as part of your collections process for Council Tax arrears?
9. Do you currently have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support / Reduction from the use of bailiff action?
Response
As a freedom of information request, please answer the following questions for the financial years: 21-22, 22-23, 23-24, 24-25.
1. How many accounts were raised at billing in financial year?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Number of Raised Accounts |
|
21/22 |
105,685 |
|
22/23 |
105,840 |
|
23/24 |
105,743 |
|
24/25 |
106,869 |
2. What was the total value of liability in financial year?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Total Value of Liability |
|
21/22 |
£144,537,631.17 |
|
22/23 |
£150,635,471.40 |
|
23/24 |
£159,812,256.33 |
|
24/25 |
£169,802,878.09 |
3. How many accounts were in arrears at the end of the financial year?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Number of Accounts in Arrears |
|
21/22 |
1,291 |
|
22/23 |
1,568 |
|
23/24 |
1,984 |
|
24/25 |
2,611 |
4. How much was the value of arrears in that financial year?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Total Value of Arrears |
|
21/22 |
£922,224.93 |
|
22/23 |
£1,162,652.84 |
|
23/24 |
£1,568,130.31 |
|
24/25 |
£2,328,037.80 |
5. How many council tax cases were referred to bailiffs?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Number of Cases Referred to Bailiffs |
|
21/22 |
3,086 |
|
22/23 |
2,221 |
|
23/24 |
2,960 |
|
24/25 |
3,134 |
6. How much money was retrieved by the bailiffs?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Totals Retrieved by Bailiffs |
|
21/22 |
£993,516.34 |
|
22/23 |
£746,082.81 |
|
23/24 |
£949017.92 |
|
24/25 |
£1,143,673.32 |
7. How much debt was written off by the council in that financial year?
Answer:
|
Financial Year |
Debt Written Off |
|
21/22 |
£237,425.43 |
|
22/23 |
£155,706.45 |
|
23/24 |
£689,442.00 |
|
24/25 |
£497,519.52 |
8. Do you currently have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances as part of your collections process for Council Tax arrears?
Answer: The Service Area have advised our Debt Recovery Policy details the recovery methods considered and when.
This information is publically available on our Council website and can be viewed via the following link:
https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/downloads/file/24382/debt-recovery-policy
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
9. Do you currently have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support / Reduction from the use of bailiff action?
Answer: The Service Area have advised we do not have a policy that restricts enforcement agent action for Council Tax Reduction recipients, however as per the Debt Recovery Policy we will only refer to the enforcement agents where we have received no contact and are unable to use other methods of recovery, such as an arrangement, attachment of benefits or attachment of earnings.
Documents
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