Council tax arrears 2019/20 to date
Case reference FOI2022/01648
Published 12 December 2022
Request
Please provide the following for each of the financial years 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, and 2022/2023 so far (from the beginning of the current financial year until 15 November 2022):
1. Number of households in council tax arrears
2. The total amount of council tax owed by these households
3. The number of cases of council tax debt passed to bailiffs (note these are also called 'enforcement agents') and the overall amount of council tax which was owed (just in relation to the cases which were passed to bailiffs)
4. Total amount recovered by bailiffs
5. The total amount in bailiff fees and court costs added to these council tax arrears
6. The names of enforcement agencies employed by the council. (If multiple, please detail % split of cases allocated if the information is available)
7. How much are the fees that can be added on to council tax debts to cover bailiff and court order costs, and how are these calculated? (Is there a percentage or flat fee?)
8. Number of bankruptcy proceedings started against individuals who owe you council tax
Response
Please provide the following for each of the financial years 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, and 2022/2023 so far (from the beginning of the current financial year until 15 November 2022):
1. Number of households in council tax arrears
Please see the below. Please note that the below figures are the number that were summonsed during the year and not per household.
2019/20 - 6,918
2020/21 - 5,735
2021/22 - 5,841
2022/23 to date - 4,053
2. The total amount of council tax owed by these households
Please see the below. Please note that the below figures are the number that were summonsed during the year and not per household.
2019/20 - £5,849,878.32
2020/21 - £4,530,213.48
2021/22 - £6,212,958.24
2022/23 to date - £5,105,978.72
3. The number of cases of council tax debt passed to bailiffs (note these are also called 'enforcement agents') and the overall amount of council tax which was owed (just in relation to the cases which were passed to bailiffs)
2019/20 - 2083 cases - £2,014,132.36
2020/21 - 1821 cases - £1,418,503.53
2021/22 - 3087 cases - £2,572,899.00
2022/23 to date - 1394 cases - £1,405,572.64
4. Total amount recovered by bailiffs
2019/20 - £885,677.08
2020/21 - £509,083.46
2021/22 - £784,412.95
2022/23 to date - £130,522.12
5. The total amount in bailiff fees and court costs added to these council tax arrears
Fees incurred are enforcement agents only.
2019/20 - £292,683.44
2020/21 - £132,548.70
2021/22 - £261,307.19
2022/23 to date - £122,298.63
6. The names of enforcement agencies employed by the council. (If multiple, please detail % split of cases allocated if the information is available)
Bristow & Sutor
7. How much are the fees that can be added on to council tax debts to cover bailiff and court order costs, and how are these calculated? (Is there a percentage or flat fee?)
£82.50 summons fee (council).
Enforcement agents as per The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 (legislation.gov.uk) it is a flat fee unless the amount of the sum outstanding is more than £1500.00 then it is a percentage based fee. Please see the table below for the amounts:
Schedule
Fees recoverable under Regulation 4
Table 1:
Enforcement other than under a High Court Writ
| Fee Stage | Fixed fee | % fee (Regulation 7) % of sum to be recovered exceeding £1500 |
| Compliance stage | £75.00 | 0% |
| Enforcement stage | £235.00 | 7.5% |
| Sale or disposal stage | £110.00 | 7.5% |
8. Number of bankruptcy proceedings started against individuals who owe you council tax
0 bankruptcy proceedings have been started against individuals who owe council tax in any of the years in question.
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.