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    • FOI request (FOI-93025823)

      Bailiffs and Bankruptcy

      Requested Wed 24 October 2018
      Responded Thu 01 November 2018

      Dear FOI officer, 

      I write to make a freedom of information request concerning council tax.

      1. Please supply a copy of your council’s procedure for dealing with unpaid council tax, including a timeline of when bailiffs are involved and bankruptcy charges filed.

      2. For each of the past five financial years and the year to date to 15.10.2018, please provide: 
      The number of individuals owing outstanding council tax in the following categories of arrears: £0-5k, £5k-10k, £10-15k, etc in 5k intervals up to £50k+?

      3. Please state:

      a)Total spend on bailiff recovery services 
      b)Total recovered council tax by bailiff providers

      in each of the last five financial years, and the current financial year to 15.10.18

      4. Please provide a list of all bailiff companies used by your council during the period specified above.

      5. Please state: 
      a) the number of individuals your council has brought bankruptcy charges against in each of the last five financial years, and the current financial year to 15.10.18. 
      b) Please state how many of these bankruptcy charges that were successful 
      c) Please provide a list of all administration companies used by your council for the specified period 
      d) Please state the total spend by your council on administration companies for the specified period. 
      e) Please state the total cost recovered following a successful bankruptcy charge.

      I would like to receive the information electronically. If you have previously released information relevant to my request, please include it in your correspondence to me.

      Response

      Q1 - Recovery procedures attached. Please note that debts that go into Enforcement (Bailiff) will only happen where the customer does not make an arrangement one.
      The timeline is:
      Bill Reminder - 14 days after instalment has been overdue
      Reminder 2 - 14 days after the second time instalment has become overdue
      Final - 14 days after reminder not paid
      Summons - At least 14 days after final not paid in full (we only currently summons every 2 months)
      Liability Order Hearing - 30 days after summons issued Pre Compliance Letter (14 day letter) - Within 5 days of the hearing inviting customer to make an arrangement.
      Bailiff action - 30 days after pre compliance
      Q2 - All individual year debts are under £5k
      2013 - 714
      2014 -1025
      2015 -1628
      2016 - 2642
      2017 - 5051
      2018 - 35833
      Q3a - Nil
      Q3b - 
      2013 - 609,332.74
      2014 - 724,377.99
      2015 - 580,605.51
      2016 - 360,369.01
      2017 - 216,242.98
      2018 - 184,343.24
      Q4 - Rossendales Ltd
      Q5a-e - nil

      Attachments

      • FOI-93025823_Recovery_Procedures_2018-19.doc
      • FOI-93025823_ctax_clock_A5_final_version_v2.pdf
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