FOI request (FOIR-179617374)

I am aware that sometimes when people close their council tax account, they are often left with money in that account. This results in a closed council tax account being in credit.

I am also aware that some people still choose to pay their council tax by cash or by cheque.

I would like to know, for each of the following tax years: 2016/17, 17/18, 18/19, 19/20 (up to now if possible): How many council tax accounts paid for their council tax by cash/cheque? How much was this as a proportion of total active accounts?

Separately, I am aware that many councils automatically refund closed accounts where the account holder has paid by certain methods, which make it possible to refund them (such as direct debit), whereas with other payment methods this would not be possible:

Can you list the payment methods (if any) that would result in you automatically refunding an account if it were closed in credit? NB automatically here means, without the customer having to take any form of action whatsoever (so you don't have to contact them to confirm payment details or anything similar)