FOI request (FOIR-337849065)

Council Tax

Requested Wed 26 May 2021
Responded  Thu 19 August 2021

I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

In all questions in this request, 'households' are in effect council tax-paying accounts. If full-year data for 2020/21 is not yet known, please provide the most up-to-date data. Newly formed councils should use figures pertaining to their predecessor councils where appropriate.

Please note that questions 1-4 and 5-8 are very similar, but differ in one critical aspect. Questions 1-4 concern various forms of enforcement action relating to council tax debts that accrued specifically in 2020/21 rather than in previous years; questions 5-8 concern enforcement action in 2020/21 relating to council tax debts irrespective of when those debts accrued. This is because different councils appear to record this information in different ways, and is also designed to ensure there is no confusion about what information each council is actually providing.

The information each council provides for questions 1-8 will naturally depend on how it records the information. If the council provides figures for questions 1-4 it can skip questions 5-8. If the information for questions 1-4 is unavailable due to how council tax enforcement information is held, please mark the relevant questions as 'information not held' and provide responses to the remainder of the request.

1. How many households have been issued with warning notices in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21? If this is not available, please provide the number of warning notices issued (as opposed to the number of households receiving them).

2. How many households have been issued with liability orders in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

3. How many households have been referred to bailiffs in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

4. For how many households have the council requested an attachment to benefits in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

If the council has provided figures for questions 1-4, please ignore questions 5-8 and proceed to question 9. If the council has not provided figures for questions 1-4, please proceed to question 5. As stated above, questions 5-8 concern enforcement action in 2020/21 relating to council tax debts irrespective of what year those debts accrued.

5. In 2020/21, how many households were issued with warning notices in relation to council tax arrears? If this is not available, please provide the number of warning notices issued (as opposed to the number of households receiving them) and state that this is the case.

6. In 2020/21, how many households were issued with liability orders in relation to council tax arrears?

7. In 2020/21, how many households were referred to bailiffs in relation to council tax arrears?

8. In 2020/21, for how many households did the council request an attachment to benefits in relation to council tax arrears?

The following questions concern collection rates:

9. What was the council tax collection rate in 2019/20, for 2019/20 council tax bills?

10. What was the council tax collection rate in 2020/21, for 2020/21 council tax bills?

The following questions concern the geographic distribution of households. In these questions, 'council-tax registered households' include those households that do not have any tax to pay due to receiving council tax support. If possible it should include registered second homes but exclude registered empty homes, but if that cannot be achieved within the section 12 cost limit, please include or exclude both depending on how the information is held (and state that this is the case).

11. Please state, as of March 2020, how many council tax-registered households were in each postcode area (for example, DA1, DA2, DA3 and so on in Dartford; L32, L33, L34 and so on in Knowsley) in the local authority area.

12. Please state, as of now (or the most recent time available), how many council tax-registered households are in each postcode area (for example, DA1, DA2, DA3 and so on in Dartford; L32, L33, L34 and so on in Knowsley) in the local authority area. If, for any question, the council holds the requested information in a different format to that specified, I am open to altering the parameters of the request to accommodate this.

I would like the information sent by email. Please provide the information for questions 1-10 in the attached spreadsheet. Please provide the data for questions 11 and 12 in a separate spreadsheet.

Response

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

1. How many households have been issued with warning notices in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21? If this is not available, please provide the number of warning notices issued (as opposed to the number of households receiving them).

Answer: 15,103

2. How many households have been issued with liability orders in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

Answer: 544

3. How many households have been referred to bailiffs in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

Answer: 341

4. For how many households have the council requested an attachment to benefits in relation to council tax arrears accrued during 2020/21?

Answer: Information not held

As we have answered questions 1 to 4, questions 5 to 8 have ben ignored.

9. What was the council tax collection rate in 2019/20, for 2019/20 council tax bills?

Answer: 93.87%

10. What was the council tax collection rate in 2020/21, for 2020/21 council tax bills?

Answer: 93.31%

11. Please state, as of March 2020, how many council tax-registered households were in each postcode area (for example, DA1, DA2, DA3 and so on in Dartford; L32, L33, L34 and so on in Knowsley) in the local authority area.

Answer: Information not held - The Valuation Office work in alphabetical order.

12. Please state, as of now (or the most recent time available), how many council tax-registered households are in each postcode area (for example, DA1, DA2, DA3 and so on in Dartford; L32, L33, L34 and so on in Knowsley) in the local authority area.

Answer: Information not held - The Valuation Office work in alphabetical order.