FOI request (FOIR-492220316)

Enforcement agents and debt collection

Requested Wed 01 March 2023
Responded Thu 13 April 2023

For each of the financial/budget years from 2019/20 up to and including as much of 2022/23 as you have data for, please could you tell me:

1. How many households were referred to bailiffs over unpaid council tax?

2. Of those, how many were referred because of a debt incurred that same financial year?

3. For many households did you request 'attachments on benefits'?

4. How many debt collection cases went to court? Of those:

a. How many were the council successful?

b. How many did the council partially recover what they sought?

c. How many were the council unsuccessful?

5. How much unpaid council tax debt did you write off/forgive?

Please break this information down by financial year.

Response

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

1.

2019/20 - 2,749

2020/21 - 643

2021/22 - 3,346

2022/23 - 2,691

2. Notice Of Refusal

The information requested in respect of (2) would require us to manually check each customer records, this would far exceed the time limit set out by the Information Commissioner. S12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000 provides an exemption from the obligation to comply with a request for information if the estimated costs of complying with that request would exceed the prescribed appropriate limit.

We estimate that the costs of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit by a significant amount.

For this reason we feel unable to comply with this request.

3.

2019/20 - 598

2020/20 - 363

2021/22 - 487

2022/23 - 477

4. This has been withdrawn as per your email dated 6th April 2023.

5.

2019/20 - £54,679.95

2020/21 - £30,427.88

2021/22 - £24,301.95

2022/23 - £31,303.24