Exercising discretion when applying to the court for a Council Tax Liability Order

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Swindon Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Swindon Borough Council,

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (the "Regulations") confer a duty on the billing authority to exercise discretion under regulation 34(1) when deciding whether to institute a complaint to the Magistrates' court to enforce payment.

Regulation 34(1) as amended by Regulation 15 of SI 1992/3008 states, with the relevant part emphasised, as follows:

"If an amount which has fallen due under paragraph (3) or (4) of regulation 23 (including those paragraphs as applied as mentioned in regulation 28A(2)) is wholly or partly unpaid, or (in a case where a final notice is required under regulation 33) the amount stated in the final notice is wholly or partly unpaid at the expiry of the period of 7 days beginning with the day on which the notice was issued, THE BILLING AUTHORITY MAY, in accordance with paragraph (2), apply to a magistrates' court for an order against the person by whom it is payable."

Regulation 34(2) states as follows:

"The application is to be instituted by making complaint to a justice of the peace, and requesting the issue of a summons directed to that person to appear before the court to show why he has not paid the sum which is outstanding."

The following are examples (but by no means exhaustive) of what are reasonable factors a recovery officer should take into account in exercising discretion to institute a complaint to the Magistrates court under paragraph (2) of regulation 34 of the Regulations:

1. the level of debt outstanding

2. any payments made subsequent to the full amount becoming due and time remaining of the financial year

3. are circumstances indicative of the debt being settled without resorting to enforcement

4. consider if enforcing the debt would unnecessarily subject the taxpayer to additional costs etc. and therefore amount to a penalty (see 3 above)

5. ensure monies have been prioritised to maintaining the in-year debt

6. allocate to the in-year any monies posted to arrears (or sufficient of it) that would if it had not been misallocated prevented the in-year liability also falling in arrears (see 5 above)

7. check for benefit claims or appeals already in the system and refrain from taking enforcement action where such genuine cases are unresolved

Q1. Does Swindon Boroug Council exercise discretion before proceeding to the Magistrates' court to seek permission to enforce payment (it may be an automated process)

Q2. If yes to (1) what factors are taken into consideration

Yours faithfully,

Helen Barker

Dear Swindon Borough Council,

I have been alerted to the fact that my request could have been clearer. In order to remove any ambiguity my request is amended as follows:

Q1. Does Swindon Council exercise discretion before proceeding under regulation 34(2) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 to request a summons from a justice of the peace (it may be an automated process)

Q2. If yes to (1) what factors are taken into consideration

Yours faithfully,

Helen Barker

Dear Swindon Borough Council,

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Swindon Borough Council should have responded by now.

Yours faithfully,

Helen Barker

swinctax@secure.capita.co.uk,

Thank you for your e-mail. This e-mail is being sent to confirm that we
have received your e-mail; please keep it as our acknowledgement of
receiving your enquiry.

Our aim is to deal with Council Tax enquiries within 10 working days (2
weeks). All enquiries are dealt with on an oldest-first basis. If your
enquiry relates to a change that affects your Council Tax liability, we
will update our records based on the information you have given and issue
a revised Council Tax bill. If we need any further information to be able
to deal with your enquiry, we will contact you by e-mail or by telephone
(if you have provided a contact number).

If you have not provided your Council Tax account number or address in
your e-mail, this will cause a delay in dealing with your enquiry. You may
wish to check this and send us another e-mail giving the missing details.

If your enquiry relates to a debt recovery issue involving Bailiffs or
relates to a payment that is overdue or due very soon, please telephone
our Call Centre instead. The telephone number is 0345 302 2316.

This message has been generated automatically. Please do not respond
directly to this email address, the mail box is not attended. If you have
any further correspondence it should be sent to
[1][email address]

Swindon Council Tax team

From: [FOI #657944 email]
Sent: 25/06/2020 07:10:16 +01:00
To: [email address]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Exercising discretion when
applying to the court for a Council Tax Liability Order

Dear Swindon Borough Council, Response to this request is long overdue. By
law, under all circumstances, Swindon Borough Council should have
responded by now. Yours faithfully, Helen Barker
------------------------------------------------------------------- Please
use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #657944 email] Disclaimer: This message and
any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and
copyright policies: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi... For more
detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice
from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-... Please
note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be
delayed. If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask
your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
------------------------------------------------------------------- This
message has been scanned by Capita systems, but if you believe it to be
spam, please send it to [email address]. Messages sent to
[email address] are queued for email analysis by Forcepoint Threat
Lab.

This email and any attachment to it are confidential. Unless you are the
intended recipient, you may not use, copy or disclose either the message
or any information contained in the message. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should delete this email and notify the sender immediately.

Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender
only, unless otherwise stated. All copyright in any Capita material in
this email is reserved.

All emails, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded by Capita and monitored
for legitimate business purposes.

Capita exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising or resulting
from the receipt, use or transmission of this email to the fullest extent
permitted by law.

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Swindon Council Tax,

Capita Secure SMTP Gateway

Dear Helen,

You can check on the status of a request on the Swindon Borough Council website by logging into your account.

Swindon Council Tax

show quoted sections