Allocation of funds towards council tax

The request was successful.

Dear Huntingdon Town Council,

Please can you confirm what the council policy is when money is sent to the council for council tax are these payments allocated to the current outstanding bill.

For example if someone already had a charging order granted by the court on their home for a previous council tax bill , does the council automatically put the funds towards the current outstanding bill or would the funds be used instead to pay off the charging order first or does this only get collected when the property is sold.

Please can I also have a copy of your policy .

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

D Speller

Town Council, Huntingdon Town Council

Thank you for your email. Council Tax is handled by Huntingdonshire District Council and I have forwarded your email to them.

Regards

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Dear Town Council,

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

D Speller

CustomerService, HDC,

Dear D Speller

Thank you for your email that has been forwarded to us by Huntingdon Town
Council. In view of the nature of your enquiry this has been passed onto
our Information Management Department to reply. To give them time to fully
consider your enquiry you should receive an acknowledgement by Thursday
16th June.

Kimberley Tyers

Customer Service Advisor

Huntingdonshire District Council

 

All your council services in one place [1]www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk

Keep up to date with news from your district, sign up to ‘Huntingdonshire
Online’ at [2]www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/subscribe 

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Freedom Of Information Group,

D Speller

[1][FOI #336598 email]

03/06/2016

Dear D Speller

Re: Freedom of Information Act Request No 5061

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act. We have received your request and it has been passed to
the appropriate Officer for investigation.

As required by the Freedom of Information Act we will be responding to you
within the next 20 working days. However, there may be some instances
where it will not be possible to deal with such an application within 20
working days. If this is the case we will contact you to give an estimate
of the date by which we expect to reach a decision.

 

Should you have any further enquiries about the progress of your request
for information, please contact the Freedom of Information Officer quoting
“FOI Request No 5061” at one of the following addresses:

E-mail: [2][email address]
Letter: 
FOI Requests,
Pathfinder House,
St Mary’s Street,
Huntingdon.
PE29 3TN
Fax: 01480 388317

 

Yours sincerely

FOI Support Team
Huntingdonshire District Council

 

 

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Freedom Of Information Group,

D Speller

 

[1][FOI #336598 email]

 

06 June 2016

 

Dear D Speller

 

Re: Freedom of Information Act – FOI Request No. 5061

I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. We have
dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Your request for information has now been considered and the information
requested is enclosed.

 

You requested the following:

 

Please can you confirm what the council policy is when money is sent to
the council for council tax are these payments allocated to the current
outstanding bill.
For example if someone already had a charging order granted by the court
on their home for a previous council tax bill , does the council
automatically put the funds towards the current outstanding bill or would
the funds be used instead to pay off the charging order first  or does
this only get collected when the property is sold.  

The district council does not have a policy regarding allocation of
payments.

We rely on previously decided case law:

 

If a payment completely matches an expected instalment sum, then it will
be allocated to that debt.

If it does not match an expected instalment sum, it will generally be
allocated to the oldest amount remaining due, unless the customer
specifically requests that it is allocated to a particular debt.

 

If you have any queries or concerns, or if you have a complaint about the
handling of your enquiry then please contact Freedom of Information
Officer in the first instance quoting FOI Request No. 5061 to one of the
following addresses:

 

E-mail: [2][email address]

Letter:  FOI Requests
Pathfinder House
St Mary’s Street
Huntingdon
PE29 3TN

Fax:     01480 388317

 

You also have a subsequent right of appeal to the Information Commissioner
at:

 

Letter:  Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow 
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone:   01625 545 700

 

Web:    [3]https://ico.org.uk/

 

Please note that this does not allow you to re-use or copy this
information, if you wish to re-use or copy the information then you must
apply for a licence via this email address [email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

FOI Support Officer

Huntingdonshire District Council

 

Disclaimer

The information contained in this communication from the sender is
confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others
authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in
relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and
may be unlawful.

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Dear Freedom Of Information Group,

As not everyone pays by instalments or chooses to pay the whole sum in one go, a customer would expect where the council already has a secured debt, that the money would be paid automactially towards the first unsecured.

If the council already has security on a previous debt do they then transfer the amount to the first unsecured debt?

How would a customer know that they are required tell you what the payment was specifically for when they would assume it would be used towards the unsecured debt ?

Yours sincerely

D Speller

Freedom Of Information Group,

D Speller

 

[1][FOI #336598 email]

 

 

30 June 2016

 

Dear D Speller

 

Re: Freedom of Information Act – FOI Request No. 5061

Thank you for your request for further information/clarification received
on the 24^th of June 2016 following our response to your FOI request 5061.

You requested the following:

As not everyone pays by instalments or chooses to pay the whole sum in one
go, a customer would expect where the council already has a secured debt,
that the money would be paid automatically towards the first unsecured. If
the Council already has security on a previous debt, do they then transfer
the amount to the first unsecured debt?

This has been answered with our response to your original query, as
follows:

If a payment completely matches an expected instalment sum, then it
will be allocated to that debt.
If it does not match an expected instalment sum, it will generally be
allocated to the oldest amount remaining due, unless the customer
specifically requests that it is allocated to a particular debt.

Just to clarify this - all payments are allocated by an automated process
to accounts.  As the payment reaches the account 3^rd party software
determines which year/debt to allocate the payment to by following one of
over 40 posting rules.  The final rule in all cases is to post to the
oldest debt.  If the customer contacts us either at time of payment or at
a later date & tells us what debt the payment was for, we will amend the
account.

 

How would a customer know that they are required to tell you what the
payment was specifically for when they would assume it would be used
towards the unsecured debt?

This is not information held on our records and we cannot comment on what
a customer may or may not assume.

We hope you are satisfied with this response, however, if you have any
further queries please contact Freedom of Information Officer in the first
instance quoting FOI Request No. 5061 at one of the following addresses:

 

E-mail: [2][email address]

Letter:  FOI Requests
Pathfinder House
St Mary’s Street
Huntingdon
PE29 3TN

Fax:     01480 388317

 

You also have a subsequent right of appeal to the Information Commissioner
at:

 

Letter:  Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow 
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone:   01625 545 700

 

Web:    [3]https://ico.org.uk/

 

Please note that this does not allow you to re-use or copy this
information, if you wish to re-use or copy the information then you must
apply for a licence via this email address [email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

FOI Support Officer

Huntingdonshire District Council

 

Disclaimer

The information contained in this communication from the sender is
confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others
authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in
relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and
may be unlawful.

This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and may have been
automatically archived

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
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Dear Freedom Of Information Group,

Thank you for confirming that Huntingdon Town Council abides by their customers wishes.

Yours sincerely,

D Speller