Bailiff indemnities

The request was successful.

Dear Lancaster City Council,

can you please answer under public interest using yes or no answers...

they will be contained within your code of ethics and your contracts or
simply in any code of conduct.this is not a complaint against your council
but research into how bailiffs can be a law unto themselves if not watched

1. Does your enforcement agent contract allow your enforcement agents to
issue an indemnity against prosecution for themselves without the
agreement of the council in cases where they have wrongfully seized when
the customer is identifiably vulnerable?

2. Have you ever allowed bailiffs to make their own settlement agreements
where goods have to be returned after 3 months?

3. Would you allow enforcement agents to breach the equalities act by
achieving a gain whilst someone is under mental health treatment if it
meant your business rates were collected,even if they didnt inform you?

4. How would you react if they did this without you knowing?

5. Would you class a secret indemnity kept from the council which achieves
a gain at the cost to the vulnerable victim a material breach of contract
.?

6. Must enforcement agents always report failed levies and a full report
when dealing with vulnerable customers 7.would you employ enforcement
agents that have fraudulently concealed information that could cause
litigation to the council or serious damage to a protected party in the
past ?

thank you for your public concern in answering these questions asap.

8.who are your current agents

Yours faithfully,

steve perkins

Yours faithfully,

steve

info, Lancaster City Council

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Perkins,

I write to confirm receipt of your request for information, which was
received on 20th December 2019 and is now being processed under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your request has been given the unique
reference number as stated in the subject header above and you should
quote this reference number in all correspondence. You should receive our
response within 20 working days; this means that you can expect to receive
the requested information by 22nd January 2020. If we are unable to deal
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Kind regards,

Amy Holland

Information Governance Manager

Data Protection Officer

Email: [1][Lancaster City Council request email]

Tel:      (01524) 58 2000

 

Corporate Services, Town Hall, Lancaster LA1 1PJ

Email:
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info, Lancaster City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Perkins,

Freedom of Information Request - Ref: FOI 3065

Thank you for your request received on 20th December 2019 in which you
asked for the following information from Lancaster City Council:

 

1. Does your enforcement agent contract allow your enforcement agents to
issue an indemnity against prosecution for themselves without the
agreement of the council in cases where they have wrongfully seized when
the customer is identifiably vulnerable?

2. Have you ever allowed bailiffs to make their own settlement agreements
where goods have to be returned after 3 months?

3. Would you allow enforcement agents to breach the equalities act by
achieving a gain whilst someone is under mental health treatment if it
meant your business rates were collected, even if they didn’t inform you?

4. How would you react if they did this without you knowing?

5. Would you class a secret indemnity kept from the council which achieves
a gain at the cost to the vulnerable victim a material breach of contract
.?

6. Must enforcement agents always report failed levies and a full report
when dealing with vulnerable customers 7.would you employ enforcement
agents that have fraudulently concealed information that could cause
litigation to the council or serious damage to a protected party in the
past ?

8.who are your current agents

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

 

Response

 

 1. No
 2. No
 3. No
 4. Impossible to answer as the question assumes we do not know about it. 
If we did know, we would investigate thoroughly.
 5. We do not know what you mean by ‘secret indemnity’.  However if an
agent has kept something ‘secret’ then we wouldn’t know about it.
 6. Yes
 7. If someone has concealed something from us we be not be aware of it as
it would be concealed. We would never knowingly employ anyone who has
had a fraudulent conviction.

 

If you have any queries or concerns about this response, please contact
this office. For details of how to appeal a decision we have made, see
below.

 

 

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the Council at the following address:

 

Information Governance

Lancaster City Council

Town Hall

Dalton Square

Lancaster

LA1 1PJ

 

Email:  [1][Lancaster City Council request email]

 

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If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the
right to apply to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Commissioner
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Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

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Yours sincerely

 

J McGrath

Information Governance Officer

Deputy Data Protection Officer

 

Email: [3][Lancaster City Council request email]

Tel:      (01524) 58 2000

 

Lancaster City Council,

Town Hall, Lancaster LA1 1PJ

Website: [4]http://www.lancaster.gov.uk

 

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