Bulk Liability Orders & Extortionate Costs
Dear Northumberland County Council,
Complaints to Magistrates for Council Tax (CT) Liability Orders.
Going as far back as is reasonable (eg 5 years), up to the most recent data available, Please could you provide me with a table of information under the following headings:-
1. Date Of hearing
2. Number of CT Accounts Listed on a Complaint
3. Total Court fee paid
4. length of hearing defended/undefended
5. Number of CT accounts Liability Order made against
6. Total costs awarded to Billing authority
7. Actual cost of preparing for and attending the hearing.
Yours faithfully,
Lady Fleming
Our Ref: 5542
Dear Enquirer,
INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your request for information which will be dealt with under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know the likely charges before proceeding.
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Kind regards
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [email address]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk
Our Ref: 5542
Date: 5 February 2019
Dear Enquirer,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST
I refer to your Freedom of Information request in relation to complaints
to Magistrates for Council Tax liability orders.
Right of Access
Section 1(1) of the Act provides any person making a request for
information to a public authority is entitled.
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request (which Section
1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the
document or record which contains it.
The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public
authorities subject to various exemptions.
Northumberland County Council confirms that it holds part of the
information you have requested, please see the attached spreadsheet in
response. Unfortunately we do not keep records of the length of each
individual hearing and whether they're defended or undefended (column D)
nor do we keep records of the actual cost of preparing for and attending
the individual hearings (column G).
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months
from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office:
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
NE61 2EF
Email: [email address]
Information Commissioner
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right by Section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act at:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 745
Email: [email address]
There is no charge for making an appeal.
Yours sincerely
FOI Coordinator - Revenues & Benefits
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [email address]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk
Dear Northumberland County Council,
Thank you for providing most of the information requested. I note you do not hold information relating to persons attending and persons defending the application however, as there is a discrepency between number of accounts subject to the initial summons and number of accounts subject to the Liability Order, someone must have decided that the "debtor" was no longer liable for the debt. Presumably, in the vast majority of cases the Billing Authority came to an arrangement to pay with the debtor before the Liability Order was made.
I am looking for information relating to "debtors" not making an arrangement to pay but instead disputing they are liable for the debt infront of the Magistrates. You may have had only a handful of these cases in the past 5 years and they may stand out because of extra costs awarded against them or even costs awarded against the Billing Authority. Perhaps they stand out because the hearing went on into the afternoon or was adjourned to be heard the following day?
Please could you identify how many persons have challenged that they are liable infront of the Magistrates and whether they were able to satisfy the Magistrates that a Liability Order should not be made.
Yours faithfully,
Lady Fleming
Lady Fleming,
I have spoken with the relevant department who were dealing with your
request and they have responded with the following information:
"The requester has asserted that there is a discrepency between number of
accounts subject to the initial summons and number of accounts subject to
the Liability Order, someone must have decided that the "debtor" was no
longer liable for the debt. The reason for the difference between
the number of accounts subject to the initial summons and number of
accounts subject to the Liability Order is that between the issue and
hearing of the summonses there may be cases that are paid, that are
withdrawn for various reasons or are adjourned to a future hearing date in
which case a liability order would not be made.
We do not hold information about individual appearances before the Court -
that information may be held by the Magistrates' Court."
I hope that this fully answers all of your queries. If you feel that this
is not satisfactory then please inform us of your intention to request an
Internal Review and we will be more than happy to proceed with this.
Kind Regards,
Information Governance Office
(t) 0345 600 6400
(e) [1][email address]
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