Capita Academy Council Tax processing system

fFaudwAtch UK made this Freedom of Information request to Hyndburn Borough Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Hyndburn Borough Council,

I believe Hyndburn Borough Council use the Capita Academy system as its Software package for the provision of Council Tax. Assuming this to be correct – and the following (see below) is a true account of how payments are appropriated to a person's Council Tax account when more than one sum is outstanding for different year's liability – will HBC disclosed how the laws regarding 'appropriation of payments' are adhered to and the case authority relied on.

“When any payment is received by the Council it will, unless otherwise specified by the Taxpayer, reduce the balance outstanding for the current year’s outstanding Council Tax or NNDR. Once payment in full has been made for the current financial year any payments subsequently received will go towards reducing any outstanding arrears from previous financial years.”

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear Hyndburn Borough Council,

Response to this request is delayed. By law, Hyndburn Borough Council should have responded by 27 November 2015.

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear Hyndburn Borough Council,

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Hyndburn Borough Council should have responded by now. I would like a response please, as I'm informed I have the right to complain by requesting an internal review if you don't.

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear Hyndburn Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Hyndburn Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Capita Academy Council Tax processing system'.

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

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

foi, Hyndburn Borough Council

Thank you for your email. I would be grateful if you could supply your name please as this is a requirement of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I have chased up your request for information with the relevant Officer and will respond to you as soon as possible.

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

I don't have any objection to providing my name, however, Hyndburn Borough Council should really get with it and think about the nature of Freedom of Information requests which are applicant blind.

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK Aka N Gilliatt

foi, Hyndburn Borough Council

Dear Mr. Gilliatt,

 

Your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has
been considered and a response follows:

 

The Council Tax (Enforcement and Administration) Regulations do not
contain specification of how a payment must be treated or apportioned.

 

The case law (Peter v Anderson 1814) allows for the payment to be
allocated as the creditor deems relevant.

 

Hyndburn Borough Council would  allocate to the oldest debt first if the
amount paid did not match an instalment amount or outstanding bill.
However, we would transfer an amount back to relevant financial year if
the customer then contacted us to clarify the intention of their payment
made.

 

The Capita Academy system used by Hyndburn Borough Council has the payment
posting routines outlined below, which allow for when a payment is
received every effort is made to allocate the payment where it is
intended.

 

The following rules are applied when trying to match the payment:

 

1. When processing a payment, the first thing the CT6210 Cash Posting
batch program does is attempt a match at notice balance level, i.e. a
match is attempted on the total amount outstanding on a bill or
accumulated amounts on all bills.

 

2. If there is no match at notice balance level, the secondary action is
to attempt a match with the individual amounts owing on all notices. To do
this the system draws up an array of all amounts outstanding on an
account, including Error amounts, ordering them by due date. In this
respect, due date of, say, enforcement amounts and costs (unless
superseded by an arrangement) is the summons issue date or warrant
petition date. This is much the same, as a user would see via the on line
Account Amounts Due screen.

 

3. If there is an exact match to an instalment amount in the array, the
payment will be posted to the matching instalment (subject to point 5
below), otherwise the ‘matching’ process will begin (for example, the
account had current year’s debt plus a final notice amount for a previous
years debt.

 

4. Of first priority in payment matching are ‘instalments’ whether these
are normal instalments or instalments linked to an arrangement. The
matching process will be attempted against the first instalment in the
array and then against an accumulated balance of multiple instalments – up
to the point where the accumulated balance exceeds the payment, at which
time the process moves on as no match will then be found at that stage,
e.g. £50 paid, instalments £20, 2 do not match the amount paid, 3 exceed
it and therefore there is no point in continuing on that track.

 

5. The match on a single instalment only occurs on the first instalment
outstanding. This overcomes the situation where the first instalment on a
bill is different to the remainder but the payer pays the equivalent of an
instalment other than the first. If the match were made to the subsequent
instalment, then this would leave the first one unpaid leading to an
unnecessary reminder.

 

6. Payments processed against the four specific transaction codes ‘BAIL’,
‘DSS’, ‘AOE’ and ‘SHER’ will always be initially directed to enforcement
debts as follows:

BAIL = Bailiff (including Internal Bailiff) DSS = Attachment of Benefits
AOE = Attachment of Earnings SHER = Sheriff Officer (Scotland only)

 

These codes override the matching routines in respect of instalments etc.

 

7. There is also a general override of payment matching if a bill number
is quoted in the cash posting file. In such cases, the payment will be
directed to that bill regardless of other matching routines.

 

8. Another override is where the enforcement case number is quoted in the
cash posting file. In such cases, the payment will be directed to that
enforcement case regardless of other matching routines.

 

If you have any queries or concerns then please contact me at Legal and
Democratic Services, Hyndburn Borough Council, Scaitcliffe House, Ormerod
Street, Accrington, Lancashire BB5 0PF or:  [1][Hyndburn Borough Council request email] 

 

If you are still dissatisfied then you can also complain to the
Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone:   01625 545 700

[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk 

     

Yours sincerely

 

FOI Co-ordinator

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

Thank you for your response. However, it seems to conflict with the Council's Recovery Policy (see below).

http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloads/C...

Page 4 of the document, under heading "Methods of Payment" it states as follows:

"When any payment is received by the Council it will, unless otherwise specified by the Taxpayer, reduce the balance outstanding for the current year’s outstanding Council Tax or NNDR. Once payment in full has been made for the current financial year any payments subsequently received will go towards reducing any outstanding arrears from previous financial years."

Can the position please be clarified?

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

foi, Hyndburn Borough Council

Mr. Gilliatt,

I have forwarded your request for clarification to the relevant Officer for response.

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

Do you have a response please.

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear foi,

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

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear foi,

The document appears no longer available i.e where at page 4, under heading "Methods of Payment" it states as follows:

"When any payment is received by the Council it will, unless otherwise specified by the Taxpayer, reduce the balance outstanding for the current year’s outstanding Council Tax or NNDR. Once payment in full has been made for the current financial year any payments subsequently received will go towards reducing any outstanding arrears from previous financial years."

Does the fact that it is no longer available have any bearing on the explanation I'm awaiting?

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

foi, Hyndburn Borough Council

Mr. Gilliatt,

We have been in the process of removing the details on the hyperlink as the council Tax and Non domestic Rates recovery policy has been updated and is now on the website at http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/site/script...

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

It has been discovered from my research into a sample of billing authorities that Hyndburn Borough council was one of the few that allocated payments lawfully; i.e., unspecified payments are appropriated to the current year's account where there are also balances outstanding from previous year(s). This complies with the judgement in the case R v Miskin Lower justices 1953 IQ B 533 where it was held that where an amount so obviously relates to a specific liability, it would be an unwarranted assumption to allocate the payment elsewhere.

The reason why non recognised payments do not get allocated to the oldest debt is because it would be an unwarranted assumption to allocate monies to a sum in arrears if it is likely to also put the current year's liability in arrears.

Is there any reason why Hyndburn Borough council has decided to move from operating lawfully in this area to risking leaving itself open to legal challenge?

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

foi, Hyndburn Borough Council

 

Mr. Gilliat,

 

The revised Council Tax and Non Domestic Rates Collection and Recovery
Policy is online-

 

[1]http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/site/script...

 

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Hyndburn Borough Council

 

[2][IMG] [3][IMG] [4][IMG][5][IMG]

[6]my.hyndburn [7]my.hyndburn QR Code

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

Thank you, but you have already provided the link to the revised policy. After reading it I responded on 10 March 2016. Please see below:

"It has been discovered from my research into a sample of billing authorities that Hyndburn Borough council was one of the few that allocated payments lawfully; i.e., unspecified payments are appropriated to the current year's account where there are also balances outstanding from previous year(s). This complies with the judgement in the case R v Miskin Lower justices 1953 IQ B 533 where it was held that where an amount so obviously relates to a specific liability, it would be an unwarranted assumption to allocate the payment elsewhere.

The reason why non recognised payments do not get allocated to the oldest debt is because it would be an unwarranted assumption to allocate monies to a sum in arrears if it is likely to also put the current year's liability in arrears.

Is there any reason why Hyndburn Borough council has decided to move from operating lawfully in this area to risking leaving itself open to legal challenge? "

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK

Dear foi,

Further to my 1 April 2016 has the council any explanation?

Yours sincerely,

fFaudwAtch UK