Costs

The request was successful.

Dear Shepway District Council,

This is an FOI Request under the said legislation.

SDC charge £65 for a Liability Order and £65 for Court Summons Costs.

Please can SDC inform me how they arrive at these costs as they are not openly available on your website or in any of your policies or procedure's.

Yours faithfully,

Bryan Rylands

Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Dear Bryan Rylands,

Thank you for your request dated 24 October 2014.

We will endeavour to supply the information you have requested within the requisite 20 working days following receipt. If we think that it will take longer, we will contact you.

Kind regards,

Rachel Neville
Information and Legal Officer
Tel: 01303 853437
Fax: 01303 853548
Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue,
Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2QY
E-mail: [Shepway District Council request email]
Website: www.shepway.gov.uk
 
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Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Dear Bryan Rylands,

 

I am writing in respect of your Freedom of Information enquiry dated 24
October.   This request has been handled under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.

 

Please find below information in response to your request.

 

"SDC charge £65 for a Liability Order and £65 for Court Summons Costs.

 

Please can SDC inform me how they arrive at these costs"

 

Please note that the cost for summons is £60 and for liability order £65.

 

The council is required to ensure that the cost is reasonable and not
excessive and the council has carried out a costing exercise to ensure
there is justification for the charge of £125.  There are many
contributing costs to the issue of a summons firstly a bill and
reminder(s) have to have been correctly served.  This can create customer
contact and require adjustments to be made to the account to facilitate
ease of payment and this all contributes to costs.    The costing exercise
does this by comparing the cost of a customer making multiple contacts
with the council to that for a customer who makes none see summary below. 
The total cost must also include overheads for the building, staff, HR
support,  time and cost of attending court etc and of course actual
printing, postage and the £3 summons fee.  These amounts have all been
calculated and included in the summary below.  You will note based on
these figures that the actual cost can be £145.12, demonstrating that the
costs of £125 set by Shepway District Council are reasonable.

 

The council’s proposed fees and charges for 2014/15 (which included the
court costs for council tax) were discussed and approved at the cabinet
meetings held on 30 October 2013 and 12 November 2013 report number
C/13/32  Full details are publically available on our website –
[1]www.shepway.gov.uk .  I attach links to the meetings below for your
assistance.

 

[2]https://www.shepway.gov.uk/moderngov/ieL...

 

and

[3]https://www.shepway.gov.uk/moderngov/ieL...

 

Whilst it is correct to state that the magistrate courts can challenge the
costs if they believe them to be excessive, the council holds no
documentation regarding this.  On attendance at court the council present
a schedule detailing the liability orders applied for and the Magistrates
sign to approve the order.

 

Summary of Summons cost  
 
Job Description Time Cost  
Summons Fee £3.00  
 
Customer makes contact because of
difficulty paying bill. Makes payment  
arrangement and sets up direct debit 45 mins £16.28
 
RE set up changing instalment dates to
suit customer and resetting of payment  
plan 45 mins £16.28
 
Issue Reminder 45 mins £16.28  
 
RE set up changing instalment dates to
suit customer and resetting of payment  
plan 45 mins £16.28
 
Final notice 45 mins £16.28  
 
Monitor of payments - manual process 45 mins £16.28  
 
Total £100.68  
 
 
Summary Liability Order cost  
 
Go to Court to Obtain Liabilty Order £1.10  
 
Make attachment of earning/benefits £7.86  
 
Customer makes further arrangements that  
we have to monitor £7.86
 
Cost of duties after court 2 weeks spent £22.19  
 
Setting up payments £5.43  
 
Total Cost £44.44  
 
Summary of Summons Cost if No  
Contact
From  bill to Summons 45 mins £16.28

 

 

 

 

Should you require any further information, or if you are not satisfied
with our response, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01303 853437.
You may also request an internal review by writing to the following
address:

 

Freedom of Information Appeals Officer

Administration

Shepway District Council

Castle Hill Avenue

Folkestone

Kent CT20 2QY

 

Alternatively you can use our Customer Comment Form which can be accessed
at our website www.shepway.gov.uk

 

In addition, if you are not satisfied with our response you may apply to
the Information Commissioner for an independent review at the following
address:

 

The information Commissioner

Wyncliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone 01625 545700

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Rachel Neville

Information and Legal Officer

Tel: 01303 853437

Fax: 01303 853548

Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue,

Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2QY

E-mail: [Shepway District Council request email]

Website: www.shepway.gov.uk

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.shepway.gov.uk/
2. https://www.shepway.gov.uk/moderngov/ieL...
3. https://www.shepway.gov.uk/moderngov/ieL...

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Bryan!

I have never seen a more clear cut example of unlawful council tax court costs.

If you don't mind I'd like to put some of my own comments. I will deal with each of Shepway District Council's costings in turn and confine each to an individual annotation for clarity.

QUOTE:
"Customer makes contact because of difficulty paying bill. Makes payment arrangement and sets up direct debit 45 mins £16.28"

POINT ONE
Let's suppose that the debtor does not make contact because of difficulty paying bill and the council does not make payment arrangement therefore has no need to set up direct debit.

00 mins £00.00.

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

QUOTE:
"RE set up changing instalment dates to suit customer and resetting of payment plan 45 mins £16.28"

POINT TWO
Instalment date remains unchanged as there is no advantage to changing it. Therefore instalment date is not reset.

00 mins £00.00.

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

QUOTE:
"Issue Reminder 45 mins £16.28"

POINT THREE
Parameters are agreed in advance by the relevant manager and set in its Council Tax processing system relating to the number of days behind and the monetary value etc., and reminders are issued on this basis.

The process is therefore completely automated.

Negligible mins £negligible.

(See link)
http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/show...

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

QUOTE:
"RE set up changing instalment dates to suit customer and resetting of payment plan 45 mins £16.28"

QUOTE:
"Final notice 45 mins £16.28"

See previous annotation.

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

QUOTE:
"Monitor of payments - manual process 45 mins £16.28 "

POINT FOUR
Let's suppose that the debtor does not make contact and simply pays his outstanding liability as per the regulations after receiving a summons but before the hearing date. There are therefore no payments to monitor.

No manual process, 00 mins £00.00.

Summary of summons costs
Summons Fee £3.00
Negligible amounts £3.00

Total £6.00

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

[Summary Liability Order cost ]

QUOTE:
"Make attachment of earning/benefits £7.86

Customer makes further arrangements that we have to monitor £7.86

Cost of duties after court 2 weeks spent £22.19

Setting up payments £5.43 "

POINT FIVE:
All of the above costs are attributed to work done after the Liability Order has been obtained and therefore unlawful.

Note:

The law provides for costs reasonably incurred by the billing authority in "OBTAINING the ORDER"; regulation 34(7)(b) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

QUOTE:
"Summary of Summons Cost if No Contact

From bill to Summons 45 mins £16.28"

POINT SIX
The council has not even attempted to justify this cost which is likely to have been accounted for previously.

00 mins £00.00

Arnold Layne (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Summary of Summons / Liability Order cost

Summons Fee £3.00
Negligible amounts £3.00
Go to Court to Obtain Liabilty Order £1.10

T otal
Summons cost £6.00
Liabilty Order cost £1.10

(£7.10)