Council tax

The request was partially successful.

To whom it may concern,

Please can I request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1a) In £, the total amount of Council Tax which was unpaid, by municipal year from 2012/13 and including any arrears in 2018/19 to date);

1b) The total amount of Council Tax, in £, which was owed but never paid by Universal Credit claimants since 2012/13 (broken down by municipal year and including any arrears in 2018/19 to date);

1c) The number of households in receipt of Universal Credit which are currently in arrears on their Council Tax;

2) Since the national introduction of Universal Credit from 2013 onwards, has your authority had to reduce the number of housing officers dealing with benefits queries because of a reduction in government funding? If so, please provide figures for government funding (in £) and staffing numbers (in Full Time Equivalents) before and after these reductions.

If my request cannot be met within cost limits, please can you provide me with advice on how I may refine my request,

Yours faithfully,

Claire Wilde

Our Reference: 5800

Dear Claire,

Thank you for your recent request for information.

Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. We will respond by 15th April 2019 at the latest.

Privacy Notice

The Council collects information, including personal information that you provide about yourself and others, when you make a submission in relation to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The Council collects this information for the purpose of dealing with your submission under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in accordance with the legislation; a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is not a valid request unless it is in writing and includes the following information:

• Enough of your real name to give anyone reading your request, a reasonable indication of your identity.
• Where you are an agent working on behalf of someone else, the other party will be interpreted as being the requestor therefore their details are required.
• Valid address for correspondence (including postal or email).
• A description of the information you require, which may include details of someone else.

The term ‘in writing’ covers requests submitted by letter and electronic form, including those sent via the internet through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Where a social media site is used to submit a request, the real name may be visible within the user profile. If you make the request public by publishing it on a website, as opposed to sending a private message to the authority’s account, then we will consider it within the requester’s reasonable expectations that the authority will also publish its response on the site.

Under FOI legislation, we have to maintain a log of requests. This information is retained for 6 years. All other information associated with your request, such as the request, our acknowledgement, consultation with the department involved, and our subsequent response to you is retained for 2 years.

The council will not disclose your personal information to external entities. We will also take steps to limit the amount of personal information about you, is disclosed as part of any consultation process regarding your request.

If you do not provide the appropriate details required under the legislation, the information cannot be provided. Other rights are not affected. These can be found here.

This information will not be shared/sold to any other service/organisation unless we have a duty to do so under law. This data will not be transferred outside of the EEA.

No decisions around this data are made by automated means.

Kind regards,

Julie Hemming-Smout
Information Support Officer, Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough Councils

Tel: (01527) 64252, extension 3871
Email: [email address]

Bromsgrove District Council
Parkside,
Market Street,
Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire B61 8DA
www.bromsgrove.gov.uk

Redditch Borough Council
Town Hall,
Walter Stranz Square,
Redditch,
Worcestershire B98 8AH
www.redditchbc.gov.uk

View our privacy notices via the following links –
Redditch:
http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/council/cor...
Bromsgrove:
http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/council/cor...

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Our Reference: 7735

Dear Claire,

Thank you for your recent request for information.

Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. We will respond by 15th April 2019 at the latest.

Privacy Notice

The Council collects information, including personal information that you provide about yourself and others, when you make a submission in relation to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The Council collects this information for the purpose of dealing with your submission under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in accordance with the legislation; a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is not a valid request unless it is in writing and includes the following information:

• Enough of your real name to give anyone reading your request, a reasonable indication of your identity.
• Where you are an agent working on behalf of someone else, the other party will be interpreted as being the requestor therefore their details are required.
• Valid address for correspondence (including postal or email).
• A description of the information you require, which may include details of someone else.

The term ‘in writing’ covers requests submitted by letter and electronic form, including those sent via the internet through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Where a social media site is used to submit a request, the real name may be visible within the user profile. If you make the request public by publishing it on a website, as opposed to sending a private message to the authority’s account, then we will consider it within the requester’s reasonable expectations that the authority will also publish its response on the site.

Under FOI legislation, we have to maintain a log of requests. This information is retained for 6 years. All other information associated with your request, such as the request, our acknowledgement, consultation with the department involved, and our subsequent response to you is retained for 2 years.

The council will not disclose your personal information to external entities. We will also take steps to limit the amount of personal information about you, is disclosed as part of any consultation process regarding your request.

If you do not provide the appropriate details required under the legislation, the information cannot be provided. Other rights are not affected. These can be found here.

This information will not be shared/sold to any other service/organisation unless we have a duty to do so under law. This data will not be transferred outside of the EEA.

No decisions around this data are made by automated means.

Kind regards,

Julie Hemming-Smout
Information Support Officer, Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough Councils

Tel: (01527) 64252, extension 3871
Email: [email address]

Bromsgrove District Council
Parkside,
Market Street,
Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire B61 8DA
www.bromsgrove.gov.uk

Redditch Borough Council
Town Hall,
Walter Stranz Square,
Redditch,
Worcestershire B98 8AH
www.redditchbc.gov.uk

View our privacy notices via the following links –
Redditch:
http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/council/cor...
Bromsgrove:
http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/council/cor...

show quoted sections

Our Reference: 5800

 

Dear Claire,

 

Thank you for your recent Information request. I can now offer you the
following information:

 

1a) In £, the total amount of Council Tax which was unpaid, by municipal
year from 2012/13 and including any arrears in 2018/19 to date);

 

As at 31/03/2019 arrears were as follows:

 

2018               1,647,506.24

2017               964,808.24

2016               724,037.39

2015               570,455.70

2014               412,694.23

2013               283,304.17

2012               202,407.86

 

1b) The total amount of Council Tax, in £, which was owed but never paid
by Universal Credit claimants since 2012/13 (broken down by municipal year
and including any arrears in 2018/19 to date); From our preliminary
assessment, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the
appropriate cost limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000. This is currently £450.  This is because we would have to
interrogate individual accounts.

 

1c) The number of households in receipt of Universal Credit which are
currently in arrears on their Council Tax; From our preliminary
assessment, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the
appropriate cost limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000. This is currently £450.  This is because we would have to
interrogate individual accounts.

 

2) Since the national introduction of Universal Credit from 2013 onwards,
has your authority had to reduce the number of housing officers dealing
with benefits queries because of a reduction in government funding? No  If
so, please provide figures for government funding (in £) and staffing
numbers (in Full Time Equivalents) before and after these reductions. N/A

 

I hope this resolves your enquiry and that you are satisfied with the
response.

 

However, if you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been
handled, you have the right to request an internal review.

 

If you are still dissatisfied following a review by the Council, you have
the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. You can contact the
Information Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone 01625 545 700

[1]www.ico.gov.uk/

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

Julie Hemming-Smout

Information Support Officer, Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough
Councils

 

Tel: (01527) 64252, extension 3871

Email: [2][email address]

 

Bromsgrove District Council Redditch Borough Council

Parkside, Town Hall,

Market Street, Walter Stranz Square,

Bromsgrove, Redditch,

Worcestershire B61 8DA Worcestershire B98 8AH

[3]www.bromsgrove.gov.uk [4]www.redditchbc.gov.uk

   

View our privacy notices via the following links –

Redditch:

[5]http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/council/cor...

Bromsgrove:

[6]http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/council/cor...

 

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/
4. http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/
5. http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/council/cor...
6. http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/council/cor...
7. mailto:[Redditch Borough Council request email]
8. mailto:[email address]