Council tax collection - London

Dear Mr Quinn

Freedom of Information request: FOI-30002

Thank you for your request dated 12 July 2019

Your request will be answered by 09 August 2019

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Jackie Jago
Head of Corporate Services
Corporate Services
Directorate of Communities & Environment
Royal Borough of Greenwich

020 8921 5044
 Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Quinn

Freedom of Information request:  FOI-30002

Thank you for your request dated 12 July 2019

Our response is as follows:

Please provide the following records for the years 2015/16, 2016/17,
2017/18, 2018/19:

1. The number of cases of council tax debt which have been passed to
external enforcement agencies and the overall amount of council tax which
was owed (just in relation to the cases which were passed to the agencies)

Number of Value of
liability liability
orders orders
referred to referred to
Enforcement Enforcement
  Agents Agents
2015/2016 8,035 £5,624,493.45
2016/2017 8615 £5,504,381.69
2017/2018 13655 £8,610,614.29
2018/2019 10517 £6,370,885.76
TOTAL 40822 £26,110,375.19

2. In addition to the above, if it is possible to do so within the FOI
cost limit, please provide the overall amount of council tax debt
recovered by agencies

Total
Enforcement
Agent
payments
  received
2015/2016 £1,195,199.75
2016/2017 £1,005,722.72
2017/2018 £1,283,189.81
2018/2019 £1,034,135.81
TOTAL £4,518,248.09
 

3. In addition to the above, if it is possible to do so within the FOI
cost limit, please provide for each of the periods 2017/18 and 2018/19 the
names of enforcement agencies employed by the council. (If multiple,
please detail % split of cases allocated).

The following Enforcement Agents are used for Council Tax. Each
Enforcement Agent receives liability orders based on the areas allocated
to them within the borough:

Whyte & Co.
Goodwillie & Corcoran
Rundles
Ross & Roberts
Newlyn

For Business Rates Whyte & Co. are used.

4. In addition to the above, if it is possible to do so within the FOI
cost limit, please provide for each of the periods 2017/18 and 2018/19,
the number of complaints received by the council arising from allegations
about the actions of bailiffs and debt collectors employed by the council.

We do not hold this information for Council Tax.

If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review.  Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request.  If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. 
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [1][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Jackie Jago

Head of Corporate Services

Corporate Services

Directorate of Communities & Environment

Royal Borough of Greenwich

' 020 8921 5044

*   Room 20 Basement The Town Hall, Wellington Street, London SE18 6PW

8 www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

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