Council Tax Non Payment Summons Cost

Bradford City Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Bradford City Council,

Please provide the actual cost the HMCS charges to the Council when sending a Summons to an individual in relation to a Council Tax demand on behalf of the Council. I am not asking for the costs involved in making arrangements with or writing to taxpayers after the Summons has been issued as these are subject other factors.

Yours faithfully,

O Baber

Sue Sheeky, Bradford City Council

1 Attachment

Council Tax, Bradford City Council

Dear  Sir
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I refer to your request for information about Council Tax Summons Costs
which I received on 20 November and acknowledged on the same day
 
A response to each of your questions is listed below.
 
Q. Please provide the actual cost the HMCS charges to the Council when
sending a Summons to an individual in relation to a Council Tax demand on
behalf of the Council. I am not asking for the costs involved in making
arrangements with or writing to taxpayers after the Summons has been
issued as these are subject other factors.
 
A. The Council send the summonses on behalf of HMCS in relation to
non-payment of Council Tax. £3.00 is paid to HMCS in respect of each
summons. Additional costs are incurred by the Council and are added to the
overall costs charged to the Council Tax Payer.
 
If you are not satisfied with this reply you may ask for a review of this
decision by contacting [Bradford City Council request email] or by writing to Freedom of
Information, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, 4th Floor Britannia
House, Hall Ings, Bradford, BD1 1HX
 
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review you
have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be
contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545700
URL: [1]http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
 
Yours sincerely
 
P Bland
Revenues and Benefits and Payroll Service
 
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Dear Council Tax (Bradford Council),

Thank you for your reply, I would like to ask a follow up request.

I have noticed your website states 'The costs for the issue of a summons are currently £85.00'. Could you please provide details on how Bradford Council arrives at this cost.

I am sure you are already aware that the council has not to be seen to be making a profit when issuing summonses, with that in mind you must have very specific costs in relation to dealing with summonses in order to arrive at exactly £85 per person. I assume this cannot be admin costs as the admin requirements will be different for each person, for example someone may pay the cost in full immediately and not contact you whereas another person may telephone/email several times before things are resolved.

As the cost are the same for all summonses it shouldn't be to difficult to provide a breakdown of these costs and explain how the costs are exactly the same for everybody.

Yours sincerely,

O Baber

Council Tax, Bradford City Council

Your email has been received and will be dealt with by the Council Tax
section at Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

 

Notifications of a change of address, requests for discounts / reliefs /
exemptions or more complex enquiries requiring amendments to Council Tax
computer records will be processed within 20 working days. Unless we need
to query the information you have provided, you will normally receive a
new or adjusted bill rather than an email response.

 

Our aim is to reply to all other correspondence and enquiry e-mails
within 5 working days. Please do not send follow up e-mails before this

period has expired as these are dealt with in date order and this will
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Information about Council Tax and on-line payment facilities are available
on the Council’s website at:

 

[1]www.bradford.gov.uk/enquiries

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Sue Sheeky, Bradford City Council

Dear 
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Reference:
 
Thank you for your request submitted under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. This matter is now receiving our attention and we
aim to have a response out to you by 28/12/2013 within the period of 20
working days allowed for disclosure.
 
You will be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies
of the information. We will also provide an explanation if any information
is not released to you. If the requested information contains references
to any third parties we may need to consult with them before deciding
whether or not to release the information.
 
Should you have any queries regarding your request please feel free to
contact us at [Bradford City Council request email]
 
Yours sincerely
 
Sue Sheeky
Revenues and Benefits Service
 
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software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
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Council Tax, Bradford City Council

Dear  Sir
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I refer to your request for information about Council Tax which I received
on 9 December 2013
 
A response to each of your questions is listed below.
 
Q I have noticed your website states 'The costs for the issue of a summons
are currently 85.00'. Could you please provide details on how Bradford
Council arrives at this cost. I am sure you are already aware that the
council has not to be seen to be making a profit when issuing summonses,
with that in mind you must have very specific costs in relation to dealing
with summonses in order to arrive at exactly 85 per person. I assume this
cannot be admin costs as the admin requirements will be different for each
person, for example someone may pay the cost in full immediately and not
contact you whereas another person may telephone/email several times
before things are resolved. As the cost are the same for all summonses it
shouldn't be to difficult to provide a breakdown of these costs and
explain how the costs are exactly the same for everybody.
 
A. The £85.00 costs added to your account can be broken down as follows.
 
Council Tax Staff cost                   £ 1,962,458.22
Customer contact centres cost           £    385,399.64
Receiving payments costs                        £    494,029.11
Other running costs                             £    134,302.71
IT Charges                                      £    704,000.00
Accommodation Charges                   £       77,907.02
Other Central Charges                   £    236,667.81
Gross costs                                     £ 3,994,764.51
 
Enforcement Split 50% of Total Cost             £1,997,382.25
Estimate for 13-14 number of summonses  70,000
Number of Liability Orders                              35,000
Number of cases requiring further action                24,500
Sub total of costs per case                             £81.53
Plus costs per case to Court                    £3.00
 
Total Cost figure per case                      £84.53
 
 
If you are not satisfied with this reply you may ask for a review of this
decision by contacting [Bradford City Council request email] or by writing to Freedom of
Information, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, 4th Floor Britannia
House, Hall Ings, Bradford, BD1 1HX
 
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review you
have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be
contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545700
URL: [1]http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
 
Yours sincerely
 
P Bland
Revenues and Benefits Service
 
This email, and any attachments, may contain Protected or Restricted
information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is
addressed. It may contain sensitive or protectively marked material and
should be handled accordingly. If this email has been misdirected, please
notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you
must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the
information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted
immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any
software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
documents. Bradford Council will not accept any liability for damage
caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document
supplied with this email. Emails may be subject to recording and / or
monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
 

References

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Dear Council Tax,

Assuming expenditure of instituting Council Tax summonses is £1,997,382.25 (obviously a fabrication), this simply needs dividing by the number of summonses. This has been estimated for 2013/14 at 70,000.

The Sub total of costs per case then would be £28.53 and when adding the Magistrates' court fees per case (£3) makes a grand total of £31.53.

You state it costs £84.53 per summons, yet you charge £85, so even the figures you have manipulated to your advantage say you make a profit, of which your not supposed to do. The original question is still valid, why do you charge £85 for a summons and costs when the costs have to be different on a case to case basis. A person could call you 5 times and take up admin time/costs yet if someone pays immediately without contacting you in anyway they still have to pay £85, how can that be justified? It cost £3 for the summons and the costs for an automated letter are negligible.

As a tax payer I would like to know how you can charge every person who is summoned the same amount regardless of how much time they take up in admin / court costs and somehow claim there is no profit being made. By my reckoning you make £80 profit for everyone that pays up the moment they receive the summons.

Yours sincerely,

O Baber

Sue Sheeky, Bradford City Council

Dear  Mr Bader
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Reference:
 
Thank you for your request submitted under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. This matter is now receiving our attention and we
aim to have a response out to you by 27/05/2014  within the period of 20
working days allowed for disclosure.
 
You will be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies
of the information. We will also provide an explanation if any information
is not released to you. If the requested information contains references
to any third parties we may need to consult with them before deciding
whether or not to release the information.
 
Should you have any queries regarding your request please feel free to
contact us at [Bradford City Council request email]
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Revenues and Benefits Service
 
This email, and any attachments, may contain Protected or Restricted
information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is
addressed. It may contain sensitive or protectively marked material and
should be handled accordingly. If this email has been misdirected, please
notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you
must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the
information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted
immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any
software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
documents. Bradford Council will not accept any liability for damage
caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document
supplied with this email. Emails may be subject to recording and / or
monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
 

Neil Gilliatt (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

You might be able to work the following information into your investigations. It appears they just make it up as they go along.

All the costs are front loaded to the summons whereas they were only considered to represent 64% of expenditure in 2006/07, where £25 was added once the liability order was obtained.

In 1998/99, Summons costs made up 70% (£28) of the total £40 charged to Council Tax payers in obtaining a Liability Order through the Magistrates Court.

1999/00 the ratio of the costs changed with 70% of the total costs £50 being made up of the Summons costs (£35).

2000/01 the ratio of the costs changed with 67% of the total costs £45 being made up of the Summons costs (£30).

2001/02 the ratio of the costs changed with 70% of the total costs £50 being made up of the Summons costs (£35).

2002/03 the ratio of the costs changed with 82% of the total costs £55 being made up of the Summons costs (£45).

2004/05 the ratio of the costs changed with 67% of the total costs £60 being made up of the Summons costs (£40).

2006/07 the ratio of the costs changed with 64% of the total costs £70 being made up of the Summons costs (£45).

2010/11 the ratio of the costs changed with 67% of the total costs £75 being made up of the Summons costs (£50).

2011/12 the ratio of the costs changed with 69% of the total costs £80 being made up of the Summons costs (£55).

2012/13 the ratio of the costs changed with 100% of the total costs £85 being made up of the Summons costs (£85).

Charles left an annotation ()

Harrogate Borough Council charge £84[Summons Cost] plus an additional charge of £44 [Liability Order] for those unable to pay their full annual C.Tax bill with one advance payment.

As such,those taxpayers who are unable to afford to pay their annual C.Tax bill in full, but instead opt to pay monthly by Direct Debit, will incur the further cost of a £44 [Liability Order]

And how interesting that, in Bradford and Harrogate [Summons cost] there is only £1 difference.They must have identical overheads despite the population of Bradford being 293,000 versus Harrogate at 71,000.

I seem to remember that Banks charged £25 for every letter sent to a customer regarding an overdrawn account.Finally, the Goverment through public pressure, made their extortinate costs illegal.It's certainly time that they enforced those same rules on all County Councils.

Neil Gilliatt (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

There is something interesting about Harrogate's costs which is that although obviously exceeding expenditure incurred by the council, they have at least over successive reviews remained reasonably consistent with regards the proportion of Summons costs to total costs.

In 1997/98, Summons costs made up 68% (£17) of the total £25 charged to Council Tax payers for obtaining a Liability Order through the Magistrates Court.

1998/99 the ratio of costs remained relatively unchanged (though increasing) with 67% of the total costs £30 being made up of the Summons costs (£20).

1999/00 the ratio of the costs changed with 75% of the total costs £40 being made up of the Summons costs (£30).

2000/01 the ratio of the costs remained relatively unchanged (though increasing) with 73% of the total costs £55 being made up of the Summons costs (£40).

2002/03 the ratio of the costs remained relatively unchanged (though increasing) with 75% of the total costs £60 being made up of the Summons costs (£45).

2003/04 the ratio of the costs changed with 71% of the total costs £70 being made up of the Summons costs (£50).

2004/05 the ratio of the costs changed with 67% of the total costs £90 being made up of the Summons costs (£60).

2007/08 the ratio of the costs remained relatively unchanged (though increasing) with 65% of the total costs £105 being made up of the Summons costs (£68.50).

2008/09 the ratio of the costs remained unchanged (though increasing) with 65% of the total costs £111 being made up of the Summons costs (£72).

2010/11 the ratio of the costs remained unchanged (though increasing) with 65% of the total costs £116 being made up of the Summons costs (£75).

2011/12 the ratio of the costs remained unchanged (though increasing) with 65% of the total costs £120 being made up of the Summons costs (£78).

2012/13 the ratio of the costs remained unchanged (though increasing) with 65% of the total costs £124 being made up of the Summons costs (£81).

Paul Bland, Bradford City Council

Dear  Mr Baber
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Reference:
 
I refer to your request for information made under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, which I received on .
 
Unfortunately there is nothing further that can be added to the original
response sent to you.
 
If you are not satisfied with this reply you may ask for a review of this
decision by contacting [Bradford City Council request email] or by writing to Freedom of
Information, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, 4th Floor Britannia
House, Hall Ings, Bradford, BD1 1HX
 
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review you
have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be
contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545700
URL: [1]http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
 
P Bland
Council Tax
 
This email, and any attachments, may contain Protected or Restricted
information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is
addressed. It may contain sensitive or protectively marked material and
should be handled accordingly. If this email has been misdirected, please
notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you
must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the
information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted
immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any
software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
documents. Bradford Council will not accept any liability for damage
caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document
supplied with this email. Emails may be subject to recording and / or
monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

References

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