Councillors and Council Tax Arrears

Joanna Morris made this Freedom of Information request to Hayfield Parish Council as part of a batch sent to 426 authorities This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Hayfield Parish Council did not have the information requested.

Joanna Morris
Delivered

Hello,

I'm writing to you in the hope of obtaining information relating to the number of reminder letters and summons sent to elected councillors in your authority area since 2015/16.

I'd prefer to receive the information in Excel spreadsheet - xlsx or xls - format and if you cannot provide the information in full, I would like to request that you provide as much as you are able to within the cost and time limits of the Act.

If you need clarification or can suggest ways in which the request can be refined in order for it to be successful, I'd be grateful if you could contact me as soon as possible.

Please note that there is precedent for councillors to be named in relation to this issue - the High Court ruled in March 2015 that they should not have their identities protected when it comes to non-payment of council tax.

I'd like to know the following:

1. How many unpaid council tax reminders were sent to councillors elected in your authority between 2015/16 and 2017/18? Please break down by financial year?

2. How many councillors were summonsed to court or given summary warrants in the same period? Again, please break down by financial year.

3a. How many reminders were issued to the councillors named? Please break down by year.

3b. For each instance, please provide the name of each councillor, the party they represent or represented at the time and the amount of council tax owed according to sums requested in the letter. Please also provide the amount of council tax that remains outstanding.

3c. Please also state for each councillor, whether they were barred from voting on the council's budget as a result of their council tax arrears and whether any summons received resulted in a court hearing going ahead.

I'd be grateful if you could provide the information for questions 1 and 2 as totals for your authority and present the rest of the information within a spreadsheet with the following columns:

Financial Year - Authority Name - Councillor Name - Party - No of Reminders - No of Summons - Amount Owed According to Reminders - Court Hearing Y/N - Outcome of Hearing - Banned from Voting Y/N - Current Sum Outstanding

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Morris

Link to this Report
Clerk, Hayfield Parish Council

Dear Joanna

Thank you for your enquiry.

The local authority responsible for collecting Council Tax in this area is
High Peak Borough Council [1]www.highpeak.gov.uk

While, of course, members of the Parish Council are indeed required to pay
Council Tax (to HPBC), the Parish Council has no visibility of that
process and thus has no records of it. 

The element of the overall Council Tax (known as 'Precept') which is
allocated to the Parish Council to spend each year is collected from
residents on our behalf by HPBC, who simply then send to the Parish
Council the bulk amount which they have collected on our behalf. HPBC does
not divulge to us who has or has not paid, nor should they.

Yours

Peter Leppard

Parish Clerk

Hayfield Parish Council 

 

On 12-04-2019 16:21, Joanna Morris wrote:

Hello,

I'm writing to you in the hope of obtaining information relating to the
number of reminder letters and summons sent to elected councillors in
your authority area since 2015/16.

I'd prefer to receive the information in Excel spreadsheet - xlsx or xls
- format and if you cannot provide the information in full, I would like
to request that you provide as much as you are able to within the cost
and time limits of the Act.

If you need clarification or can suggest ways in which the request can
be refined in order for it to be successful, I'd be grateful if you
could contact me as soon as possible.

Please note that there is precedent for councillors to be named in
relation to this issue - the High Court ruled in March 2015 that they
should not have their identities protected when it comes to non-payment
of council tax.

I'd like to know the following:

1. How many unpaid council tax reminders were sent to councillors
elected in your authority between 2015/16 and 2017/18? Please break down
by financial year?

2. How many councillors were summonsed to court or given summary
warrants in the same period? Again, please break down by financial year.

3a. How many reminders were issued to the councillors named? Please
break down by year.

3b. For each instance, please provide the name of each councillor, the
party they represent or represented at the time and the amount of
council tax owed according to sums requested in the letter.  Please also
provide the amount of council tax that remains outstanding.

3c. Please also state for each councillor, whether they were barred from
voting on the council's budget as a result of their council tax arrears
and whether any summons received resulted in a court hearing going
ahead.

I'd be grateful if you could provide the information for questions 1 and
2 as totals for your authority and present the rest of the information
within a spreadsheet with the following columns:

Financial Year - Authority Name - Councillor Name - Party - No of
Reminders - No of Summons - Amount Owed According to Reminders - Court
Hearing Y/N - Outcome of Hearing - Banned from Voting Y/N - Current Sum
Outstanding

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Morris

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