Ensuring customers are not subject to unnecessary recovery action, additional costs or hardship
Dear Leicester City Council,
A council taxpayer who owes more than just the current year's liability runs the risk of incurring additional recovery costs through a further application for a liability order if payments which are intended for the current year's liability are allocated by the council's computer to the previous year's liability. This would most likely happen where a non specific payment is made and the computer software is set to automatically allocate these payments to the oldest year's debt.
Councils computer systems have the necessary flexibility to be set to allow non specific payments to be allocated to the arrears or the current year's liability.
I understand that the majority of billing authorities have their computer software set to ensure that their customers are not subject to unnecessary recovery action, additional costs or hardship, i.e. so non specific payments are allocated to the current year's liability.
How does Leicester Council have its computer software set to deal with non specific payments. Current or oldest year's liability?
Yours faithfully,
Gwyn Worth
Website: [1]www.leicester.gov.uk
E-mail: [2][Leicester City Council request email]
Our Ref: FOI 14592
Date: 19^th October 2017
Gwyn Worth
[3][FOI #438764 email]
Dear Gwyn Worth,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
Thank you for your email of 15^th October 2017 requesting information
about council tax systems.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.
If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Yours sincerely,
Information Governance & Risk Team
Leicester City Council
References
Visible links
1. http://www.leicester.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Leicester City Council request email]
3. mailto:[FOI #438764 email]
Dear Gwyn Worth
Please find attached Leicester City Council’s response to your recent
Freedom of Information request.
Regards,
Iain Harrison
Information Governance & Risk Manager
Email: [1][Leicester City Council request email]”
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Leicester City Council request email]
Dear info-requests,
Thank you for confirming how payments are dealt with in circumstances where a customer has outstanding council tax liability for more than one year. It is encouraging that Leicester City Council is mindful of the principles surrounding the appropriation of payments and implement them.
It is evident that staff deal with payments in a way that complies with appropriation laws (i.e. 'this report is manually checked each morning to establish what the council tax payer’s intention was and transfer the payment if necessary'). If I understand correctly, this would ensure, even if there has been no express communication in respect of the account a customer intended the payment to be applied to, if it is implied by other circumstances that a specific account had been intended then the payment will be allocated to that debt. If my understanding is incorrect I would appreciate if you would put me right.
Yours sincerely,
Gwyn Worth
Dear Gwyn Worth
Thank you for your e mail. We can confirm your understanding is correct, i.e. " if it is implied by other circumstances that a specific account had been intended then the payment will be allocated to that debt".
Where any incorrect payment allocation as a result of such checks is noted or following notification from the customer, the misallocation would be corrected and any recovery action or costs incurred would be withdrawn.
We trust this clarifies.
Regards
Information Governance
Legal Services
Leicester City Council.
City Hall
4th Floor, 115 Charles Street
Leicester. LE1 1FZ
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