No checks made before issuing court summons
Dear Manchester City Council,
I have it on good authority that Council Tax summonses are not checked individually before they are issued.
Parameters are agreed in advance by the relevant manager and set in its Council Tax processing system relating to the number of days behind and the monetary value etc., and summonses are issued on this basis.
The process is therefore completely automated yet a cost of £82 is recharged to the defendant. I'm aware it is unlawful to recharge an amount to the defendant which exceeds the council's incurred expenditure.
I would therefore like disclosing exactly what expenditure is incurred in addition to the obvious costs of stationary and postage for the authority to arrive at a £82 sum.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
Dear Ms Brighton
Re: Request for Information - Reference No: COR/9QXLKE
Thank you for your request for information received by Manchester City
Council on 17th November 2014.
Please note that it may take up to 20 working days (approximately 4 weeks)
for the Council to consider your request and to provide a formal response.
If this timescale needs to be extended to consider an exemption you will be
notified and kept informed.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Enid Brighton To
<request-239466-09121562@whatdothe FOI requests at Manchester City Council
yknow.com> <[Manchester City Council request email]>
cc
16/11/2014 17:54
Subject
Freedom of Information request - No checks made before issuing
court summons
Dear Manchester City Council,
I have it on good authority that Council Tax summonses are not checked
individually before they are issued.
Parameters are agreed in advance by the relevant manager and set in its
Council Tax processing system relating to the number of days behind and the
monetary value etc., and summonses are issued on this basis.
The process is therefore completely automated yet a cost of £82 is
recharged to the defendant. I'm aware it is unlawful to recharge an amount
to the defendant which exceeds the council's incurred expenditure.
I would therefore like disclosing exactly what expenditure is incurred in
addition to the obvious costs of stationary and postage for the authority
to arrive at a £82 sum.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
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Dear Manchester City Council,
The response to your request has been delayed. You can say that, by law, the authority should have responded by 15 December 2014.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
Dear Manchester City Council,
Response to this request is delayed. By law, Manchester City Council should have responded by 15 December 2014.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
Dear Ms Brighton
Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing a response to your
request. I will make enquiries with the department providing the
information to establish when the Council will be able to issue you with a
response.
Regards
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Enid Brighton To
<request-239466-09121562@whatdothe [Manchester City Council request email]
yknow.com> cc
17/12/2014 15:06 Subject
Re: Freedom of Information request - No checks made before
issuing court summons COR/9QXLKE
Dear Manchester City Council,
Response to this request is delayed. By law, Manchester City Council should
have responded by 15 December 2014.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
Good morning Ms Brighton
Please find attached a response to your foi request
Charles Metcalfe
Corporate Revenues Manager - Manchester City Council
Alexandra House
Moss Lane East
Manchester
M15 5NX
Internal tel: 800 6382
tel: 0161 219 6382
fax: 0161 274 7214
Dear Manchester City Council,
I read with interest and somewhat disbelief the following response:
"City Council’s approach is to identify the total costs of all recovery work that is carried out to recover unpaid Council Tax after the summons has been issued and seek to recover this through the summons costs requested."
The defining boundaries for which the regulations clearly confine costs to the summons, for example, and if necessary the additional costs for obtaining the Liability Order are provided at regulation 34 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
Sub-paragraph (5)(b) of regulation 34 defines the boundaries for which the regulations clearly confine costs to the summons, see below:
"(b) a sum of an amount equal to the costs reasonably incurred by the authority in connection with the application up to the time of the payment or tender"
Can Manchester City Council clarify why it deems itself to be above the law. It would also be interesting to know whether any governing body (the Local Government Ombudsman for example) condones such a blatant breach of the relevant statutory instrument.
Yours faithfully,
Enid Brighton
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