Thank you for your e-mail, requesting that certain information is made available to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Council has now started to process your request.

The Council always aims to disclose information as quickly as possible. However, if for some reason we cannot complete your request within 20 working days (ie by 16/05/2023) we will write to you again before that date to explain why and to let you know when you will receive the information. Please remember that documents sent by post may take few extra days to reach you.

The Council will normally disclose all the information which you have requested unless there is a good reason for not doing so. If any information will not be disclosed because it is exempt, we will write to you and explain why. Please note that, whilst the Council will disclose documents which already exist and which contain the information which you have requested, the Council is not required to compile documents specifically to deal with your request.

Once the information has been identified, the Council can also ask that you pay a fee to cover the costs of any printing, photocopying, postage, etc., for processing and delivering the information to you. Details of any fee to be paid will be notified to you as soon as possible.

Please quote the reference number 23/275 in any future correspondence about this request.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, then you may ask the Council to conduct an internal review of your case by writing to the Council’s FOI Team ([Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council request email]). If you are still not content after the Council has conducted an internal review of your case, then 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 Borough Council.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted in writing at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Please quote the reference number at the top of this email in any future correspondence about this request.

Adrian Stanfield
Freedom of Information Co-Ordinator

website: www.tmbc.gov.uk

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Danielle

 

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request.

 

I need to provide some contextual information because your questions as
they are written cannot be answered in full by Tonbridge & Malling Borough
Council.   I am sorry if this ‘context’ is unnecessary for you - I just
feel it is important in order to explain some of the responses.

 

Contextual information

 

You have asked for 3 years information which I am taking to be the
financial years 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23.

 

TMBC has the responsibility of collecting council tax on behalf of a
number of ‘precepting’ authorities.  In addition to TMBC itself, the other
major precepting authorities concerned are Kent County Council (KCC), Kent
Fire & Rescue, Kent Police & Crime Commissioner; and there are also local
precepting authorities depending on where you live in the borough – i.e.
parish councils.  These organisations are all sovereign bodies.

 

Each of these precepting authorities sets an amount they need to be raised
through council tax in any year.   On behalf of all the sovereign bodies,
TMBC raises the bills as the designated ‘billing authority’; collects the
council tax and passes over agreed sums (or precepts) to each of the major
and local precepting authorities. 

 

The precepts for each of the precepting authorities are set at the
beginning of the year as part of their own budget processes, and it is
that amount of council tax that the billing authority has to pass over
directly.  How those precept receipts are used is then at the discretion
of each of the precepting authorities. 

 

As the billing authority, we at TMBC have to account for the council tax
receipts in what is known as the Collection Fund.  This is included in our
Annual Statement of Accounts which can be found on our website [1]The
council budget – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk).  The
link gives you access to the statement of accounts for 2020/21 and
2021/22.

 

As the financial year only closed on 31 March, we are still working on the
Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 so these are not yet available.   These
will be posted to the website once available.

 

If you look at page 71 of the statement of accounts for 2021/22 via the
link above  - you will note that authorities who made a precept on the
Collection Fund are:

                             

Precepting Body                                                           
2020/21             2021/22    

      £                            £

Kent County Council                                                   
69,415,604       72,888,596

Police & Crime Commissioner for Kent                    10,436,023       
11,207,426

Kent & Medway Fire & Rescue Authority                  4,073,208         
4,152,116

Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council                     11,019,064      
11,276,762

                                                             
94,943,899      99,524,900

Parish Councils (in total)                                              
3,130,729          3,326,832

TOTAL                                                            
                98,074,628       102,851,732

 

You will note that the biggest preceptor by far is Kent County Council
(KCC).  The council tax receipts transferred to KCC contribute towards the
provision of a wide variety of services including Adult Social Care,
Children’s Services, Education and Libraries, Highways and Waste disposal
amongst many other things. 

 

Each of the preceptors is a sovereign body and therefore, other than TMBC,
I am unable to answer any questions about their spend.  If you have
particular questions about how each of the preceptors utilises their
council tax receipts, you will need to enquire directly with that
authority.

 

Another thing to note is that council tax is not the only source of income
that assists in defraying expenditure.  Major precepting authorities
receive annual funding directly from government (in different degrees),
and also generate income from other sources such as fees and charges and
investment income.  Local precepting authorities do not receive annual
funding from government but may receive fees and charges and sometimes
grants from other bodies.

 

For TMBC, in 2022/23 for example, 43.2% of the Council’s revenue budget
was to be funded from council tax.  See page 5 of the budget book which is
on our website. [2]Council budget 2022 to 2023 – Tonbridge and Malling
Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk)

 

Turning now to your questions:

 

 1. You ask I would like to see the previous 3 years of receipts for where
the council tax funding is being spent. I do not want to see
percentages but proof in pounds (£s) as to where the annual council
tax is being spent.

 

As I have explained above, I can only provide information relating to
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council.  If you wish to see how council tax
receipts are utilised by other precepting bodies, you will need to contact
them directly.

 

On the TMBC website we provide, under the transparency agenda, monthly csv
files of all the Council’s spend taken directly from our accounting
ledger.  These can be accessed via:

[3]Council spending – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk)

 

All of this spend feeds into the Revenue and Capital Outturn summaries at
the end of a financial year which records actual spend each year alongside
the budget.   

 

I have attached for your information the Revenue and Outturn Summaries
for  2020/21 and 2021/22 in pdf form.    The Outturn for 2022/23 is
presently being worked on given that the financial year has only just
closed.

 

These summary Revenue and Capital Outturn documents bring together all
actual spend which is included in the monthly csv files, as well as
payroll spend.  I am not able to share detailed payroll data in excel
format for data protection reasons, but on page CS2 of the Revenue and
Capital Outturn document you can see the annual total salary spend at high
level matched against the budget for that year.

2.         You ask: I would like to know if my council tax funds Tonbridge
Police Service,  Tonbridge Ambulance Service, Tonbridge Waste collection
and Schools. If so I would like to know as to what percentage it is
distributed?

 

As I have explained in the contextual information, a variety of different
precepting authorities levy demands for council tax to contribute towards
the cost of the services they provide.

 

• I can confirm that the Kent Police & Crime Commissioner does levy
council tax, and this will contribute to the cost of police services. 
For details of spend in this regard you would need to contact the
Police and Crime Commissioner.
• No council tax is levied for Ambulance Services.  I have included the
link to their webpage

[4]Our Budget - NHS South East Coast Ambulance Service (secamb.nhs.uk)

 

• Council Tax is levied by TMBC which is responsible for Waste
Collection, amongst other services.  Details of the costs of waste
services are shown in the Revenue and Capital Outturn documents I
refer to above on pages SSLTS 2 – SSLTS 4.
• Council Tax is levied by Kent County Council a variety of different
services including Education & Libraries.  As this is a different
authority, I am unable to give any more detail about how much of your
council tax is directed towards schools.

I am not clear what you require when you say, “I would like to know as to
what percentage it is actually distributed”. However, based on the table I
gave you in the contextual information, of all the council tax receipts
that were levied in 2021/22 the breakdown by % to each precepting body is
as follows:

 

• KCC                                                                  
70.9%        includes Education
• TMBC                                                              
11.0%        includes Waste collection
• Police & Crime Commissioner                     10.9%        includes
Police services
• Fire & Rescue                                                   4.0%
• All parish councils                                           3.2%

 

 3. You ask – “Which law, not legislation, states that council tax must be
paid?

 

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 govern
the collection and enforcement of council tax.    Council Tax itself was
introduced through the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

 

 4. You ask: “Which law states that it is a criminal offence to not pay
council tax?”

 

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 govern
the collection and enforcement of council tax.

Non-payment of Council tax is not a criminal offence but a civil matter,
despite issues around non-payment being a dealt with by the Magistrates’
Court as specified in the Council tax (administration and enforcement)
regulations 1992.

 5. You ask:  “Please attach the copy of contract in where I agreed to pay
for council tax. Please keep in mind that an ‘assumptuous agreement'”

 

There is no contract as Council Tax is a tax as set out in the Local
Government Finance Act 1992.  Accordingly, a person’s liability is not
contingent upon either their consent or the existence of a contractual
relationship with the Council.

If you have any doubt as to the obligations placed upon you by such
legislation, please seek proper advice. Free and independent advice is
available from your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau
([5]www.citizensadvice.org.uk)

Internal Review

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you can request an internal
review of the decision by making a request to [6][Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council request email].

 

Complain to the Information Commissioner

If you are not content after the Council has conducted an internal review
of your case, then you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner
(ICO) for a decision.The Information Commissioner can be contacted in
writing at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Please quote the reference number at the top of this email in any future
correspondence about this request.

 

Sally

Sally Evans

PA to Director of Finance & Transformation

Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council

 

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