In a previous post I mentioned that one of the worst things about working in Local Government is the love of the private sector that senior managers have. They believe that a council is a brand and that we have customers. As I will rant until I am old and grey we are not and do not.
If they are insisting on being viewed upon as private sector brands then maybe they should behave like them when it comes to the charges they apply to debts.
At the local authority I work for if you miss your Council Tax payment and you are summonsed you will be charged around £50.00 for a letter to be sent to you. If it goes to court then further costs are added.
I’m not doubting that there are costs associated with sending a letter but last time I looked at myself and my other admin drones no one was getting paid £50.00 per letter.
With the introduction of the local council tax schemes many people on Employment Support Allowance are having to pay Council Tax for the first time. In my area it is a low amount of around £3.00 per week. Then again when you have £70.70 per week to cover everything I’m sure £3.00 is not trivial. To charge someone £50.00 for failing to pay around £9.00 worth of Council Tax is immoral.
So. Should local authorities be limited on the amount they can charge people for building up Council Tax arrears? After all the banks they are so desperate to emulate with the call centres and “speedy resolution” can no longer charge extortionate fees.
Related articles
- ‘Boom time for bailiffs’ warning as cuts to council tax support hit most vulnerable (24dash.com)
- CouncilTaxReclaim (counciltaxreclaim.wordpress.com)
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