illegal fee for council tax payment plan

[Main man]

Case taken fron Credit Today article


http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2010/feb/...-payment-plan/

[Amy]

Re: illegal fee for council tax payment plan

This is shocking, but unsurprising.

The councils are packed to the gunnels with staff who have to justify their fat salaries and who have no idea about what they can and cannot do because they are never stopped or told otherwise.

Far from it. They are actively encouraged to meddle in things that are nothing to do with them. For example becoming responsible for fewer holes in peoples' salt cellars and to go rooting through peoples' bins to find a misplaced potato peeling.

This is why it should not be a surprise that they believe they can charge £400 for no other reason than "they can".

Why would they want to pay attention to such a little thing as the law?

[Amethyst]

Thurrocl councils illegal £400 fee

Thurrock Council charged illegal fee for council tax payment plan

Date Published: 11/02/10
The Council charged an illegal £400 fee for administering a council tax payment plan it had agreed as an alternative to making a man bankrupt.
Thurrock Council charged an illegal £400 fee for administering a council tax payment plan it had agreed as an alternative to making a man bankrupt, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Tony Redmond. In his report, issued today (11 February 2010) he says: “the Council was at fault in charging the £400 fee. There is no legislation which allows for the fee to be charged…. The fee was introduced without reference to officers, members or the Council’s legal department and there appears to have been no scrutiny to ensure that the policy was legal.” The Council had charged this fee to 178 people and could potentially have generated a total of £71,200.
The Ombudsman is concerned that other councils may be charging this fee, and has written his report because it raises issues that are of a wider public interest.
The Council took the first step towards making ‘Mr North’ (not his real name for legal reasons) bankrupt for council tax arrears, by serving a statutory demand. As an alternative to being made bankrupt Mr North was then given the opportunity to make an agreement with the Council to pay the arrears in instalments. Mr North was told he would have to pay a £400 fee to cover the administration costs of the instalment arrangement. The fee had been introduced as part of a range of measures introduced by the Council to improve the collection of council tax; the collection of council tax was contracted out to a private company which was also responsible for recovery action.
Mr North agreed to pay by instalments but challenged the amount of the fee and whether the Council had the authority to make a charge. The Council maintained that it was appropriate to make a charge for the cost of administrating the payment plan. Eight months after Mr North requested a breakdown of the fee, the Council provided an explanation of how the £400 had been accrued.
Mr North did not accept that the Council was entitled to charge the £400 and he thought the amount of the charge was excessive and did not reflect the actual costs incurred.
Soon after the Ombudsman started to investigate the complaint, the Council accepted that there was no basis on which it could make the charge. It immediately stopped charging the fee and took steps to reimburse everyone who had paid it. The Council also decided to offer a goodwill payment to everyone who had paid the fee.
The Ombudsman also found that the Council had taken too long to deal with Mr North’s request for a breakdown and it had missed out on an opportunity to assess the legality of the fee when he first queried it. It had also failed to ensure that policies were properly scrutinised and monitored, and failed to monitor the actions being taken by the private company.
The Ombudsman recommended that the Council should:

• pay Mr North the £40 goodwill payment being given to everyone who had paid the fee, plus an additional £60 to reflect his time and trouble in dealing with the complaint;
• introduce a procedure to ensure that all policies that are introduced are properly scrutinised and implemented; and
• review the way that the private company deals with complaints.

Report ref 09 006 694

[Amy]

Re: Thurrocl councils illegal £400 fee

I thought Thurrock council had done it again for a minute.

illegal fee for council tax payment plan - Legal Beagles

[Amethyst]

Re: Thurrocl councils illegal £400 fee

lol well I only got it today (credit today is still delivered to my ex;s house) :kiss:

Wondering why they only had to give a GOGW of £40 if the £400 fee charged to 178 peeps was illegal ? Shouldnt they be repaying all of it ?

will merge threads

[WendyB]

Re: Thurrocl councils illegal £400 fee

Wondering why they only had to give a GOGW of £40 if the £400 fee charged to 178 peeps was illegal ? Shouldnt they be repaying all of it ?

Perhaps this is why?

Soon after the Ombudsman started to investigate the complaint, the Council accepted that there was no basis on which it could make the charge. It immediately stopped charging the fee and took steps to reimburse everyone who had paid it. The Council also decided to offer a goodwill payment to everyone who had paid the fee