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Response 1126740

Response to request for information

Reference

1126740

Response date

14 June 2023

Request

I would like to know how much money, if any has been recovered using bailiffs (debt collection agencies) in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, broken down to the amount by year, for the following debts:

  • Council Tax arrears
  • Parking penalty charges
  • Housing Benefit overpayments.

I would also like to see the policy documents regarding the use of bailiffs and the details of any complaints lodged against the council's use of bailiffs.

If possible I would also like to know how much the council is spending on contracts with debt collection agencies.

Response

Council Tax

01/04/2018 - £457,252.58

01/04/2019 - £576,332.25

01/04/2020 - £216,528.33

01/04/2021 - £589,793.55

01/04/2022 - £562,259.49

01/04/2023 - £91,606.87

 

Our enforcement policy can be found on our policies and strategies pages.

Amount spent on bailiff contracts - £0

 

Parking

Please find information below from Nottinghamshire County Council as requested in relation to Rushcliffe BC’s off-street PCNs.

2018 – £5989.79

2019 – £4326.08

2020 - £5016.57

2021 - £4342

2022 - £4136.62

2023 – £870

 

The amounts are only for the money sent to us by the bailiffs, it does not include the bailiff fees, a FOI would need to be submitted with the bailiff companies for this info. Also we do not have any policy documents and any bailiff processes follow legislation.

 

Housing benefit overpayments

We have not used collection agents for HB overpayments for the last five years.

 

Complaints

We have very few complaints solely about the fact that that the Council uses Bailiffs… Occasionally the involvement of bailiffs is an element of a complaint, but specific records of categories are not kept and to search each complaint for that element would exceed the cost of compliance. If a complaint is about the conduct of the bailiffs themselves, we would refer the complainants directly to the company that we use