Council appointed bailiffs ‘threatening force’, says Citizens Advice

20 Dec 13
Bailiffs appointed by local authorities to recover council tax debt have used threats of force to enter people’s homes, and town halls have not been effectively monitoring their actions, the Citizens Advice Bureau has claimed.

By Richard Johnstone | 23 December 2013

Bailiffs appointed by local authorities to recover council tax debt have used threats of force to enter people’s homes, and town halls have not been effectively monitoring their actions, the Citizens Advice Bureau has claimed.

The consumer charity said that in as many as 60% of cases it had examined, bailiffs threatened to use force when attempting to claim unpaid local taxes.

A CAB survey of 500 people facing council tax claims also found that 38% were charged fees for visits bailiffs had not made, and 40% were threatened with removal of items that did not belong to them.

In addition, a quarter of councils did not monitor the performance of bailiffs through analysis of complaints data.

When Council Tax Benefit was localised to town halls in April, councils established their own support schemes following a 10% cut in funding. This led many people who previously did not pay any tax being required to make some payments, the CAB said. Nearly 17,000 people reported a problem to the charity about bailiffs enforcing council tax debt in the last year.

The charity added the speed at which some councils called in bailiffs was also a cause for concern. A bureau in the south of England reported that a council had passed council tax arrears of just £21 to bailiffs, while costs for the liability order and bailiff fees hiked the debt up by almost 12 times the original amount to £251.

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said that some bailiffs were ‘utterly relentless and use aggressive and threatening behaviour to intimidate people in debt’.

She added: ‘Despite people barely having a penny to their name bailiffs keep on hounding them for money they just don’t have, even when they’ve arranged a repayment plan with the council. CABs are seeing people who are at their wits end because bailiffs are threatening and harassing them in the street.’

She called on town halls to identify people with problems paying as early as possible and point those people towards free debt advice. They should also monitor the performance of bailiffs by collecting and analysing complaints. ‘The use of bailiffs should be an absolute last resort,’ she added.

The Local Government Association said councils had a responsibility to collect taxes to provide services like care for the elderly, bin collections and road maintenance.

Sharon Taylor, chair of the LGA’s finance panel, insisted bailiffs were only ever used to tackle persistent non-payment.

‘Before the situation reaches a stage where bailiffs are involved several letters will have been written, people will have been encouraged to apply for financial support, and efforts will be made to arrange new payment plans or to attach the debt to a salary.

‘Councils that use bailiffs to recover debts have a responsibility to ensure that people are being treated fairly and that resident complaints about unacceptable bullying or intimidation are taken seriously. We have worked closely with CAB to develop and support their protocol and are encouraging our member councils to sign up.’

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