Debt Recovery Guidance for council tax, business rates and sundry debts

Vulnerability Criteria

A failure to maximise collection of Council Tax and Business Rates will potentially put Council services at risk and increase the likelihood that Council Taxpayers and Ratepayers who do pay on time will have to subsidise nonpayers through future increases in the level of Council Tax.

The Council recognises that some taxpayers and ratepayers will, due to their individual personal and financial circumstances, have extreme difficulty in paying their Council Tax and Business Rates, and where a particular recovery action is being considered, it may not be appropriate where these suggest the taxpayer, ratepayer or other household members may be vulnerable in some way.

When considering any of the advanced recovery options (such as insolvency, committal to prison or charging orders) the Council will make checks with other Council departments (e.g. Housing Services) to establish whether those services have identified that the charge payer or any member of their household may be vulnerable in some way. The Council will ensure processes are in place to ensure that due regard is given to this group of taxpayers' and ratepayers.

A person may be considered vulnerable in the following circumstances. The list is not exhaustive, and each case will be decided on its own merits:

• the person is seriously ill or mentally or physically disabled
• the person has communication or learning difficulties
• the person has young children and where there is severe deprivation
• the person has recently been bereaved
• the person has difficulty in understanding written or spoken English

Falling into one of these categories does not automatically mean that recovery action is not appropriate. The Council will make individual decisions based upon the individual circumstances of the taxpayer or ratepayer to identify if recovery action is appropriate and, if so, what action to take.

The Council will only apply different recovery methods simultaneously when legislation allows us to do so, and the combined actions provide the most effective recovery action to take. Different recovery methods can be applied subsequently if a debt remains outstanding. The choice of recovery action is made at the discretion of the Council's Officers and will take into account the tax payers and rate payers circumstances on a case-by-case basis within this guidance.

The Revenues Team may become aware of vulnerable ratepayers and taxpayers following contact from the taxpayer, ratepayer or their representative or once recovery action is instigated. Alternatively, this information may become available from other internal systems used by the Council, from other service lines or from other support agencies.

Where the enforcement agent on visiting the taxpayer or ratepayer has vulnerability concerns, he is required to follow their vulnerability procedures and if necessary, return the Liability Order to the Council.