Freedom of information response

I would like to know:

- how many liability orders has the council sought over council tax arrears between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023?

- how many of these liability orders has resulted in bailiffs being sent to collect the debt?

To manually check 10623 debts from a pdf document used at Court on the day to review would take around 2 minutes each so 10693 x 2/60 = 356 hours.

In issuing our response the council have applied S12 of the Freedom of Information Act. 

This means that the council does not have to comply with your request if the cost of doing so exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’, which for local authorities is 18 hours.  This applies to the time taken spent locating and collating the requested information.  

If you wish to narrow the scope of your request and resubmit this to the council then of course we may be able to provide this information..

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. An internal review must be submitted within 40 working days of your original reply. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review.

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.