Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 11
Second Report - Council Tax Collection
Published 1 Dec 2023
Paragraph 63
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Council Tax Collection All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The use of enforcement agents to collect unpaid council tax should always be a last resort, so we were pleased to hear that many councils and debt collectors engage with residents to collect arrears without needing to take enforcement action, and that some have a policy of never using agents against those in receipt of council tax support. We accept enforcement agents will sometimes be needed, in the case of those who wilfully refuse to pay, but it can never be justified in the case of those who genuinely cannot afford to pay. We urge the Government to direct local authorities to give it extra careful consideration before using enforcement agents against those in receipt of council tax support and in call cases to demonstrate they have exhausted alternative collection methods before resorting to enforcement agents.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Second Report - Council Tax Collection (HC 57), paragraph 63, 1 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 February 2024 (deadline 1 February 2024).