Recommendation 11

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.