Tameside Council Web Site
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/benefits/counciltax/singleperson
This is another good example of a council which provides a mixture of incorrect and misleading information coupled with unjustifiable threats of financial penalties for not doing something there is no requirement in law for you to do. It would appear that the council has confused the categories on its IT systems with legal provisions, failing to realise that the two do not correspond. If this is the case, then the council is risking actions for maladministration. The evidence for this is in various places on its web site, including here:
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/counciltax/discounts
This page has a list of 'discounts'. It appears that these non existent discount are shown on council tax bills, using codes of some sort linked with IT data base cells, though clearly not with the law. In that case, there is a distinct possibility that the demand notices fail to comply with the requirement to make the assumption under Regulation 15 and to inform the taxpayer of that obligation. A table on the page incorrectly lists 'single person discount' and 'single with disregard' as different discounts. This is legal nonsense.
Other 'guidance' on the web site suggests that Tameside is administering the discount incorrectly on the basis that these are two different sorts of discount. A Hillingdon-like false assertion that you must tell the council if a child turns 18 appears, for example, together with an assertion that the council must have this information because it is obliged to keep its information up to date. The actual obligation on the council is NOT TO MISINTERPRET information it has, and not comply with Reg 15 and so on.
This mistake appears to be carried through to the bills themselves. According to the web site, demand notices contain codes stating which discount has been deducted, with the same error evident in this coding:
Code
01 Only one resident aged 18 or over in the property
02 More than one resident aged 18 or over, but only one is "counted"
If Tameside has calculated and issued the bill on the basis of the 'beliefs' or 'assumptions' about residence indicated in this code it is quite simply breaking the law.
If you live in Tameside and you are in receipt of a Section 11 25% discount, you should realise that there is no obligation whatsoever on you to tell the council tax department if a child reaches the age of 18.
In legal terms, Tameside ought to provide you with accurate information about your obligations every time it sends you a demand notice to comply with council tax law, and, in terms of general administrative law, it ought to provide you with legally clear and accurate information at all times.
There is NO OBLIGATION TO INFORM THE COUNCIL OF CHANGES THAT MAY AFFECT YOUR ENTITLEMENT TO A DISCOUNT.
This information is unhelpful and misleading:
We will write to you each year to check if the circumstances are still the same. If you haven't previously told us about a change it will be backdated and you will have to make payment of any arrears promptly.
Not all changes affect entitlement. Not all changes need to be 'backdated': though the suggestion that they will be back dated probably arises from limited grammatical skills here.
It would appear that the council has maladministration embedded within its practices, and that these are linked to the way people's information is recorded electronically.
NB Tameside gets its grammar wrong too:
The discount continues for as long as the qualifying criteria is met.
