An interesting article appears online here:
http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/local-headlines/private_firm_s_alarming_purge_on_council_tax_discount_claimants_1_1444636
The headline is 'Private Firm's Alarming Purge on Council Tax Discount Claimants'
Once again a council has sent out letters which have alarmed or offended residents.
The council in question is Scottish Borders. A quick check of their council tax information leaflet shows that it appears not to include the required information relating to the obligation of discount recipients and so on. But the web site does incorrectly imply that the council must be informed if another person moves into a property. This is not true.
Application forms for discounts include a 'promise'
I undertake to advise the Council of any change of circumstances which may affect eligibility for discount including the arrival of new residents and whether any existing resident moves from the property or their status as outlined above changes
It simply is not on for councils to obtain undertakings of this sort from people who have not been properly advised of the legal position and in a situation when the council has a duty to provide full and accurate information generally under public law and specific duties to provide accurate information with every demand notice. Basically it would appear that people are being 'fitted up' by being asked to sign promises at odds with the law and at odds with the information with which the council should be supplying them, and are being conned into thinking that all this is somehow 'okay'. Providing inaccurate information constitutes maladministration especially when this causes distress, which these letters clearly do.
And once again a newspaper produces a report which fails to report the facts of the matter properly.
And once again the name of Experian crops up, though less directly this time, as a firm called Northgate has set itself up as a middle man, dealing as a go between in second hand products consisting of your personal data and my personal data. Oh yes, lots of people get their cut.
Once again people in receipt of a discount are called 'claimants', muddying the waters somewhat.
Once again the exercise is misrepresented as 'targeting' people who are erroneously or fraudulently receiving a discount, implying that this is what it does. These exercises are not based on evidence that error or fraud exists. This needs to be made clear. But it never is. You begin to think that this is deliberate.
The article states that all the people whose names were supplied were receiving an SPD which is odd, since no such thing exists in law either side of the border. But it implies that if more than one person is 'linked' with the address this is an inconsistency requiring investigation. This is not true.
This is a no win no fee exercise in which Northgate allegedly receives a sum for each person whose discount is removed. It uses Experian's credit report data base, which appears to include the full electoral register.
The council says it is cheaper to treat people like this than to send out annual canvass letters to people receiving a discount. The council says it will consider whether to rephrase the letters in future. Time and time again, all over the country, letters based on Experian's product cause complaints.
I think most people would rather pay the one pound each that it would cost the council to send out forms (the money it says it saves by simply regarding them as potentially fraudulently or 'erroneously' receiving the discount that be regarded as potentially fraudulent or erroneous.
Standard council tax data systems record certain people as 'single'. This information records the basis on which it was initially assumed that there was entitlement to a discount of 25%. It does not record the basis on which the discount was deducted or an ongoing 'claim'.
Same old same old. They know very well these letters are appalling and provoke complaints, mush. They just don't bother to tell you, or if they do you act innocent. You have to wonder whether Experian and the middle men who buy and sell on this estimated residence counts and so on draft the apology letters as well as the ones which require apologies. Perhaps it is all part of the service?
If Northgate behave like Experian they will deny that they suspect anything about the people in question: they aren't fools. And the Council's contract will include all sorts of idemnity clauses so that nobody can get back at or blame Northgate. It would be the council who was responsible if defamatory statements were issued.
These people should ask for a full legal briefing and an account of precisely why it is felt appropriate to use the electoral register in this situation. Good luck to them.
