Timothy Pitt Payne 'The Cannock Chase Opinion'

I wondered whose side Mr Pitt Payne had been on in the disputes about Audit Commission access to the full electoral register for the purpose of, allegedly, falsely suspecting people of fraud on the basis of mistaken beliefs about UK law and how it works.  For Mr Pitt Payne has since written that the rationale was that the exercise provided prima facie evidence of fraud.  The exercise, as a subsequent legal briefing by the Audit Commission Corporate Services Legal Team, provides no evidence of fraud under either heading within the Fraud Act.   It would appear, to judge from Clive Lewis's account of Mr Pitt Payne's opinion,  that Mr Pitt Payne had not been asked for an opinion on council tax discount law or electoral law.   Rather like Clive Lewis, he appears to have taken it as read that the NFI's account of the matter would have been properly researched legally.

It turns out that Mr Pitt Payne was consulted by Cannock Chase council.    His view that the rationale was that the exercise provided prima facie evidence of fraud may have come from chats with people at Cannock or it may have arisen for other reasons, such as the use of the terribly misleading nickname to describe a discount of 'the appropriate amount'.  

However, since the Audit Commission's Legal Services Department provided the NFI with an account of how discounts work in terms of the law, the idea that this exercise provides fraud under either heading within fraud law has been utterly discredited.

This means that both the Audit Commission and Cannock wasted a lot of public money on legal opinions when both of them ought, as a matter of their general duties and professional responsibilities, to have known that the premises on which the electoral register were being sought were utterly false.

One barrister involved did appear to have some inkling of the problems, but his views were not considered, and were not even apparently put to Clive Lewis.  Perhaps this is because they were considered too risky to ask him about?

One also has to assume either that neither of these gentlemen live in a council area which provides clear information about the Section 11 25% discount via their council tax demand notices as required by law or that they simply do not read them.  For otherwise they should know how this discounts ought to be administered.

One cannot help but wonder how far the administrative practices of Cannock Chase at the present date comply with the regulations and generally with the requirements of public administration and so on.  No prizes for guessing the answer ...


http://www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=632

If you wish to apply to be disregarded*  please write to:

Local Taxation and Benefits Section
Cannock Chase District Council
PO Box 28
Civic Centre
Beecroft Road
Cannock
Staffs
WS11 1BG

* How silly is this! A disregarded person cannot 'apply' to be disregarded.  Such matters would be for the liable adult.  Some disregarded persons cannot be liable.  Moreover, being disregarded happens as a matter of law, it is not a status which has to be 'applied' for to exist; it exists as a matter of law. 


LIVING WITH SOMEONE, BUT CLAIMING SINGLE PERSON DISCOUNT?

It is perfectly legal to 'claim' a single person discount if you are 'living with someone'.

Have Your Circumstances Changed?
If you receive any form of reduction to your bill, you must tell us about any change of circumstances within 21 days. If you do not do this, the Council may impose a £70 penalty.

Here the council is attempting to scare people into providing information about third parties which they have no duty to provide under council tax law by threatening them with a penalty.  This is plain and clear maladministration.  Councils should provide clear and accurate information at all times.  If you live in Cannock Chase, complain to the council, and when if tells you the Auditors make it behave like this, as it may well do,  or misstates your obligations under Regulation 16 or any other regulation, then complain to the LGO and to your MP. 

NOT TRUE! NOT TRUE! GOTCHA! BULLYING, MISINFORMATION, MALADMINISTRATION, THREATS.

How the Council will use your information
The Council is required under section 6 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to participate in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise. Council Tax data will be provided to the Audit Commission for NFI and will be used for cross-systems and cross-authority comparison for the prevention of fraud. 

We advise Council Taxpayers that the data held  by the Council in respect of your Council Tax liability will be used for cross-system and cross-authority comparison for the  prevention of fraud.

Translation?  We are likely to falsely suspect you of fraud because we are not complying with council tax regulations and administering discounts in accordance with the law. 

The Council is also working in partnership with other Staffordshire authorities to conduct a review of 

Council Tax discounts. The Council may share the information you have provided to the Council Tax section, with private 

organisations employed to conduct data matching for the prevention and detection of fraud. 

Want to bet on whether or not the council is sharing 'codes' such as disregard and single, which have no basis in council tax  discount law, probably with Experian  (now of Dublin to avoid paying tax, apparently, formerly of Nottingham), but possibly via Northgate or Capita?  It looks like a dead cert.

Data matching helps to 

identify fraud but it may also identify claims and payments which are erroneous. Where a match is found it may indicate 

that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption is made as to whether there is fraud, 

error or another explanation until an investigation is carried out. 

What nonsense this is! Why should anybody have to carry out an investigation seeking an 'explanation' when no inconsistency has been discovered? Who has anything to 'explain'?  Except Cannock Chase which ought to explain why it is providing misinformation about council tax discount law to its citizens via its web site when providing incorrect information is maladministration.

For further information you can visit our website www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/nfi

Please let us know if you are claiming a Council Tax discount for living alone but your circumstances have changed.


BINGO!