Council tax arrears have a financial impact on local authorities as uncollected debt could be contributing to a council’s revenue stream. Often councils have gone through a formalised process to collect council tax and have been unsuccessful with a significant level of collectable arrears outstanding.

How Capita can help

Capita have a team of revenue and business rate collection specialists who support councils to analyse their council tax collection process to recover arrears. The team is proactive in their approach to the collection of outstanding debt and their enquiries often identify potential queries and inaccuracies on the council’s database. Resolving these issues helps the authority to cleanse it’s database, thus not only collecting arrears, but also assisting in delivering improvements to the in-year collection rates through improved accuracy.

The activities undertaken in this area include:

• Issue initial letter requesting payment and financial information
• Tracing
• Referring cases to client for write off where the debtor absconded
• Confirmation of residence
• Preparation and serving of Statutory demands
• Out-of-hours outbound calling (evenings and Saturday mornings)
• Bankruptcy preparation with checks including:
  • Land registry
  • Client check on benefits and correspondence
• Client authorisation of cases for petition
• A managed Bankruptcy process through Capita’s preferred Insolvency Solicitor.