Council offering help to Bedford people struggling to pay their council tax

Help is on hand from Bedford Borough Council for people having difficulty paying their council tax, a meeting heard.

The Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard on Thursday (December 9) that has various stages in place to help those who are struggling.

Jill Evans, the council’s chief officer for finance, said: “Where we are aware of this [issue] we do review people’s circumstances.

“We look at their disposable income, and we do set up suitable temporary payment arrangements.

“We also make sure that we signpost people to other agencies

“We also signpost them to any council tax support that they could be eligible for, and obviously within Bedford Borough potentially up to 100 per cent council tax support is payable.

“If people are struggling we encourage them to telephone us, ” she said.

“If we do send out a summons the whole of the debt collection team goes on to answer telephone calls so that we are available to answer when people call,” she said.

Ms Evans added that the council minimises the number of cases it sends to enforcement agents. Adding that a payment arrangement is a better option for both the resident and the council.

“All cases are reviewed before they are sent to an enforcement agent.

“They are required to follow the guidance on vulnerable cases, so they may take action, but they may take a different approach if they know that somebody is vulnerable,” she said.

Councillor Ben Foley (Green, Castle) was concerned if there was enough staff to go through all the stages “sufficiently, thoroughly, accurately and on time”.

Kevin Yerrill, senior revenue officer, said: “Throughout the whole process we will do what we can, and we do ensure that we are sufficiently resourced to cover each of the stages.”

Ms Evans said: “The whole team is aware of the delicate nature of the role that they do.

“They do take people through the stages appropriately, we don’t rush things.

“We are well aware that these are people in trouble and certainly whenever I sit by the team whenever they are answering calls they are incredibly sympathetic and deal with people in a really caring way,” she said.