NEW figures reveal that Oldham Council called in bailiffs on more than 21,000 occasions last year - an average of around 57 times a day - to collect debts.
Research published this week by the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline, shows the number of times the council instructed bailiffs to retrieve money owed by individuals and businesses in 2016/17 was 21,105 in total, up by a massive 777 per cent on 2014/15.
However, Cllr Abdul Jabbar, cabinet member for finance explained: “These figures appear to show a huge upward trend in the number of times that bailiffs were instructed to collect debts from individuals and businesses, but that is misleading.
“There was a change in legislation in 2014 around how the council could recover council tax, business rates and parking debts.
“We had to focus on this and ensure we complied with legislation and this meant that a large number of cases could not be processed immediately which initially resulted with a backlog, but we were able to work through these cases within a short space of time.”
The figures put the local authority in a similar bracket to cities such as Bradford, Brighton and Bristol in terms of the numbers of debt collection referral and it had the fourth biggest percentage increase in England and Wales. A breakdown of the charity’s “Stop The Knock 2017” report - based on Freedom of Information requests - found that 17,211 of the debt referrals were for council tax arrears, 3,139 were for parking notices and 755 were for unpaid business rates.
Oldham Council’s use of enforcement agents - who have the right to visit a property to remove and sell goods to repay certain debts - was considerable compared to neighbouring authorities.
Tameside Council brought in the bailiffs on 12,462 occasions, Rochdale - 8,924 and Bury - 5,329.
The research showed Oldham Council does signpost residents in financial difficulty to free debt advice - including to AdviceUK, National Debtline, Money Advice Service, Gov.uk, Citizens Advice - and does have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances.
Unlike some authorities however, they don’t have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support from bailiff action.
According to the report the use of bailiffs to collect debts owed to local authorities in England and Wales has jumped by 14 per cent in two years and more than 2.3 million debts were passed to bailiffs by local authorities in 2016/17
Councils increased their use of bailiffs by 14 per cent overall between 2014/15 and 2016/17, despite government guidance stating that bailiff action should only ever be used as a last resort.
However, the Money Advice Trust says that an increasing number of councils are working hard to improve their debt collection practices – and that four in 10 actually reduced their reliance on bailiffs in that time.
The Trust is calling for all local authorities should take to improve the way they collect debts, and is writing to the Minister for Local Government, Marcus Jones MP, to ask for his support in encouraging councils to improve.
Joanna Elson OBE, chief executive of the Trust said: “The growing use of bailiffs to collect debts by many local authorities is deeply troubling. Councils are under enormous financial pressure, and they of course need to recover what they are owed in order to fund vital services.
“However, many councils are far too quick to turn to bailiff action – which we know can seriously harm the wellbeing of residents who are often already in vulnerable situations. It can also push people even further into debt.
“Bailiff action should only ever be used as a last resort, and can be avoided by early intervention, making sure residents get the free debt advice they need, and agreeing repayment arrangements that are affordable and sustainable.
“The good news is that many councils are working hard to improve – and indeed, nearly four in 10 are actually using bailiffs less than they were two years ago. They should be congratulated for showing that this can be done.”
National Debtline offers free debt advice at www.nationaldebtline.org.
