Non payment of council tax

10 October 2023

Your request

I would be grateful if you would let me have the following information:

1. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents for recovery in 2021 and how much was recovered?

2. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents in 2022 and how much was recovered?

3. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents to date in 2023 and how much was recovered?

4. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2021

5. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2022

6. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2023 to date

Our response

  1. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents for recovery in 2021 and how much was recovered? – Please refer to the table below
  2. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents in 2022 and how much was recovered? – Please refer to the table below
  3. How much council tax arrears was passed to enforcement agents/internal enforcement agents to date in 2023 and how much was recovered? – Please refer to the table below
  4. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2021 – Please refer to the table below
  5. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2022 – Please refer to the table below
  6. How many charging orders against peoples homes were obtained in 2023 to date – Please refer to the table below

Fin Year

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24 (to Aug month end)

Referred to Equita, Enforcement Agents

£19,281,226.99

£19,022,022.39

£8,083,611.95

Collected by Equita, Enforcement Agents

£1,688,989.33

£2,960,448.73

£1,067,634.14

Charging orders obtained (households)

124

100

26

Lambeth Council uses Enforcement Agents (EAs) as a last resort to support people in debt to repay, after trying several different ways to engage with people in debt over a period of time. We work with people to encourage them to pay and to provide debt advice, support and discretionary payments for those who can’t pay.