Response 4087208

Response to request for information

Reference

4087208

Response date

3 September 2026

Request

Please provide the following anonymised, statistical information regarding your Council Tax and Business Rates enforcement procedures:

1. The total number of Magistrates' Court liability orders obtained by the Council between April 2025 and April 2026.
2. The total number of liability orders that were subsequently cancelled, quashed, or issued with a rectification notice during that same period due to data errors, outdated addresses, or administrative mistakes.
3. A copy of the Council’s internal policy, staff training guide, or standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding the manual verification checks required before data is exported to the Magistrates' Court for bulk summons generation.

Response

1. The total number of Magistrates' Court liability orders obtained by the Council between April 2025 and April 2026.
   • Council Tax - 2,341
   • Business Rates - 260
2. The total number of liability orders that were subsequently cancelled, quashed, or issued with a rectification notice during that same period due to data errors, outdated addresses, or administrative mistakes.
   • The requested information is not held for either Council Tax or Business Rates. Liability orders may be withdrawn for a variety of reasons. Examples include where the liability has been adjusted or nullified following the receipt of further information after the liability order has been obtained, an exemption has been granted, there has been a change in Council Tax Reduction, or payment has been received but could not be allocated because no reference, or an incorrect reference, was quoted.

     The reason for withdrawal is not recorded on the Council’s systems and therefore the Council is unable to confirm how many liability orders were withdrawn due to any particular reason, including data errors, outdated addresses, or administrative mistakes.

3. A copy of the Council’s internal policy, staff training guide, or standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding the manual verification checks required before data is exported to the Magistrates' Court for bulk summons generation.
   • The Council does not hold a specific internal policy, staff training guide, or standard operating procedure relating to manual verification checks before data relating to bulk summonses is generated and details are sent to the Magistrates’ Court for authorisation.

     However, the Council does have a Council Tax Recovery and Enforcement Policy and Non-Domestic Rates Recovery and Enforcement Policy, which can be found on our website:

     Unpaid Council Tax - Rushcliffe Borough Council
     Unpaid Business Rates - Rushcliffe Borough Council

     In addition, the following operational checks are undertaken:

     Council Tax accounts:

   • Accounts with recovery holds applied are excluded from the summons creation process.

   • Accounts for which correspondence has been received and remains outstanding (unworked) on the Council’s document management system are excluded from the summons creation process.

     Business Rates accounts:

   • A review of accounts is undertaken to identify any account circumstances or recent activity that should be considered before a summons is issued. Following this review, a decision is made as to whether the account should proceed to summons.

   • Accounts with recovery holds applied are excluded from the summons creation process.