Leicester residents most likely to have bailiffs called on them of all city dwellers outside London
Leicester residents are most likely to have bailiffs called on them outside of people living in London. There were 34,967 bailiff referrals for unpaid debts in Leicester between the start of April 2022 and end of March 2023 - a rate of 274 referrals for every 1,000 households, according to the Money Advice Trust and the Reach Data Unit.
Only London boroughs had a higher rate, with the highest being Westminster at 775.6 referrals for every 1,000 households. Slough came in just behind Leicester with 259 per 1,000 households, followed by Colchester with 245 per 1,000. Figures across the rest of Leicestershire were much lower, with the three highest being Oadby and Wigston borough with 89.5 referrals per 1,000 households, Blaby district with 38 per 1,000 and Charnwood, with 32.7 for every 1,000 households.
Leicester City Council told LeicestershireLive calling in the bailiffs was "always a last resort". It added the majority of these cases were for parking and traffic offences. Data shows 15,463 of the referrals were for council tax arrears.
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A spokeswoman for the local authority added there were many ways in which its officers offer support to their most vulnerable residents, adding it would always advise people to talk to them as soon as possible if they are having problems paying their council tax bill. Bailiff referrals for parking and traffic reasons "can be avoided by not committing these offences in the first place", the spokeswoman added.
Leicester again came out top for the most council tax arrears referrals, compared to the rest of the county. Charnwood had the next most with 3,161, Oadby and Wigston had 1,874, North West Leicestershire saw 1,726, Hinckley and Bosworth and Blaby jointly followed with 1,541, Harborough had 812, and Melton had the least at 362. Outside of London, with Westminster being the highest with 73,540 referrals, Liverpool made the most bailiff referrals for council tax arrears (27,435), while Manchester made the most bailiff referrals overall (43,209).
You can discover how often your local council referred bailiffs using our interactive map below.
Martin Lewis’s charity Money Saving Expert (MSE) has slammed councils for their "grotesque" handling of people with council tax debt. The charity particularly took issue with the use of bailiffs by councils when collecting council tax arrears. It pointed out that if an individual misses just one council tax payment, they could receive a notice within three weeks requiring them to pay their annual council tax bill upfront within seven days.
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has also criticised council tax debt collection practices for being "so aggressive", likening them to a "caricature of the worst loan sharks". The total council tax debt across the country currently stands at £6 billion, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said.
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