Yahoo News Map shows which councils use bailiffs for debts including council tax arrears
Liverpool made the most bailiff referrals for council tax arrears outside of London, according to new data. The Reach data unit found the number of people referred to debt collection agencies varied significantly by council.
This was according to the most recent data for the year to April 2023. Figures found that Liverpool made 27,435 bailiff referrals for council tax arrears, which was the most outside of London.
It comes after Martin Lewis’s charity slammed councils for their "grotesque" handling of people with council tax debt. The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute criticised council tax debt collection practices for being "so aggressive", likening them to a "caricature of the worst loan sharks".
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The charity, set up by Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder Martin, 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.
For the average UK household, this could mean a missed £140 payment results in a £1,668 bill just three weeks later. According to Martin's charity, many councils resort to debt collectors and bailiffs to recover this money.
You can discover how often your local council referred bailiffs between 2022 and 2023 using our interactive map below:
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) reports that total council tax debt currently stands at £6bn. Research by the Money Advice Trust shows that around 1.3mn households in England and Wales were visited by a debt collector last year, reports the Mirror.
According to the most recent data for the year to April 2023, the London Borough of Croydon topped the list, sending bailiffs to 36,122 customers with council tax arrears, followed by Barnet with 34,956 referrals, and Lambeth with 29,629.
In total, Croydon made a staggering 86,295 bailiff referrals throughout the year, the highest of any council. But when compared to the number of households in each area, people living in Waltham Forest were more likely to receive a knock from the bailiffs.
For every 1,000 households in Waltham Forest, there were the equivalent of 815 bailiff referrals. That’s followed by Westminster (776 per 1,000 households), Croydon (564) and Haringey (508). Outside of London, Liverpool made the most bailiff referrals for council tax arrears (27,435) while Manchester made the most bailiff referrals overall (43,209).
But bailiff referrals were most likely in Leicester where there was a rate of 274 per 1,000 households, followed by Slough (259), and Colchester (245).
