I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information:

1. Which enforcement agent or agents does your council employ for matters involving council debts?
Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments use Marston Recovery, Bristow & Sutor and Empira.
For the enforcement of warrants issued under the traffic management Act we use Marston Holdings Ltd.

2. How many court summons have your council issued in the following years: so far in 2023/24; 2022/23; 2021/22; 2020/21; 2019/ 2020; 2018/ 19?
Business Rates
2018/19: 667
2019/20: 578
2020/21: 637
2021/22: 718
2022/23: 696
2023/24: 402

Council Tax
2018/19: 6647
2019/20: 6745
2020/21: 4902
2021/22: 7482
2022/23: 5909
2023/24: 4116
The above data shows the number of summonses issued to individual Council Tax Payers. In the case of Council Tax accounts where there are multiple liable parties, the figures count summonses sent to each liable party.

Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments
Not applicable. No summonses issued.
Highways
None, we only issue warrants under the Traffic Management Act which are approved by the Traffic enforcement Centre. They are not Court Sommons

3. How many times have the council referred to enforcement agents for the purpose of debt collection for the following years: so far in 2023/24; 2022/23; 2021/22; 2020/21; 2019/ 2020; 2018/ 19?
For Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments: This information is not held by the Enforcement Agent companies. No records are kept regarding the number of visits conducted.
For Highways, we have referred warrant cases to our enforcement agents to recover the outstanding debts for the following warrants by years.
18/19: 827
19/20: 1036
20/21: 652
21/22: 809
22/23: 1176
23/24: 663

4. For those who have been visited please provide an anonymised breakdown of demographics in the categories of household income and race of occupants.
Demograhic information is not held on our records. This information is not requested as part of the administration of debt collection records on Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments.
For Highways, we do not hold this information as we do not profile customers.

5. Has the council carried out any quality impact assessments on debt collection services? If so, would I be able to request access to this document?
No specific quality impact assessment has been carried out on debt collection services on Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments. Service delivery and performance are regularly monitored and reviewed to maintain and improve services to residents.
For highways, no, our recovery service identifies and provides early engagement with clients who have vulnerability factors and a welfare support team to assist and operate referral schemes with local and national debt advice organisations to ensure customers are fast tracked for appropriate support where necessary.

6. How many complaints have been made to your council due to actions taken by enforcement agents in the following years: so far in 2023/24; 2022/23; 2021/22; 2020/21; 2019/ 2020; 2018/ 19?
Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debts and Housing Benefit Overpayments:
2018/19: 1
2019/20: 2
2020/21: 1
2021/22: 4
2022/23: 7
2023/24: 5

For Highways, our enforcement agents have their own dedicated complaints process which deals with all complaints received about the service they provide. The number of complaints received are shown below.
2018: 1
2019: 2
2020: 1
2021: 4
2022: 4
2023 - To date: 3