Government minister criticises Coventry City Council over its hired bailiffs

[seanamarts]

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2012/11/13/government-minister-criticises-coventry-city-council-over-its-hired-bailiffs-after-telegraph-probe-92746-32219560/

 

 

same old same old.. too much talking not enough action.

[brassnecked]

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2012/11/13/government-minister-criticises-coventry-city-council-over-its-hired-bailiffs-after-telegraph-probe-92746-32219560/

 

 

same old same old.. too much talking not enough action.

 

Exactly, what is all too sad and disquieting is the apparent removal of adherence to the safeguards for vulnerable debtors, when Equita and Newlyn were appointed.

 

quoted from the article:

 

"We revealed council revenues officer xxxx in a recorded phone call, had claimed a previously agreed council “policy” to protect vulnerable people from inappropriate bailiff debt recovery was dropped when the two firms were appointed.

 

So apparently the council needed to remove the safeguards before capquita and newlyn would play



A council statement to us also acknowledged that document was no longer in use. How are the vulnerable debtors of Coventry protected from the sharks the council has introduced into the pool then?

We uncovered evidence that Newlyn Plc this year appeared to breach government vulnerable persons’ guidelines in the way it handled Coventry cases, which included a suicidal mother, a disabled woman and a cancer sufferer What was done to address this? probably diddley squat.

 

Equally despicable was bullying of debtors in a payment arrangement that was being maintained



Yet Newlyn plc demanded they settle debts in full, threatened to add more bailiffs’ fees, and enter their homes while they were out to seize possessions. One woman received ten threatening letters in two days."

 

Sadly seanamarts you are right; the government will sweep this under the carpet as they want the money and don't care how it is extracted from the taxpayer. Outlawla's ongoing saga with NELC and Rossers is proof of this.

[tomtubby]

In fact this particular complaint has been heavily featured in trade magazines as well. Will it change the industry? NO !!

 

A lot of blame must be given to the local authorities as they should ensure that their contracts clearly outline the fees that can be charged etc and most importantly the procedure that MUST be following regarding vulnerability.

 

As far as I am concerned, so many local authorities simply take the view that bailiffs are a free debt collection authority and they let them do exactly as they want.

[seanamarts]

While Cameron is on the seat, I cant see things changing much, if at all.

 

With the economy as it is at the moment I can see Bailiffs are going to try every trick in the book just to get paid and the debtors doing what they can to keep them from getting their money.

 

Will things get uglier? I hope so, something has to tip the scales so something will have to be done.

[unclebulgaria67]

It would not surprise me if Chief Executives of councils had been given the green light by government, to let bailff companies apply more pressure to collect on debts, given the current state of finances. It could be the case that council tax rates will have been frozen for the whole term of this current government. It is not just Coventry where this is happening, so there must have been some form of instruction given by someone. Perhaps the minister has not been totally candid in their response.

[tomtubby]

With companies such as Starbucks and Amazon paying almsot nothing in taxes to the UK and with bank bouses down by 50% the government are almost certainly looking at any ways in which to increase revenue.

 

Council tax is suppoed to be frozen and yet...these same councils are instead issuing more Liability Orders and in doing so, are able to benefit from the additional summons costs etc that typically adds a further £100 to the account.

 

A cynical way of ensuring that additional revenue is generated !!!

[outlawla]

It's unusual for a local rag like the Coventry Telegraph to publish this kind of article. I suspect local authorities usually have too tight a control over them, for example advertising revenue which they heavily rely on. I've noticed, particularly where Northcliffe Media is the parent company, these newspapers would have nothing to do with an article so critical of the council. Even contributor's comments are removed it's that heavily censored.

 

I don't know if this covers all the Coventry Telegraph's recent articles on this subject, but I know there have been many:

 

Suicidal mum chased by coventry council bailiffs

Coventry City Council facing calls for independent review of contracts with bailiff firms

Coventry Council's bailiffs charging for wrong cars

Coventry Telegraph report on Council Tax bailiffs to be raised in Parliament

Coventry Council agrees to review its bailiffs practices as Telegraph investigation findings go to government

Suicidal mums case shows why C.....

It's all gone silent at coventry....

Council must act swiftly to protect....

 

 

Coventry's MP Jim Cunningham's Parliamentary Questions:

 

22nd October 2012

29th October 2012

Edited November 19, 2012 by outlawla

[brassnecked]

Response to the MP's Question It's no surprise and not good enough

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-10-22d.124062.h

[outlawla]

Response to the MP's Question It's no surprise and not good enough

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-10-22d.124062.h

 

For anyone following Coventry MP Jim Cunningham's Parliamentary Questions and consequent fob-offs, here's another:

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-11-19a.129003.h

 

EDIT:

 

Where the hell did they get their information for this story?

 

The Argus: Councils send bailiffs in every 15 minutes

 

“It’s going to get much, much worse come April.

 

“In many cases it’s uneconomical for the council because if it sends bailiffs in to people who can’t pay, then it’s the council that have to pay and bailiffs don’t come cheap.”

Edited November 23, 2012 by outlawla

[ploddertom]

I think you have to bear in my mind that most of all this is because the process is automated and sees very little of human intervention until it is too late. By that time of course the Council trot out the all the excuses we see here.