Soaring council tax under Labour leads to bailiffs and court actions in West Worcestershire. Harriett Baldwin, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire expressed her concern this week at new figures which have revealed the soaring use of court orders and bailiffs to collect council tax. Council tax bills have more than doubled across the country under Labour. Locally, bailiffs are also charging an additional fee if overdue council tax is paid by credit card.

• New statistics show that 1.4 million households had bailiffs knocking at their door for unpaid council tax last year – up nearly 70 per cent since 1997. Another 1,517 people were made bankrupt by the courts for their council tax debts.
• Whitehall guidance issued by John Prescott in 2004 encourages the use of bailiffs by town halls. It even recommends that in-house town hall bailiffs remove the official council branding from their bailiff demands.
• New official figures also reveal that that a record 3.1 million households are now in severe council tax difficulties and face liability orders for unpaid council tax. Liability orders allow councils to seize money from wage packets/benefits or commence bailiff proceedings.
• In West Worcestershire, the Council Tax collections are made by the joint Revenue and Benefits department in Wychavon. Following an intervention by Harriett Baldwin, the bailiff firm of Bristow and Suter has agreed to cut its surcharges for credit card payments from 4% to 2.5%. This is particularly important, given that the bailiffs refuse to accept cheques when they call.
• Conservatives have pledged to work with councils to freeze council tax bills in England and provide additional central funding to keep bills down for the next two years. Scotland has already benefited from a council tax freeze, making bills almost £300 a year less on a comparable home north of the border. Labour Ministers have ruled out introducing such a policy in England.

Harriett Baldwin said: “Thanks to Gordon Brown doubling council tax bills, a record number of families in West Worcestershire and across the country are struggling to make ends meet. More people now face the threat of menacing bailiffs knocking at their door. This is a crisis of Labour’s own making. “The fact that Labour Ministers have blocked a council tax freeze for England shows how out of touch Gordon Brown is with the plight of hard-working families and pensioners. Only a Conservative Government will work with local councils to help fund a council tax freeze and bring real help to low and middle income families.”