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And remember to involve the Unions on any negotiations....we did and enclosed a letter in staff payslips notifying that no employee could have a debt and include on any future personnel application forms.
Doreen
Doreen Broom
Access to Information Officer
Scottish Borders Council
Tel: 01835 826516
Fax: 01835 825041
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 November 2004 10:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Council Tax Debt Recovery
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Yes, some do. They cite the "public interest" argument and they have been
advised by the ICO to include it in employee contracts. If individuals are
unaware of the process, it can still be seen as "unfair" despite the public
interest justification.
When staff are informed of the council's policy and they have any objections,
they can raise these with auditors or the manager authorising the data
matching. Problems can arise where families are splitting or where the debt arises
from one partner failing to pay and this is unknown by the person responsible
for the debt.
As the processing is unlikely to qualify for an exemption under s29, because
it is really a fishing trip, the DPA Principles must be adhered to. The
matching will only identify the debtors, not aid recovery - the council must also
have a policy on how it will recover the debt once the staff have been
identified. It would be easy to use other processes to aid the recovery process -
such as deduction from salary - but this would probably be illegal, the proper
court process should be used instead (attachment of earnings). If the contract
clause is in place, it might be seen as a disciplinary matter and the
employee's continued employment could be at risk.
Ian B
Ian Buckland
Managing Director
Keep IT Legal Ltd
Please Note: The information given above does not replace or negate the need
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further explanation of any points raised please contact Keep I.T. Legal Ltd at
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E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.keepitlegal.co.uk
--------
In a message dated 16/11/04 10:01:46 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Am interested in list views and experiences on a Local Authority wanting
> to data match it's employee payroll data against that of its Council Tax
> debtors, with the aim of recovering said debt.
>
> Do other local (billing) authorities do this?
>
> If so, under what powers / processes.
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