Council defends bankruptcy of suicidal man over £2k
THE decision to bankrupt a suicidal man over a £2,000 tax bill has been defended by Torbay Council.
Papers to the full council outline the reasons for going ahead with action despite bailiff concerns about the man's mental health.
Anthony Butler, monitoring officer, reports: "To have done otherwise would not have been fair to the other residents of Torbay."
This latest report comes after an ongoing wrangle between the authority and the Local Government Ombudsman. Dr Jane Martin has concluded the council acted wrongly in this case.
Holiday Home FOR SALE in Brixham, South Devon £2500 OFF any Regal...
View detailsHoliday Home FOR SALE IN BRIXHAM WITH SEA VIEWS over looking St. Mary's Bay beach. Come and take a look today. ONE WEEK ONLY. Facilities on site. Pools, Ents, Club, Shop. Quiet park with stunning area
Terms: Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or with a P/X on park. Come and take a look today and own your own part of South Devon. For allot less than you can imagine!! Letting permitted
Contact: 01803 220485
Valid until: Sunday, May 26 2013
She is sticking by her recommendation the authority should pay £25,000 compensation to the Shiphay resident, referred to as Mr Castle.
But the council has only offered to pay £1,000, insisting it has apologised for some failings but has still acted within the law.
The matter will go before full council on Wednesday, May 16. It is unknown whether members will agree to pay the recommended amount. In the report, Mr Butler says there was no evidence the resident 'lacked capacity' as under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
He said: "It is believed the Ombudsman has failed to fully appreciate a person must be assumed to have capacity unless actually established that they lack capacity."
He says visits to the property 'raised levels of concern' but there was no evidence he lacked capacity.
The resident, who does not wish to be named, has said he indicated to a process server on one occasion that he could not afford to pay and on that basis, bankruptcy proceedings should not have been continued.
He said: "The point is the council must have known I could not afford to pay and should not have proceeded with the bankruptcy."
The original Ombudsman report upheld a complaint by the resident and found maladministration on the part of the council, resulting in injustice. The council is being recommended to note the latest Ombudsman report. They are being asked to agree chief executive Elizabeth Raikes responds to the Ombudsman in consultation with the mayor and group leaders.
Comments
by themightyflea
Thursday, May 10 2012, 8:18PM
“@Plautus
Brilliantly researched, concisely put and entirely correct.
Unfortunately, by my experience, your hope of 'wiser counsel' from Members is probably too much to ask of our representatives when it comes to dealing with incompetant officers.”
by Plautus
Thursday, May 10 2012, 7:30PM
“This is one of the very clearest cases of the incompetence of Torbay Council's Chief Executive and other senior officers. This is evident from reading the Agenda papers for the Council Meeting due to be held on 16th May.
In essence the case is simple. "Mr Castle" failed to pay his Council Tax. The Council sent a bailiff to Mr Castle's home. The bailiff reported back to the Council, in writing, "Please note the defendant is suicidal, I have raised this with Council Officer A". Not withstanding, and in clear breach of their own procedures, the Council's officers ploughed ahead with bankruptcy proceedings to recover their c£2,000 Council Tax, despite Mr Castle's manifest incapacity to deal with the matter. These procedings resulted in Mr Casle suffering, quite unnecessarily, £25,000 bankruptcy costs. This is why the Ombudsman has ordered restitution.
It is noteworthy from scrutiny of the Council Agenda papers for the 16th May meeting that Council Officers (specifically "Officer A" and "Officer B") failed to document the bankruptcy procedings review which the Council's procedures required. As the Ombudsman reports "There is no record of the discussion".
The Agenda papers also demonstrate why Torbay's Chief Executive, Elizabeth Raikes, should be excluded from any further discussion on this matter between the Council and the Ombudsman. Her letters to the Ombudsman are pettyfogging, truculent and disrespectfull. Her use of the phrase "with respect" is a particular give-away.
One can only hope that Torbay's Council members can bring wiser counsel to bear on this crass example of their Chief Executive's (and other officers') use of a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. It was quite unnecessary to spend £25,000 of Mr Castle's money to extract c£2,000 of unpaid Council Tax.
The Ombudsman's role is to cast a detatched judgement on the way the Council's officers behave. That judgement should be respected.”
by wiscot
Thursday, May 10 2012, 4:26PM
“Last December I went to a dinner in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
I sat next to a pleasant man who told me that he was a local councillor.
He said, "Where do you live?"
"Brixham," I replied.
"Oh, that's Torbay Council. They're cr*p!"”
by ineedtherapy
Thursday, May 10 2012, 12:25PM
“Elizabeth Raikes is seeking a substantial "Voluntary Redundancy" package
The council failed to collect the rent on the balloon
The council send a man who is sucidal into bankruptcy
The ombudsman finds that there was a lack of justice in the councils actions
The council claims it acted within the law...
The council are morally bankrupt and Ms Raikes seeking her pay off whilst refusing to grant the claimant what he is due is the most morally bankrupt of the whole bunch of them.
Torbay is a "Rotten Borough" in more than one sense of the term”
by Azriel22
Thursday, May 10 2012, 10:35AM
“Pathetic excuses.
And where was monitoring officer Butler as the Hi-Flyer balloon company racked up £49,000 worth of unpaid rent over three years?
All to easy to kick the little man when he's down.”
by Hocus_Pocus
Thursday, May 10 2012, 10:34AM
“The council talks about equality and fairness! Is it fair that the land that the balloon was on has not had its rent collected?”
by Azriel22
Thursday, May 10 2012, 10:29AM
“Pathetic excuses.
And where was monitoring officer Butler as the Hi-Flyer balloon company racked up £49,000 worth of unpaid rent over three years?
All to easy to kick the little man when he's down.”
by ThePFJ
Thursday, May 10 2012, 8:28AM
“Ombudsmen are middle class liberals who believe the tax payer should pay for everything. They don't consider the law, they believe they are the law. New Labour was full of them and they bankrupt the country. The council couldn't and can't even administer waste collection properly, again, to them, the tax payer is a bottomless pit to be held in contempt. It was an accident waiting to happen. Lawyers love this sort of thing, they will make loads of money, probably a lot from legal aid, again, tax payers money.”