Bailiffs were went to recover less than £6, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The Royal Borough Observer report: 

BAILIFFS were sent out by the Royal Borough to clawback a £5.63 council tax debt – a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

The request, submitted by The Observer, asked for the highest and lowest outstanding paymentsthe Royal Borough’s appointed bailiffs or debt recovery collectors were called in to enforce in the past five financial years. The lowest amount was £5.63 in 2011/12 and £31.80 in 2012/13.

A council spokesman said: “The individual case for £5.63 was sent to the bailiffs. This represented a residual balance left over from us recovering the arrears for this particular year via an Attachment of Benefits.

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I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.