Council pays for its accounting error

Council tax and business rate payments taken early caused several residents to be charged by banks

FOLLOWING an accounting error which saw 33,000 council tax and business rate payments taken early, West Berkshire Council has begun to pay the banking charges of those punished by the error.

The recent unexpected withdrawal on the last day of June, instead of July 1, sent some residents overdrawn and the council was forced to admit it had made an administration error before directing people back to their banks, saying they would be protected against charges under the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme.

However, several residents contacted Newburytoday.co.uk to say that their banks had dismissed the claim and refused to refund charges levied, and they were unsure of what to do next.

One resident, Fred Martin, said he had been charged £22 by Barclays.

“Although the payment for my council tax was taken a day earlier than it should have been, it was nevertheless a valid payment for which I would have been ultimately liable,” he said.

“Barclays are unable to put my account into a kind of time machine which would re-set the balance and in their view it was very much down to West Berkshire Council to make good any of my costs as they have openly admitted it was a mistake of their causing.

“I cannot be the only taxpayer who is facing the problem of having to pay for the mistakes of my local council which I am beginning to wonder if they are ‘fit for purpose'.”

Charlotte Smith, of Kintbury, also said the advice given by West Berkshire Council, which was subsequently published by in this website's sister newspaper the Newbury Weekly News, was incorrect: “My bank were very concerned that it was printed in your newspaper giving incorrect advice and are sending me a letter on their headed paper to confirm that they will not give me the money back as they are not at fault and it is not covered by the direct debit guarantee scheme.

“In fact I Googled “direct debit guarantee scheme”... and it's pretty clear reading so I'm shocked that the council were unable to understand it.”

A spokesman for the council Phil Spray said it had begun the process of reimbursing residents for the charges incurred, that five people had come forward so far, and it was happy to help in other instances.

“Once the charges have been settled we expect the total we will have paid to come to no more than approximately £80,” he said.

“We have already apologised for any inconvenience. Where residents have been charged they would always need to contact their bank in the first instance as it is the bank who has levied the charge and security quite rightly prohibits them from discussing account details with anyone else.

“We have looked at our procedures, identified the cause of the error, and are satisfied all reasonable measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again.”

If you have been affected and unable to reclaim your money, contact Mark Taylor on (01635) 564532 or email mark.taylor@newburynews.co.uk