Financial enforcement

There are four main sources of income for a local authority:

1. •

   funding from central government grants

2. •

   council tax—for further reading, see Practice Note: Council tax

3. •

   retained business rates (national non-domestic rates (NNDR))—for further reading, see Practice Note: National non-domestic rates—billing recovery, exemptions and reliefs

4. •

   reserves, fees and charges for services provided

The mechanism for recovery of revenue depends upon how the liability arises. It can be either statutory or contractual:

1. •

   statutory debt arises from specific revenue raising powers granted to all local authorities such as council tax or NNDR

2. •

   contractual debts arising either from the local authorities commercial or residential activities such as rent arrears and service charge arrears for both residential and commercial properties and those arising from charges agreed by the council locally such as library fines, venue hire and registrar fees

This subtopic covers local authority debt and revenue recovery by local authority enforcement departments. It discusses the revenue recovery remedies available to a local authority. It explains the remedies in relation to general or sundry debts as well as specific enforcement procedures unique to a local authority