Dear Hammersmith and Fulham Council,
I am writing to you with a complaint regarding the service offered to students surrounding Council Tax and Council Tax exemption. I am making this complaint after having been notified by students, through our Student Advice Centre, of the poor service recieved. Imperial College Union represents approximately 16,000 students at Imperial College London, 3,916 of which live within the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (1), who will have interacted with this service.
It would appear that this service is contracted out to Capita plc (2). We have the following issues with this service:
- The line is automated, difficult to understand and not easily accessible for a student who does not fully understand Council Tax issues. As a result students will often choose to go down to the town hall in order to speak with someone to solve the situation
- There appears to be a culture of pursuing students, who live with non-students, for Council Tax. This contravenes the Council Tax discounts order of the 1992 ammendment.
- If a student is unaware that a court summons has been given, bailiffs are issued. The bailiff action cannot be suspended, even if the student provides a valid student exemption certificate. This is because the council says it would take ten working days to process.
I hope that changes will be made to improve the standard of the service achieved.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
David Goldsmith, President
Imperial College Union
union.president@imperial.ac.uk
(1) Information on where Imperial College students live and the local authorities which represent them: https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/your-union/your-representatives/pol...
