Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey named by Standard as one of "five worst boroughs for tax collection"
Town halls across London have failed to collect £526 million of council tax due to "breathtaking incompetence", the Evening Standard reveals today.
The lost money is equivalent to the cost of the 2012 Olympic Stadium or the amount in planned cuts in council services. It could pay for 1,000 libraries or more than 16,000 police officers.
The Standard's investigation shows Londoners failed to pay £117 million last year alone.
The five worst local authorities account for nearly 30 per cent of the total bill, which has built up since council tax was introduced in 1993.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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it's also a very transient borough.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Someone I know did not get a council tax bill for eight years. It finally arrived asking for £10000. Just a bill, just like that, no explanation. Still sorting it out, and gradually paying it off. So if that happened once - an address that mysteriously slipped off the list - who else is not getting bills? What checks are in place that match addresses to properties? And all those HMOs, does the scum landlord pay the single house rate, or does each 'dwelling' pay its own?
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If anyone knows where LBH may find MR E ZEKAJ and MR J GOSHI, can you pass it on so they can ask for their £806 and stop sending me reminders, ten years later please.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Just as well there's no problem paying wages. I see the new director of Place and Sustainability has been appointed (starting next month) on what is believed to be a salary of £140,000 with benefits including pension on top, taking the total bill to circa £165,000. Here is the job description and an excerpt here:
We are ambitious to reduce inequalities in Haringey. As our advert stated, we are a borough of contrasts. We have some of the richest and poorest areas in London within our boundaries. There remains a disparity between the most fundamental of life chances between the communities that live in Haringey. Simply by taking a bus across the borough it is possible to meet people with significantly different life expectancies. We therefore aim to sustain and improve the life chances of our residents, especially those who are most vulnerable, and develop a borough which is a good place to be born, learn, work, have fun and grow old.
The Director of Place & Sustainability will play a central part in the delivery of our aim. Much of people’s wellbeing derives from their physical environment, be it housing choices, healthy lifestyles, or access to essential services.
At last this meets the public demand. I cannot recall how long that ordinary folk have been desperately crying out for a Director of Place and Sustainability.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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Totally agree, Clive.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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A salary of £140,000 - that's going a long way towards reducing inequality!!
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The new Director of Place and Sustainability is some way from being alone in this kind of salary bracket. I suspect this level of remuneration is corrosive and corrupting. Does anyone remember the days when there was a little humility? When the CEO was called the Town Clerk?
Today, that's nowhere near good enough! I believe the pompous job titles and the fabulous salaries give these employees an unjustified sense of power and independence. They are less serving the public – and manifestly serving themselves.
Like charity, reducing inequality starts at home.
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Being poor is not an excuse - those on benefits and low incomes get help--sometimes upto 100%. Our on-line councillor is being uncharacteristically quiet on this particular thread. Wonder why.... ?
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I do not believe this appointment will make the slightest difference to improving people's well being or reducing inequalities.
But an argument could be made that, by the employment of an individual with remuneration so far in excess of the average income, that in a small way, this hire is contributing to inequality by preventing this money from being spent in useful ways that might directly affect inequalities, rather than the CEO's load of waffle on the website.
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