The cost of Liverpool Council’s council tax letter blunder that led to a formal investigation has been revealed.
In June this year, the local authority incorrectly sent out 10,000 letters to homes across the city regarding how to claim the £150 council tax rebate. It was then forced to apologise and issue new letters after the originals contained incorrect data, thought to be names of householders.
The cost of doing so has now been uncovered through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the ECHO. According to figures held by the council, £10,731 was spent producing the original 10,000 letters plus an additional 9,873 new ones providing “corrected information on how the resident could apply for their Energy Rebate.”
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The FOI confirmed the initial letters were sent out on June 27 and 28 at a cost of £5,400 for production and despatch. The new letters cost £5,331.42 to send out.
A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed to the ECHO it had received a referral from the local authority following the mix up as Liverpool Council sought to investigate the matter “in accordance with our data breach protocols”. The ICO spokesperson said it closed the case with no further action to be taken.
Liverpool Council came under fire for its handling of the energy rebate since its announcement in February. When the £150 scheme was confirmed by the authority cabinet to begin in April, it was expected that payments would be made by the start of that month and into May to the near quarter of a million homes.
Yet some residents across the city had to wait for the financial support for their energy bills. The £150 rebate is part of a £32m scheme confirmed by the Government in a bid to ease pressure on household living costs.
The council said residents who pay by direct debit would receive their rebate first as their bank details are already on its system. It is expected a large chunk of the money given to the council will be returned to Whitehall as it is likely the scheme will come in under budget.
Cllr Andrew Makinson, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said a “thorough review” was needed to avoid a repeat of the mistake. He said: “People in Liverpool are becoming used to almost weekly cock-ups by this Labour council.
“We are very fortunate that the Information Commissioners decided not to fine them for this data breach this time. Next time they won’t be so lucky.
“There needs to be a thorough review of procedures to make sure that this sort of basic mistake doesn’t happen again.” At the start of the scheme, it was identified that there were around 113,000 households that paid council tax other than by direct debit, including 775 council employees who paid via their salary.
Around 120,000 paid via direct debit and were first to receive the support.
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