Datatank are authorised and contracted by UK Council’s to administer statutory Council Tax Penalties under Schedule 3 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Civil penalties are issued when a false tax claim is detected, or if a resident fails to respond to the Council within 28 days of a discount or exemption review taking place. Penalty payments show as Datatank Ltd on bank statements. If you have received a civil penalty notice, it is important this is paid by the date shown on the letter.
Fully managed
Penalty Administration
Single Person Discount fraud is typically low value, this unfortunately means Revenues Managers often don’t go to the effort of applying penalties, in the hope that collection rates are not negatively impacted. Following our SMART Referral fraud analysis, whereby we challenge fraudulent SPD claims, Datatank can then administer a penalty charge notice on the Council’s behalf, to confirmed fraud cases, and if required, review non-responders.
This penalty is kept separate from Council Tax bills, whereby the collection is managed by us and doesn’t impact Council collection rates.
- Prevent Single Person Discount fraud reoccurrence and give the Council a true deterrent
- No impact to Council collection rates
- Apply statutory penalties of £50, £70 or £280
- Click-to-Pay secure web payment platform
- Fully digital solution hosted by Datatank following SMART Referral analysis
- Evidence bundling for Valuation Tribunal
- Service is funded by fraudulent claimants' penalties
Typically, around 92% of Single Person Discount responses are digital.
Using the latest technologies, our eForms are designed to enable responsive, mobile-device communication between Councils & residents. Highly secure and accessible, our whole service is seamless from the initial letter response, through to administration of a penalty where fraud is proven.
When a resident admits a second occupant in their property following our SMART Referral intervention they are directed to a secure Penalty Administration webpage, which notifies them about the imposition of a civil penalty, issued under Schedule 3 of the Local Government Act 1992.
This is viewable on their mobile device, and a physical letter is generated, that is downloadable.
Penalty eForm page
Civil Penalty Notice example
The penalty charge notice is downloadable as a PDF from the eForm page.
An SMS is also sent to the resident with a secure link to access the penalty notice at a point in time in the future.
After proceeding onwards from the SMART Referral form by confirming a fraudulent claim, residents are taken to a secure payment gateway, hosted by Stripe, a PCI GOV approved payment gateway. This payment gateway is configured to automatically reconcile payments received (or not) to our eForm system and Profiler, allowing for automatic and escalated chasing of non-payment.
Datatank fully manage the process of collecting penalties, issuing reminders, and chasing for non-payment.
A series of reminder are issued to the resident where payments are not made but nearing the due date.
Secure payment gateways must be configured individually for each client in order that reconciliation takes place, Datatank meet the costs associated with setup of secure gateway and API to Profiler to allow for reconciliation to take place. Our service fees for the administration will be taken from collected penalties at a rate of 25%. This higher rate covers the increased costs of payment handling.
Datatank Ltd are authorised officers on behalf of Council's and Datatank Ltd will show on your bank statement when paying a penalty.
Residents have the right to appeal, which is detail on the reverse of the civil penalty notice letter. A defined web link is provided on the penalty notice allowing resident to submit an appeal should they wish to.
In our experience, residents who have admitted fraud will not submit an appeal against the penalty, however the service is there should people wish to exercise their right. Also, penalties can be applied to other resident type if required, i.e.:
- those who do not respond to the SPD review
- those who do not respond to the SMART Referral communications
Penalty Appeal eForm page
Appeals are submitted into the Profiler system, whereby either the Council can review them, or Datatank will review and respond to them on your behalf.
Responses are managed within 14 days and returned to the resident.
Should a resident not be satisfied with the appeal response and eventually submit an appeal to the Valuation Appeals Committee, Datatank can support the Council with a bundle of evidence to support the defence.
Datatank are authorised and contracted by UK Council’s to administer statutory Council Tax Penalties under Schedule 3 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Civil penalties are issued when a false tax claim is detected, or if a resident fails to respond to the Council within 28 days of a discount or exemption review taking place. Penalty payments show as Datatank Ltd on bank statements. If you have received a civil penalty notice, it is important this is paid by the date shown on the letter.
