Debt Talk: Prison & Council Tax (podcast)

Imprisonment is an option for many councils to enforce as a last resort if residents are wilfully refusing or are culpably neglectful to pay council tax in England. This month on the Debt Talk podcast Ripon Ray explored the ‘Prison & Council Tax’.

He invited Chris Daw QC and Russell Hamblin-Boone to find out whether it is fair and cost-effective to prison communities for non-payment of council tax.

Chris Daw KC, a criminal law expert, explained the history of debtors' prisons in the UK and how they were used against impoverished communities. He emphasised how Margaret Thatcher’s government introduced imprisonment as an option based on politically driven ideology and how this policy could be changed by removing imprisonment from the council tax legislation. He highlights how costly it is to put someone in prison.

Russell Hamblin-Boone outlined the changes in the enforcement industry and how it has adapted to meet the council's needs and identify financial and other vulnerabilities. He emphasised the importance of partnering with private enforcement agent companies as an alternative to imprisonment.

My panellists have also provided top tips to Debt Talk listeners on how to move forward on a national issue and on the issue of private enforcement agents.

The Debt Talk podcast is on the: ‘Insecurities of being Self-Employed’

Comments

A debt free path for a mental health sufferer

It’s a well-known fact that individuals who suffer from a hampered mental capacity - be it mental health or learning difficulties - are most likely to be vulnerable in our communities. They are also more likely to be victims of miss-sold products and services by companies, even though organisations that are providing financial products and services have a duty under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to take extra care towards these individuals. This is what the FCA has to say about vulnerable customers: ‘ The vulnerability of the customer, in particular where the firm understands the customer has some form of mental capacity limitation or reasonably suspects this to be so because the customer displays indications of some form of mental capacity limitation (see ■ CONC 2.10) But due to a culture of intensive selling to consumers, generated by employers placing and enforcing - often difficult and unrealistic - performance goals wh...

Betar Bangla radio’s Ripon Ray: How fashionista turned political activist and debt advisor

PUBLISHED: 09:02 13 March 2019 | UPDATED: 09:03 13 March 2019 Emma Bartholomew Ripon Ray: Picture: Rukya Khan Debt advisor and radio talk show host Ripon Ray tells Emma Bartholomew how he’s seeing more and more people who are unable to just pay the basic bills Ripon Ray: Picture: Nick De Marco Self-confessed “arty-farty creative” Ripon Ray originally set out to be a fashionista in life, when he “found his calling” and changed track to become an activist. He’d been studying at the London School of Fashion, but going on an anti-fascist protest “triggered a couple of things”. “I dumped my studies and went to Kingsley College where I was doing full-on activism, and organising protest marches,” he told the Gazette . “I loved it but I got kicked out of there because I was too much of an activist and I wasn’t focusing on my studies.” He knuckled under, bagged a history degree and started out in the charity sector as a housing advi...

Shame no more to talk about domestic abuse and money trouble!

Silence can be a deadly killer for women of domestic abuse and instead of just hindering their recovery it could lead to their fatality. According to the Office of National Statistics (2015), two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner in a relationship. The definition of domestic abuse has been expanded in recent times by legislation: an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence. Julia Oviedo, a victim and survivor of domestic abuse, shared her personal experience on ‘In Conversation with Ripon Ray…the Community Money Matters Show’ on Betar Bangla Radio. It may seem just another story to many listeners but for an individual to talk about such a personal experience requires bravery, confidence and the will to encourage other victims to come forward and share their experiences. In her case, it was physic...

Your Doctor Debt: Ripon Ray

Search This Blog