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Investigating the authorities
- Author:
- SHRUBB Richard
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, July 2010, pp.16-18.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
Over the last 4 years the Local Government Ombudsman has heard 5 cases of mentally ill people wrongly made bankrupt for not paying their council tax. All these bankruptcies were down to poor interdepartmental communication. While a social service department or housing officials knew that the person was vulnerable, another council official was taking them to court for non-payment. This article discusses the issue of poor communication between the social care and local taxation department, and considers ways to improve this communication. The article also discusses the severe mental health impairment exemption from council tax, arguing that the current definition of ‘a severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning’ is too stringent and needs to be redefined.