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A Labour-run council borough is to become the country’s first local ­authority to stop using ­bailiffs to collect council tax arrears.

In a move it describes as a “game-changer”, I’ve been told that it is time to stop the “medieval ­practice”.

The use of bailiffs is seen as at odds with “the whole point of councils, which is to help people”.

Instead, Hammersmith and Fulham council in West London will work with residents facing cash problems to find realistic payment solutions.

The council hopes this will also see more cash collected, because it argues that bailiffs have a high failure rate.

Last year it instructed ­bailiffs to collect council tax debts on 3,682 occasions, but just £848,000 was recovered out of the total outstanding amount of more than £3million.

The use of bailiffs can also have unintended financial consequences, according to Max Schmid, the ­council’s cabinet member for finance.

“If a bailiff pressures someone into paying their council tax arrears at the expense of rent, they are more likely to be evicted and end up in temporary accommodation,” he said.

“This can have severe emotional costs for the evicted family and huge financial costs for the council and other parts of the public sector.

“So instead of bailiffs, we will be using our own ethical debt collection approach.

"In simple terms, it means never asking anyone to pay more than they can afford, treating people with courtesy and respect, and carrying out proper income and expenditure assessments to agree what can be paid and over what period.”

(Image: Philip Coburn/Daily Mirror)

Anyone deliberately avoiding paying will be hit with “more ­effective, and more ethical, legal means”, such as attachment of earnings orders and charges on property.

The council will continue to use bailiffs to collect other debts such as unpaid parking fines.

Nationwide, the use of bailiffs by councils has been increasing, a trend which Money Advice Trust has described as “deeply troubling”.

Last week the charity, which runs National Debtline , published a report into council debt collection tactics called Stop The Knock.

Chief executive Joanna Elson OBE said: “Councils are under enormous financial pressure, and they of course need to recover what they are owed in order to fund vital services.

“However, many councils are far too quick to turn to bailiff action – which we know can seriously harm the wellbeing of residents who are often already in vulnerable situations. It can also push people even further into debt.”

She said that she was “delighted” by the change of policy at Hammersmith and Fulham.

"Our research shows that while the overall use of bailiffs by local authorities is increasing across England and Wales, there are councils working extremely hard to improve their debt collection practices.

"Hammersmith and Fulham are leading the way in showing that this can be done – and we look forward to working with the council and many other local authorities to support them in addressing this challenge.”

Research by Citizens Advice last year found that people with council tax arrears had average household incomes of less than half the average monthly UK figure.

It added that its advisers “often struggle to set affordable payments with poorly instructed and supervised enforcement agents, and often see ­problems with ­aggressive and unfair behaviours by private enforcement agents working for local authorities”.