Inquiry after 32,000 direct debits taken early
LDRSAn investigation has been launched following a "system error" which saw a Tyneside council take tens of thousands of direct debit payments early.
"Due to a system error, some direct debit payments due to be collected on Monday 1 June have been taken earlier than expected on Friday 29 May," North Tyneside Council said.
Some 32,000 payments were taken early, most of which were council tax payments. The local authority apologised and said refunds had been issued.
"We are working with our partner Equans, which administers direct debit collections on behalf of the council, to conduct a thorough investigation into what went wrong," said David Mason, head of finance at North Tyneside Council.
He said the council would be seeking assurances from Equans that an incident such as this could not happen again.
The council put additional support in place on Friday and Saturday with officers from its finance and revenue teams staffing the phone lines to assist customers.
'Out of pocket'
Mason said the council issued 29 same-day refunds to customers who requested them, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Any customers that had incurred charges as a direct result of the early payment should contact the council, he said, to ensure that no-one was left "out of pocket".
The council's opposition and Reform UK group leader Brian Smith said: "I want to know what has happened and how we can prevent it in the future and - for the people badly affected - how the council can help those people."
A Labour group spokesperson said the system used was outsourced under the previous Conservative administration.
"We are continuing to work with the officers and the provider to understand exactly what went wrong and ensure it cannot happen again," the spokesperson said.
"Incidents like this are one of the reasons Labour has brought so many services back in-house over recent years and these services will be brought back under direct council control when the current contract comes to an end."
