Council Tax - Direct Debit - Bank Changes

Legacy_user

Why do many councils screw up when they are informed of a change to the Council Tax Direct Debit Bank Details.

RBS are in the process of informing organisations of the new Sort Code and Account Number of my bank account after they transferred it to my chosen Scottish Branch.

I believe that RBS send the council an ADDACS message to inform them of the new Sort Code and Account Number to use with the next Direct Debit payment.
However, it seems that many councils are then sending an AUDDIS D/D cancellation to the bank (WHICH IS THE WRONG THING TO DO since the D/D instruction continues on the new account)

I think RBS can resolve this if you contact the bank and the payment date is far enough in the future, but many people could miss a council tax payment if the due date is too close, and this will be the fault of the council.

All other organisations seem to be able to follow the correct process when they receive the ADDACS message from the bank, so it is just the council processes that seem to screw things up.

Red_dog_Sam

Could depend on which system the council use to administer Council Tax with but for most councils, using automated ADDACS processes, this shouldn't be a problem.

ADDACS records are usually issued as New, Cancellation or Amendment.
An Amendment record will simply change the bank details with no need to reschedule payments or send out any cancellation advice for the old details. Job done.
However, if the ADDACS file(s) shows the change as a pair of records - one Cancellation and one New then things may not be as straightforward as they should be because they can get processed as two distinct actions. Cancel the old one - creates a cancellation record and re-structures the payments - then after that , set up the new one. Similalry, if a Council were to process ADDACS files manually then staff could process an Amendment as two actions - a Cancellation followed by a New instruction with the same effect.
So whilst the problem you describe can happen it isn't normal practice and wouldn't be a widespread failing of councils as most do use automated processing through one of 2 or 3 applications in general use. And it may not be down to the Council but the way the change was processed by the bank and the subsequent ADDACS instructions.
Having said all that - as you've clearly experienced the problem anyway - you are entitled to feel agrieved because weak processes have let you down somewhere along the line.

System

That is what I thought too.

RBS told me that many councils have been making this mistake of cancelling the D/D instruction, and RBS said it only seems to be councils that are doing it wrong, so I tend to think that the error was made by the council not by the bank.

I think your explanation of the ADDACS scenario is spot on, RBS sent a single amendment message and the council must have processed it manually.