Fury over £200k spent on reprinting council tax payments as a result of typo | UK | News | EUROtoday

A UK council has sparked fury after racking up a stunning £200,000 in prices for reprinting council tax payments as a result of a minor typo.Bristol City Council despatched out 239,143 letters final month to appropriate a “typographical error” on this yr’s council tax payments – regardless of the error having completely no influence on the quantities households are required to pay. Council tax funds embody small precepts for the Avon Fire Authority, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset.

This yr, these precepts elevated by 5% for the commissioner and 5.9% for the hearth authority, however the council mistakenly printed the figures the incorrect method round. Whilst the entire council tax payments remained unchanged, laws required the council to write down to households explaining the embarrassing blunder. The value of printing and posting these letters reached a staggering £198,000.

Labour Councillor Don Alexander and Liberal Democrat Cllr Nicholas Coombes sought additional data throughout a member discussion board assembly final Tuesday (November), with written responses supplied to each.

In response, a council spokesperson mentioned: “All households that had received a council tax bill during the current financial year received the letter of clarification. The cost of print and postage for the letters was £198k.”

The transfer obtained fierce backlash, with Bristol Live readers expressing their frustration on the invoice, lined by the taxpayer.

One reader wrote: “£200,000 to correct a tiny typo? I doubt anyone even noticed the thing anyway. This council sure likes wasting our tax money.”

Another commented: “Public sector incompetence at its best. Any heads rolling? No chance!”

A 3rd chimed in: “We may have booted out Labour due to their incompetence, but the equally culpable public sector civil servants are still there.”

One extra questioned: “Does this cost cover the fact that they sent out duplicates of the corrective notice? What penalty would have been imposed if BCC had decided not to send a correction?”