Wealden District Council apologise for early Direct Debit collections

Automated collections of Business Rates and Council Tax were collected on 27 December rather than the planned 1 January.

The council have advised the collections were taken due to an automated scheduling error. 

Leader of Wealden District Council, Councillor Rachel Millward, said, "“It is deeply upsetting to know that this error will have caused stress and difficulty for some residents over the Christmas period. On behalf of the council I offer my sincere apologies to anyone impacted. We will do all we can to rectify this situation. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our teams at localtax@wealden.gov.uk”

Councillor Daniel Manvell, lead member for Housing, Benefits and Revenues, added, “Christmas was the worst time of year for a large unexpected payment and I add my profuse apology to all residents who have been affected by this mistake. I am committed to a thorough review of what went wrong and what improved measures can be taken to ensure this cannot happen again. We have already put in place extra measures to support this commitment.”

The council advised that any bank charges incurred by residents for this early payment will be refunded.

Full FAQs are available on the Wealden District Council website.