Anglesey apology after double council tax error

Anglesey council says people who had their accounts debited twice would get a full refund of the second amount

Anglesey residents are being urged to check they have been properly refunded after double council tax payments were mistakenly taken from 1,300 accounts.

People who had paid their council tax by direct debit on 21 December 2022 had their accounts debited again in error.

Anglesey council has "apologised unreservedly" for the blunder.

The leader of the council's opposition group has called for a "thorough investigation".

Councillor Aled Morris Jones said he wants measures to prevent billing errors like this ever happening again.

The council said on its website that the error arose due to a "breakdown in our processes."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the local authority apologised saying: "We'd like to offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and worry caused."

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It stated that those who had had their accounts debited twice, would get a full refund of the second amount, which was due to be credited to their accounts on 30 December 2022.

However, the mix-up led to even further confusion over the refunds.

"As we do not know the details of all those who may have already received a refund, we have decided to refund all affected," the council said.

Further complication

"We will contact those who have received a double refund in the new year to make alternative arrangements to pay the outstanding balance."

In a further complication, the council also reported that it was aware that some people, who would have expected their accounts to have been debited on 29 December, had not in fact paid.

"For those who have not paid their instalment as expected, the instruction to collect the December instalment has been reissued to our bank and the payment will be debited against your account on Tuesday, 3 January or Wednesday, 4 January".