Labour-run Council Fails To Give Details of Councillors in Council Tax Arrears 10 Days Over 20 Day Legal Deadline

 

UPDATE (2nd April 2026): Council finally responds, just before the Bank Holiday and almost two weeks past the deadline. They say that no Southampton City Councillors were in arrears.

So why the delay? We received an apology but no explanation other than the department was "busy". 

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As we have reported, the Labour-run Southampton City Council failed to respond in time to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request over councillors in council tax arrears. It also failed to do so, given an extra week.

For transparency, we now publish the full request, and ask you to note that on Friday 3rd April 2026, it will be a full ten days after the 20 day legal deadline. 

Andrew Pope, who submitted the request, and has chased and only received apologies instead of the information, says:

 

Andrew Doing Safety Checks for Cyclists and Motorists in Redbridge
Photo: Andrew Pope

"What do you think about this?

Do you think that the Council might be trying to hide something?

Do you think they should be allowed to not respond?

Do you think that we should report them to the Information Commissioner's Office, who regulate FoIs?"

The full request reads:

"Please provide the following information.

1. All correspondence between officers, councillors and members of the public regarding any Southampton City councillors' non-payment of council tax and their inability to vote on council tax setting at the February 2025 Full Council that considered the Budget and associated matters.

   All correspondence should include all correspondence, meaning mobile phone calls, emails, letters, text messages and all social media including Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter.

2. The names of all councillors who did not pay council tax during the Municipal Year of 2024-25, the reasons they gave for non-payment, the amounts they were in arrears, how long they were in arrears, whether they paid up in full or partially, and whether they voted on the council tax setting and associated votes at the 2025 Budget Full Council that set council tax for 2025-26.

3. All actions the Council has taken against any councillor regarding non-payment of council tax, including but not limited to court action and the deduction of the council tax due from their councillor allowance.

4. The full details of councillors still in arrears from previous financial years, as in item 2 above."

 

Labour-run Council Now A WEEK Over Legal Deadline for Councillor Council Tax Arrears Information ... Plus Councillor DBS Checks and Company Director Checks Also Missing

 

We Are Members of the Independent Network

 

Member of the Independent Network Andrew Pope submitted a Freedom of Information request in relation to Southampton City Councillors, and whether any of them were in arrears with their own council tax.

The Council is required by the FoI Act to respond within a deadline of 20 working days. A week ago, they wrote to Andrew informing him they were running late, and did not have the information. They also promised an estimated date.

A week later, neither the requested information, nor a date, have been given. 

Residents still do not know whether any of the 51 Southampton councillors are in arrears with their council tax. Elections are coming on 7th May 2026. It is in the public interest that they know.

It is also in the public interest that citizens know that three councillors did not even attend the February 2026 Full Council to set the Council budget. Citizens and voters do not know if they supported the Budget, voted against it, or abstained. By law, councillors have to have their vote recorded in the minutes. 

As exclusively reported by us, suspended Labour Councillor Lee Whitbread (Redbridge ward), another Labour Councillor Vivienne Windle (Banister and Polygon ward), and a Tory councillor Valerie Laurent (Harefield), were not there. They gave their apologies.

We've asked them why. They haven't even replied to our polite offer of a right of reply.

Andrew has requested an urgent update from the Council and the missing councillors. He says: 

Andrew Co-Founded Somerset Independents
as well as Southampton Independents
Photo: Somerset Independents

"This Labour-run Council is in chaos. They should have this information already at hand. And the three absent councillors do not seem to think that they should be accountable to the people in their wards and areas.

In Somerset, by asking similar questions, I discovered many councillors that had not paid up - not just oversights for a month or two, but many months and in some cases, YEARS of council tax not paid.

The worst example was a Green Party councillor who thought it was all OK. You can see more information on the Somerset Independents website.

I have also discovered this week by asking questions of the Head of Legal at the Council that only the newly-elected third of councillors in May will have a DBS check.

The other two-thirds of councillors will not have had a DBS criminal records check.

How do residents know that their councillor has not gained a record since being elected, or even before being elected? The disqualifications are not stringent enough.

I have also discovered that councillors are not checked over whether they have been disqualified as a company director. I find this odd, considering they vote on hundreds of millions of pounds of public money during Full Council and at Cabinet.

What do you think? Does this all smell wrong? I think it does. Southampton Independents will continue its campaigns and investigations.

The big political parties do not like scrutiny of their finances, or their representatives.

As reported by the Times and Independent, and on our website, Labour MP Satvir Kaur accepted £10,000 from a convicted violent criminal and Eastleigh Labour councillor, and two Portsmouth MPs also accepted money from Shere Sattar, as well as central Labour HQ. This was despite Sattar being convicted in 2022 and expelled from the Labour Party! What checks can they have carried out? Not very accurate ones, that's for sure! Does it make any difference that they paid the money back, but only after being find out? No."

 

Dodgy Labour MPs and Dodgy Labour Councillors
Image: Southampton Independents