Dividends unclaimed for all Trust Deed and Sequestrations which are reclaimable by the creditor and as yet not reclaimed: FOI release

Information requested

Details of dividends unclaimed for all Trust Deed and Sequestrations which are reclaimable by the creditor and as yet not reclaimed, to include in regard to this request;

1. Name of the creditor
2. Address of the creditor including postcode
3. The creditor reference number
4. Claim amount in the Insolvency (£)
5. Consigned / unclaimed amount of dividend (Total) (£)
6. AIB Case reference number
7. Case name
8. Date submitted

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested on the attached spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet contains the following information:

• Name of creditor
• Claim amount in the insolvency (£) – where recorded
• Consigned / unclaimed amount of dividend (Total) (£)
• Date submitted

Please note there are entries where the creditor is shown as the Accountant in Bankruptcy. These are occasions where the amount consigned is less than £52 (£26 x 2 for the lodging and uplift fee), therefore, the money automatically reverts to AiB as income. If the creditor was not already on our system, it was logged as AiB. There are three entries that are above £52, and these had AiB as the creditor on the consignation form.

Also, some information has been redacted as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA because it is personal data as the creditor is an individual not an organisation. Disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the following exemptions have been applied to this request.

Section 12 – Excessive cost of compliance:

You have requested:

• Address of the creditor, including postcode
• Case name

This information is not contained in the report that is produced by our system and would require each consignation to be checked individually.

In this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information the following information would exceed the upper cost limit.

Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

This has been calculated as follows:

No of consignations = 8,536

Time to search case = 3.5 minutes

8,536 x 3.5 = 29,876 minutes = 498 hours x £25 per hour = £12,450.00

I would normally advise you consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. However, on this occasion I would only be able to provide information on 411 of the 8,536 consignations before the cost would be exceeded.

Section 38(1)(b):

You have requested:

• The creditor reference number
• AiB case reference number

In this instance I am unable to provide this information because an exemption(s) under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies because it is personal data that could identify a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

It should also be noted that if the case name was not included in the section 12 exemption this information would also be exempt under this section.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Consignation Report

File type

Excel document

File size

281.3 kB