Agenda item
Fair Debt Update
Minutes:
The Strategic Lead Revenue and
Benefits introduced the report and stated that it provided an
update to the Committee on the enhancements and initiatives that
had been delivered within the Debt Recovery Service, following an
external review in 2017 and the Fair Debt Summit in 2018. He stated
that work on the project was ongoing, and although much of this
development work had paused last year due to COVID-19, progress had
continued to be made. He stated that the report outlined the Single
View of Debtor, which brought together information from multiple
systems on amounts owing to the Council and potential
vulnerability. He explained that the report also discussed
financial inclusion, which provided additional dedicated officer
support to people in extreme circumstances, to ensure they could
access the relevant available support. He stated that the team had
also adopted breathing space legislation, which provided a pause in
recovery action to enable organisations assisting people with their
finances time to identify a resolution. He explained that the team
were now focussed on early resolution through delivery of effective
communications, including delivering the right message, in the
right way, at the right time.
The Strategic Lead Revenue and Benefits stated that the report also
provided a summary of how the service tailored its approach to
provide additional support to residents and businesses throughout
the pandemic, whilst maintaining high collection rates. He stated
that appendix 1 included the draft Fair Debt Policy, which had been
developed in collaboration with Fair Debt Summit attendees and
supported an enhanced approach to ensure that those who
couldn’t pay were assisted in gaining appropriate support,
and those who deliberately avoided payment were brought to justice
using all legislative means available.
Councillor Okunade asked how the team differentiated between those
residents who couldn’t pay and those who refused to pay. The
Strategic Lead Revenue and Benefits replied that the system
currently relied on residents contacting the team, but the Single
View of Debtor, which was currently in beta, provided an outline of
people’s ability to pay, which improved the teams’
ability to appropriately intervene. Councillor Halden felt it was a
good piece of work and was pleased to see the team differentiating
the approach between compassion and justice. He highlighted point
5.2 on page 65 of the agenda and stated that the Council currently
had £1mn of unpaid debts from residents who refused to pay.
He queried how many people were included in this figure. The
Strategic Lead Revenue and Benefits replied that approximately 200
people owed £1mn of unpaid debts, most of which was long-term
outstanding debt. He stated that the team were currently
implementing an enforcement plan that took these people to
magistrate’s court to undergo a means inquiry. He stated that
if they were found to have the means to pay, but still refused then
they could be sent to prison for up to sixty days. He explained
that the team were building the capacity to do this by recruiting
one fixed tem post, which was hoped would bring 20% of the
£1mn outstanding debt back to the Council. Councillor Halden
queried how the team were using programmes such as Xantura and big data to collect debt. The Strategic
Lead Revenue and Benefits replied that the first phase of the
Single View of Debtor had worked to collect the necessary data, and
the second phase, which was being entered into now, would utilise
this information to help those with outstanding debt where
appropriate. He stated that the debt collection team would work
with other teams, such as the Troubled Families team, to deliver
the necessary messages, based on the information provided to them
by Xantura. He explained that the
historic system simply sent a letter to those people with debt, but
the new system would help those in debt by communicating the right
message, at the right time, by the right people.
Councillor Kent welcomed the early intervention with debtors, and
felt that intervention should start in primary schools. He asked if
the Council could engage with local primary schools to ensure they
were teaching appropriate debt management lessons. He highlighted
appendix one on page 91 of the agenda and asked how the new policy
differed from the old policy. He also questioned how the team would
work to identify vulnerable people to compassionately collect debt.
The Strategic Lead Revenue and Benefits replied that the team had
been working on a Vulnerable Person Policy, which would guide the
approach to vulnerable residents regarding their debt, depending on
their vulnerability. He stated that where residents made contact
with the team, matters would be considered on a case-by-case basis
to ensure that people had the opportunity to gain the necessary
support to enable them to pay their debt. He stated that the team
worked closely with internal support and external organisations,
and in extreme cases the Financial Officer would provide assistance
and could be a conduit between the person owing money and the
relevant support.
The Portfolio Holder for
Finance thanked their Committee for their work on Fair Debt. He
stated that the Council would continue to help those who wanted to
pay but could not. He explained that the Fair Debt Summit in 2018
had discussed how to help vulnerable people with the IRV and John
Cruise, who was a leading practice lawyer working on sensitive
approaches to debt collection. He added that the Single View of
Debt consolidated a residents’ debt into one holistic
problem, meaning they only had to deal with one team within the
Council and the problem became simplified. He stated that those
residents who could pay but refused were often habitual and routine
non-payers, and the Council would work to ensure that their debt
was collected and justice served if necessary.
RESOLVED: That the Committee:
1. Noted the initiatives delivered since the Fair Debt
Summit.
2. Reviewed and commented on the performance.
3. Reviewed and commented on the draft Fair Debt Policy.
4. Endorsed that the Council uses all legal powers available to it
to recover money owed by those who “can pay by
won’t” including committal.
Supporting documents:
- Corp O&S - ITEM 9 - Fair Debt Update - 16 Nov 2021, item 20. PDF 246 KB
- Corp O&S - ITEM 9 - Fair Debt Update - Appendix 1 - 16 Nov 2021, item 20. PDF 611 KB
- Corp O&S - ITEM 9 - Fair Debt Update - Appendix 2a - 16 Nov 2021, item 20. PDF 495 KB
- Corp O&S - ITEM 9 - Fair Debt Update - Appendix 2b - 16 Nov 2021, item 20. PDF 425 KB
- Corp O&S - ITEM 9 - Fair Debt Update - Appendix 2c - 16 Nov 2021, item 20. PDF 571 KB