95 Corporate Debt Write Off Policy PDF 549 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Director of Finance and the Executive Member for Environment,
Finance and Governance submitted a report the purpose of which was to seek
approval of the Corporate Debt Write Off Policy.
The purpose of the new policy was to provide a corporate approach
to the writing off of bad and irrecoverable debts in a fair and timely manner,
whilst seeking to maximise the opportunity for collection thereby minimising
the need for write off.
All
service areas were required to follow this policy to allow the Council to
operate a consistent approach to debt write off, whilst having due regard to
the customer’s ability to pay.
Whilst
some parts of debt write off were governed by particular legislative requirements
such as Council Tax, Business Rates, Adult Social Care Debt, etc., wherever
possible the overall principle of debt write off should be efficient and
effective, always giving consideration to the financial impact on the Council
when debt was written off.
The
policy would underpin any specific recovery strategies and would be applied
across all directorates.
The
new policy would also support cross directorate communication where a shared
customer base existed. It was envisaged
that the approach would work within Data Protection legislation, and should be
considered at a corporate level to reduce multiple officer engagements across
directorates with the same resident and or business base.
Following a vote, it was ORDERED as
follows:
That
a) the Corporate Debt
Write Off Policy be approved.
b) he Budget Policy
Framework and the officer delegated scheme of delegation be amended
c) delegated authority
be given to the Section 151 Officer to approve any future modifications to the
Corporate Debt Write Off Policy.
84 Corporate Debt Write Off Policy PDF 388 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Executive
Member for Environment and Finance & Governance and the Director of Finance
submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report
was to provide information on a new policy that aimed to provide a corporate approach
to the writing off of bad and irrecoverable debts in a fair and timely manner,
whilst seeking to maximise the opportunity for collection thereby minimising
the need for write off.
All service areas
were required to follow the policy to allow the Council to operate a consistent
approach to debt write off, whilst having due regard to the customer’s ability
to pay.
Whilst some parts
of debt write off were governed by particular legislative requirements such as
Council Tax, Business Rates, Adult Social Care Debt, etc, wherever possible the
overall principle of debt write off should be efficient and effective, always
giving consideration to the financial impact on the Council when debt was
written off.
This policy planned
to underpin any specific recovery strategies and would be applied across all
directorates.
The new policy
planned to also support cross directorate communication where a shared customer
base existed. It was envisaged that the approach would work within Data
Protection legislation, and should be considered at a corporate level to reduce
multiple officer engagements across directorates with the same resident and/or
business base.
The general
principles adopted in the policy were detailed at paragraph 12 of the submitted
report. The full Corporate Debt Write Off Policy was
included at Appendix A.
ORDERED
1.
That the Corporate Debt Write Off
Policy be noted and endorsed.
2.
That the policy be referred to full Council to amend the
Budget Policy Framework and the officer scheme of delegation.
3.
That delegated authority be provided to the Section 151
Officer to approve any future modifications to the policy.
REASON
The policy planned to allow Middlesbrough Council
to provide a comprehensive framework for debt write off which was consistent
across service areas / various types of debt. It also established
a disciplined approach across the Council for the writing off of those debts
that were recoverable.