Adult Social Work, Care and Wellbeing Committee - General Debtors Write-Off 2022
North Lanarkshire Council · 14 September 2022
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 14 September 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
North Lanarkshire Council Report Adult Social Work, Care and Wellbeing Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref PMcA/AB/DF Date 06/09/22 Sundry Debt Write Off 2022 From Diane Fraser, Head of Adult Social Work, Health & Social Care E-mail fraserdi@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 332001 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to present to Committee a summary of outstanding debtor accounts which are deemed uncollectable following all attempts at recovery or are considered uneconomically viable to continue pursuing. In accordance with financial guidelines a bad debt provision has previously been established for the outstanding accounts highlighted below. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee: (1) Notes the decision of the Chief Accountable Officer and the Head of Financial Solutions under delegated responsibilities to write off £13,702.54 for debts under £500. (2) Approve the write off of £35,851.67 which includes debts greater than £500. (3) Remit this report to Finance & Resources Committee. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition Statement (21) Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions
Page 2
1. Background 1.1 During 2021/22 the Council issued invoices with an approximate value of £114m. 1.2 Within Adult Health & Social Care there are a number of chargeable services mainly in the following areas: • Home Care Charges • Nursing Home and Residential Home Accommodation Charges • Community Alarms • As well as chargeable services, invoices are raised to other local authorities, health, and universities. 1.3 The value of Adult Health & Social Care invoices raised during 2021/22 was £72m. This figure includes invoices raised to other local authorities, health, and universities (£65m). 1.4 In conjunction with the corporate debt recovery team, every effort is made to recover any unpaid debt including reminder letters, the use of collection agents and legal action. However, despite these steps there are a number of debts that are deemed uncollectible or are considered not economically viable to engage further collection activities and costs. This annual process of assessing the likelihood of debt non- recovery conforms to accepted best accounting practice and is a realistic assessment of expected income. 1.5 The Council will continue to seek collection of the outstanding balance if the circumstances of the debtor alter, and recovery is deemed practical. 2. Report 2.1 Analysis of the outstanding balances has been conducted and £49,554.21 has been identified as uncollectable. 2.2 There are a number of reasons why the outstanding balances are being written off and these are summarised below: (a) Deceased. The debtor is deceased and there have been insufficient funds within the estate to meet the sum due. (b) Small Balances/Uneconomic to Pursue. There are insufficient funds or no realisable assets that are available to meet the debt and it is uneconomic to continue to seek recovery of the sum due. (c) Gone Away. The debtor has moved address and cannot be located. (d) Recovery exhausted. Despite all efforts the service has now been informed that these accounts will not be recovered.
Page 3
2.3 The following tables categorise the value of debt recommended for write off by cause and value: Cause Analysis No of accounts £ Deceased 28 11,817.95 Small Balances/Uneconomic to Pursue 3 7.5 Gone Away 0 0.0 Recovery Exhausted 153 37,728.76 Total 184 49,554.21 Value Analysis < £500 155 13,702.54 > £500 29 35,851.67 Total 184 49,554.21 The value of accounts identified for write off represents a very small proportion of the accounts raised annually by Adult Health & Social Care. This is reflective of a number of activities aimed at improving collection rates, reducing debt arising and streamlining the recovery process. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The Service continues to engage in a number of activities aimed at improving collection rates, reducing debt arising and streaming the recovery process. These include: • Implementation of Debt Recovery Procedures • Performance Management Reports • Payment Arrangements • Payment by Direct Debit The Council will continue to seek collection of the outstanding balance if the circumstances of the debtor alter, and recovery is deemed practical. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 No appendices Diane Fraser Head of Adult Social Work Service
Page 4
5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
Page 5
Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?