Remit from Housing Committee held on 30 August 2023 - General Debtors Write-Off 2023
North Lanarkshire Council · 13 September 2023
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 13 September 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Housing Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref GT / WO23 Date 30/08/23 General Debtors Write-Off 2023 From Derek Brown, Depute Chief Executive E-mail telferg@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07583 010692 1. Background 1.1 During 2022/23, the Council issued invoices with an approximate value of £106.643m. 1.2 Within Enterprise and Communities there are a number of chargeable services including: • Building cleaning • Fleet • Waste collection and disposal Executive Summary This report presents 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 provision for expected credit losses has previously been established for the outstanding accounts. The total recommended for write-off for 2023/24 is £504,654.30. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee: (1) Acknowledges the decision of the Depute Chief Executive and the Chief Officer (Finance) to write-off debts under £500, totalling a figure of £191,846.20 under delegated responsibility; (2) Approves the write-off of all items over £500 to the value of £312,808.10; and (3) Remits this report to the Finance and 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
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• Burials • Land rental charges • Rechargeable property repairs, and • Owner/occupier recharges 1.3 The value of Enterprise and Communities invoices raised during 2022/23 financial year was approximately £40.325m. 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. 1.4 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 reasonable 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 £504,654.30 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) Liquidation/Sequestration. The debtor/business has been liquidated/sequestrated etc, and there is no prospect of recovery of funds. c) No Trace/Gone Away. The debtor has been unable to be located and there is no prospect of recovery of funds. d) 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. 2.3 The following tables categorise the value of debt recommended for write off by cause and value:
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Cause Analysis Total Number of accounts £ Deceased 64,412.75 100 Liquidations/Sequestrations etc 462.21 4 Gone Away/No Trace 49,713.11 114 Small Balances/Uneconomic to Pursue 125,676.73 880 Recovery Exhausted 264,389.50 676 Total 504,654.30 1,774 Value Analysis £ < £500 191,846.20 1,572 > £500 312,808.10 202 Total 504,654.30 1,774 2.4 The value of accounts identified for write-off represents a small proportion of the accounts raised annually by Enterprise and Communities (approximately 1.25%). This is reflective of a number of strategies adopted by the service including payment in advance for services where possible, withdrawal of services for non-paying debtors, facilitating payment by direct debit and, where appropriate, payment arrangements. 2.5 For comparison purposes, the total write-offs approved for Enterprise and Communities over the last three years were £173,976.02 for 2020, £282,580.61 for 2021 and £462,352.29 for 2022. The increase in the current write-off proposals can be largely attributable to the wider economic climate. 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 streamlining the recovery process. These include: • Application of the approved Debtors Policy and associated debt recovery procedures • Performance management reports • Payment arrangements • Payment by direct debit • Payment in advance • Cessation of service provision 3.2 The Council will continue to seek collection of the outstanding balance if the circumstances of the debtor alter and recovery is deemed practical.
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4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Not applicable Derek Brown Depute Chief Executive
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5. Impacts 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 been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? There are no additional financial implications linked to this report for the current financial year because a corresponding provision for expected credit losses has been included in the previous year’s annual accounts. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? 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 been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? 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 ☐
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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? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) 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? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐