Item 10 - Corporate Debt Policy
West Dunbartonshire Council · 5 February 2025
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 5 February 2025 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Chief Officer - Resources Corporate Services Committee: 5 February 2025 Subject: Corporate Debt Policy 1. PURPOSE 1.1 To seek Committee approval of the revised Corporate Debt Policy. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that Committee approve the revised Corporate Debt Policy attached as an appendix to the report. 3. BACKGROUND 3.1 The current Corporate Debt Policy (the Policy) was approved by Corporate Services Committee on 21 August 2019 to ensure effective recovery and control of debt owed to the Council by using a holistic approach to recovery. 4. MAIN ISSUES 4.1 The revised Policy is attached as Appendix 1. It aims to ensure effective recovery and control of all debt owed to the Council with debt recovery methods being flexible and considering the needs of individual households whilst also providing best value for money for the Council. 4.2 The main changes to the Policy are in Section 5.1 – Recovery of Council Tax and Section 5.2 – Recovery of Non-Domestic Rates (NDR), which are summarised below. All other changes are immaterial in nature (i.e. grammatical updates). 4.3 In relation to the changes at 5.1, currently if taxpayers fail to make Council tax payments, they are issued with a Reminder Notice, then a Final Notice followed by a Summary Warrant. The Reminder Notice advises payment must be made within 7 days or a Final Notice will be issued. If no payment is received, the Final Notice is issued and advises of the loss to the right of pay in instalments with the full balance being due within 14 days or an application will be made to the Sheriff Court for a Summary Warrant. 4.4 The proposed changes at 5.1.4, 5.1.5 and 5.1.6 will remove the requirement of issuing a Final Notice aligning the process with the way Sundry Debt is managed. Taxpayers that fail to pay their Council Tax charge will be issued with a Reminder Notice and if no payment, arrangement or contact is made, an application will be made for a Summary Warrant. 4.5 The proposed change will mean when the Reminder Notice is issued, it will advise the ITEM 10
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taxpayer that payment must be made within 21 days or to contact the Council to discuss an alternative payment option and failure to do so will result in the loss of instalments and an application will be made for a Summary Warrant. Although the Final Notice stage is being removed, taxpayers will still have the same 21-day timeframe to make payment, consistent with the current period between the reminder and final notice. This ensures that no reduction in time is provided for managing their payment. 4.6 If a taxpayer receives a Reminder Notice and makes payment within the 21 days, any future missed payment will result in them receiving a 2nd Reminder Notice. If this is not paid, an application will be made for a Summary Warrant. No further reminder notices would be issued. If a 3rd payment is missed, this would move direct to an application for a Summary Warrant. This change represents an improvement to the current process for taxpayers who default for a second time. Under the new approach, if they engage within the 21-day timeframe following their first missed payment, they will receive a second Reminder Notice instead of a Final Notice where the taxpayer would have lost their right to pay by instalments. This provides an additional opportunity for taxpayers to address their arrears and avoid immediate enforcement action. 4.7 To ensure applications for a Summary Warrant are not made where the taxpayer has contacted the Council, the service use an electronic workflow system with automation. Any taxpayer contact or outstanding correspondence will be matched against the prelist of Summary Warrant cases. Through this automated process the taxpayer will be removed from the prelist, and no application will proceed until the enquiry has been fully resolved. 4.8 In relation to the changes at 5.2, currently a ratepayer can miss the equivalent of four monthly instalments by the 30 September before any notice is issued. The legislation now allows the Council to issue a reminder notice after any missed instalment to maximise recovery. This recovery process has been introduced by many other local authorities to maximise recovery and is similar to the recovery process for Council Tax. 4.9 If the proposed change is approved the Council’s website will be updated with the information and a detailed flyer will be included in the annual Council Tax and NDR bills that are issued to all households and ratepayers in West Dunbartonshire for 2025/26. 4.10 There is a further change at section 2.0 to update the membership of the advice partnership. This removed the Independent Resource Centre and added the Scottish Social Security Agency, Clydebank Asbestos Group and Department for Work and Pensions. 5. PEOPLE IMPLICATIONS 5.1 None directly from this report 6. FINANCIAL AND PROCUREMENT IMPLICATIONS 6.1 The Council’s ability to deliver services which meet the needs of its citizens and current financial constraints experienced by the Council depends heavily on the
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success in collecting revenues. This policy reinforces the importance of revenue collection. There is no procurement impact of this policy. 7. RISK ANALYSIS 7.1 The collection of charges made by the Council is important in terms of the financial sustainability of the Council and the revised policy aims to support the ongoing collection of charges in an efficient manner. 8. EQUALITIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) 8.1 No issues were identified in a screening for potential equality impact of this policy. 9. Environmental Sustainability 9.1 There is no requirement to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment 10. CONSULTATION 10.1 Consultation has taken place with Finance and Legal Services 11. STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT 11.1 Sound financial practice and budgetary control are imperative to assist with the governance of the Council and supports officers of the Council in achieving the five strategic priorities of the Council’s Strategic Plan. This report forms part of the financial governance of the Council. Laurence Slavin Chief Officer - Resources Date: 17 January 2025 Person to Contact: Arun Menon, Business Support Manager E-mail: arun.menon@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices Appendix 1 – Corporate Debt Policy Background Papers: Equalities Impact Assessment Screening Wards affected: All Council wards
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