Issue - meetings

Report of Assistant Director – Finance

***The appendices to this report are exempt***

Purpose of report

To provide members with a summary of the accounts proposed for write-offs and to request approval for the write-offs.  These are debts where all avenues for collecting the debt have been exhausted and it is good practice to write these debts off.  All of the debts proposed for write off will be funded from the Council’s Bad debt Provision.

£1.042m Council Tax and £1.002m business rates are proposed for write off.  These debts range from 2001/02 to 2023/24.  Over this period bills of £1.809bn have been raised for Council Tax and £1.559bn for business rates.  As a result 0.06% and 0.06% of the value billed over this time frame is recommended for write off.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended:

1.1      To review and approve the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Appendix A this contains debts recommended for write-off relating to Council Tax debts where the value exceeds £5,000.

1.2      To review and approve the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Appendix B this contains Business Rates debts recommended for write-off where the values exceeds £10,000.

1.3      To approve the proposed write off of debts where the value is less than £5,000.00 for Council Tax and less than £10,000. for Business Rates but all recovery methods have been exhausted.  These have been reviewed by the S151 Officer and are available to be reviewed on request.

1.4      To note that the constitution gives a delegation to the S151 Officer to write off bad debts for Business Rates up to the value of £10,000 and up to the value of £5,000 for non-business rates bad debt.  Following this review the S151 Officer will operate under this delegation and periodically update the Executive on the actions taken.

Resolved

(1)           That, having given due consideration, the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Appendix A, which details debts recommended for write-off relating to Council Tax debts where the value exceeds £5,000, be approved.

(2)           That, having given due consideration, the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Appendix B, which details Business Rates debts recommended for write-off where the values exceeds £10,000, be approved.

(3)           That the proposed write off of debts where the value is less than £5,000.00 for Council Tax and less than £10,000. for Business Rates but all recovery methods have been exhausted, which have been reviewed by the S151 Officer and are available to be reviewed on request, be approved.

(4)           That it be noted that the constitution gives a delegation to the S151 Officer to write off bad debts for Business Rates up to the value of £10,000 and up to the value of £5,000 for non-business rates bad debt and that following this review the S151 Officer will operate under this delegation and periodically update the Executive on the actions taken.

The Assistant Director Finance submitted a report to provide members with a summary of the accounts proposed for write-offs and to request approval for the write-offs. These were debts where all avenues for collecting the debt have been exhausted and it is good practice to write these debts off.  All of the debts proposed for write off would be funded from the Council’s Bad debt Provision.

£1.042m Council Tax and £1.002m business rates were proposed for write off.  These debts ranged from 2001/02 to 2023/24. Over this period bills of £1.809bn had been raised for Council Tax and £1.559bn for business rates.  As a result 0.06% and 0.06% of the value billed over this time frame is recommended for write off.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and the Chairman thanked Finance Officers for their diligent and hard work in undertaking the review.

Resolved

(1)          That, having given due consideration, the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Annex A to the Minutes (as set out in the Minute Book) which details debts recommended for write-off relating to Council Tax debts where the value exceeds £5,000, be approved.

(2)          That, having given due consideration, the proposed bad debt write offs summarised in exempt Annex B to the Minutes (as set out in the Minute Book), which details Business Rates debts recommended for write-off where the values exceeds £10,000, be approved.

(3)          That the proposed write off of debts where the value is less than £5,000.00 for Council Tax and less than £10,000. for Business Rates but all recovery methods have been exhausted, which have been reviewed by the S151 Officer and are available to be reviewed on request, be approved.

(4)          That it be noted that the constitution gives a delegation to the S151 Officer to write off bad debts for Business Rates up to the value of £10,000 and up to the value of £5,000 for non-business rates bad debt and that following this review the S151 Officer will operate under this delegation and periodically update the Executive on the actions taken.

Reasons

The Council’s financial procedure rules require that recommended write offs with an outstanding balance of £5,000 and above for Council Tax, Overpayment of Housing Benefit or Sundry Debtors, and £10,000 and above for Business Rates must be approved by the Executive

Alternative options

Option 1: To not write off the debt. This old and irrecoverable debt places additional administration on the team as periodically, it is required to be reviewed and pursued.  By writing off the debt, more time will be able to be focussed on reviewing debt that is more likely to be recoverable.