Issue - meetings

Report CS17075

The Committee considered a report providing an update on the current level of Education, Care and Health Services debt and the action being taken to reduce this.

The level of Education, Care and Health Services debt as at 30^th September 2016 was £9.58m, of which £6.4m was less than a year old.  A range of measures were in place to recover these funds including an increase in clients paying for adult social care services by direct debit and regular meetings between Liberata and Local Authority Officers to discuss arrears, and the outstanding debt was expected to be reduced to less than £5m by the end of March 2017, with further reductions during 2017/18.  The total amount of debt written off in the period 1^st April 2016 to 1^st September 2016 had been £351,328 which represented less than 1% of the total debt raised and was largely due to debtors being untraceable, no funds in a debtor’s estate or because the debt had been identified as uneconomical to pursue. 

In response to a question from a Member, the Head of Exchequer Services confirmed that measures would continue to be introduced to reduce Education, Care and Health Services debt.  This included the appointment of a Monitoring Officer and the introduction of a new debt management system which would provide a consolidated view of an individual’s debt across a full range of services, improving debt collection and management and giving better support to customers in managing their debts, such as through increased use of direct debits. 

RESOLVED that the level of Education, Care and Health Services debt over a year old and the action being taken to reduce this sum be noted.