Issue - meetings

Report CS18043

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 31^st March 2017 was £10.3m, of which £7.1m was less than a year old.  This outstanding debt had reduced to £8m by 31^st July 2017, and was expected to decrease by 40-50% by the end of March 2018 with further reductions during 2018/19.  The increasing number of households in temporary accommodation continued to impact on the level of outstanding debt, particularly in relation to recent welfare reforms which required some clients to make personal contributions to ‘top-up’ housing benefit.  A range of measures were in place to recover outstanding funds including a significant increase in the number of clients paying for adult social care services by direct debit and an ongoing review of policies and procedures, as well as specific measures relating to temporary accommodation including the recruitment of two visiting officers and the introduction of a new Housing IT system in April 2018.  Proposals were currently being developed to establish a visiting officer and social worker to work primarily with clients who lacked capacity to manage their finances and those who had difficulties in paying their care charges.  The total amount of debt written off in the period 1^st April 2016 to 31^st March 2017 had been £652,401 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. 

The Head of Exchequer Services confirmed that the challenges in relation to reducing debt faced by the Council were challenges that were being faced by local authorities nationwide.  The level of resourcing required to manage debt at an earlier stage was also being reviewed.

In relation to training, the Head of Exchequer Services reported that there would be no costs as the training would be provided in-house.

In response to a question the Head of Exchequer Services confirmed that a service level agreement was in place with Liberata and this established the timeframe for dealing with estate debt.  There had been an improvement in the length of delay however it was important that colleagues within Care Services provided notification when an account was terminated.

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.