In Focus Collections A collective approach
Ensuring that sundry debt has a high priority in a council can have a positive effect on revenues
Paul Howden Revenues and benefits manager, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils
Paul.Howden@
southandvale.gov.uk
Shortly after South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils began sharing services in 2007, we introduced a new strategy to improve our collection of sundry debts and miscellaneous income. This involved a strict recovery process,
including prompt billing, and recovery notices, to tell debtors if we needed to take action against them and what the associated costs for non-payment would be.
A council-wide culture However, the biggest change was to foster a council-wide culture of collective responsibility. This meant everyone contributed to maximising income collection. This has always been important, but now
more so than ever, with authorities being squeezed by the reduction in government funding and the need for councils to be self-sufficient. Many local authorities do not give the
collection of sundry income the respect it deserves – instead concentrating on the higher profile Council Tax and Business Rates. However, with a little extra effort, other
sundry debt should be easy to recover. For example, we have billed over £128m in six years – a few years back, the combined
arrears over 30 days at South and Vale was £2m. Now, thanks to the work we have put in, we have reduced this to less than £150,000 with most of this due from trusted partners who pay after month end.
Regular debtors know we mean business, when it comes to collection, and the vast majority of debt is paid in good time
Managing debt As we manage our debt, and debtors, to such low levels, our active debt now requires minimal effort to administer. Regular debtors know we mean business, when it comes to collection, and the vast majority of debt is paid in good time. At the same time, our write-off levels have reduced to very low levels allowing us to reduce our bad-debt provisions accordingly.
Effort from everyone The real key has been the collective effort from everyone at the council. Teams prompt debtors to pay up when required and we ensure that councillors are kept up to date on how we are performing.
April 2017
www.CCRMagazine.co.uk As well as this, when debts are still
outstanding after 42 days, our legal service and service managers will take county-court action, if we think that is the best way to proceed. No debt is allowed to stagnate or be forgotten about. This process is remarkably efficient,
effective, and economic, meaning that we avoid having to fork out for costly debt collection agencies. If your processes are clear, then debtors
know the score and debt levels remain low. This means less debt management is required so administration costs are lower. Prompt and efficient debt recovery
increases cashflow, resulting in much- needed income at a time when councils are under pressure to provide quality services under reduced funding. Giving sundry debt collection the respect it deserves helps to achieve this. The message is: do not be afraid to get stuck in – you will reap the rewards! CCR
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