Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

Councillor Mullin introduced the report which sought approval for a refreshed Corporate Debt Recovery Policy which was a single policy document with well established procedures and regulations for the collection of Council Tax, Business Rates, Sundry Debt, Housing Rents and overpayment of Housing Benefit.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) said the revised policy took into account changes mainly associated with:

·         Bailiff reform and the introduction of new Regulations;

·         The removal of committal as a sanction for the non-payment of Council Tax;

·         Revised internal working practices for the collection of sundry debt involving the development of a more robust escalation process for disputed invoices;

·         Changes to the minimum monetary threshold when taking Bankruptcy action; and

·         Revised working practices for the recovery of unpaid housing rent.

The Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the decision of Welsh Government (WG) to remove committal action could lead to increased losses in Council Tax in the future.  As justification for the removal of committal, WG referenced that the Scottish Government had removed committal and despite that, collection rates in Scotland were still similar to those in Wales.  The average Council Tax collection rates in Scotland for 2017/18 were 96.0% compared to an average of 97.4% for Wales and 98.2% for Flintshire.

RESOLVED:

            That the Corporate Debt Recovery Policy, as amended, be re-approved for the collection of Sundry Debt, Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Rents and overpayments of Housing Benefit.