Issue - meetings

That Cabinet approves the Fair Debt Policy as set out in the Appendix to the report with the additional paragraph relating to comments, compliments and complaints as circulated at the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Management introduced the Fair Debt Policy which was primarily a customer focused policy to assist those in financial difficulty owing single and multiple debts to the Council.

The purpose of the Policy was to establish guidelines on how the Council would recover debts owed.  A framework was set out for a consistent and sensitive approach to the recovery of debts and importantly, it aimed to offer customers who experienced payment difficulties with practical payment solutions.

The introduction of the policy would ensure that the Council continued to fulfil its responsibility to maximise the collection of council tax, rents, corporate debt and housing benefit overpayments.

The draft Policy was submitted to Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 18 April 2013 and their comments recommended for inclusion in the Policy were the insertion of the following:

11. Compliments, Concerns and Complaints

11.1    The Council is also committed to dealing effectively with compliments, concerns or complaints that occasionally arise through the recovery of debt and in our dealings with customers.

11.2    The Council will adopt the Corporate Compliments, Concerns and Complaints Policy to put right, wherever possible, any concerns or complaints that may arise in administering the Fair Debt Policy.

RESOLVED:

That the Fair Debt Policy, as set out in the Appendix, be approved with the inclusion of the additional paragraph relating to comments, compliments and complaints (outlined above), circulated at the meeting.