Millions in public debts written off
Council bosses have been asked whethertheythinkcurrentfinancial uncertainty could lead to a greater level of unpaid bills being mounted up.
The question was posed by Cllr GrantLaingatameetingwheredebts totalling millions of pounds were written off by Perth and Kinross Council.
And out-going head of finance JohnSymonsaidthatwhilePKChad performed well in the wake of the financial crash, the impact of universal credit could have an affect on future collection.
Mr Symon explained: “We have some experience in collecting successfully in the past eight years. Recovery levels have increased despitedifficultfinancialimpactson customers.
“One area we possibly have to consider is Universal Credit. In relation to housing rents it could make this much more difficult to collect.”
Councillors agreed to write off unpaid council tax, rents, nondomestic rates, overpaid housing benefits and other fees which totalled more than £347,000.
But the single biggest write-off was £1,100,235.63. It involved charges for housing services providedtohomelessclientsplaced in temporary accommodation. This follows a change of system for these needs,andthecouncilisexpectedto seebenefitsfromanewapproachto homeless provision in future years.
Anotherbigsliceofthecashcame from housing benefit overpayment debtsworth£77,887.29for2016/17.
Despite the level of write-offs councilofficialssaytheywillcontinue to make efforts to claw back what is owed to them. The council also has oneofthebestrecordsofcounciltax collection, currently around 97%.
Leader Ian Campbell said: “This council takes debt collection and recovery very seriously and we perform well in a number of key areas.Forexample,wehavethebest record in the country for collecting council tax.
“The council is also proactive in improving collection levels across theboardincluding,forexample,the increased use of direct debit, payment at point of sale and set-off.
“Inevitably, despite rigorous recovery processes, some debt cannot be collected for a variety of reasons and it has to be written off. Thesereasonsaresummarisedinthis reportforeachcategoryofdebtand theyincludethefactthatdebtorsmay be deceased, untraceable or insolvent. In each case the level of proposed write off needs to be consideredinthecontextofthescale of each of the council’s income streams.Evenwhendebtsarewritten off, the files are not closed and every effort is made to collect outstanding debt wherever possible.”
Thecommitteealsofocusedonthe length of time some debts had been accrued.The council responded that some of these will change with some debts effectively being written off after six months.
CllrDaveDooganalsohighlighted the new home first scheme for those recorded as homeless. The council is working towards housing fewer peopleintemporaryaccommodation andthelengthoftimethere,andthis is expected to curb this area’s debt.