Decision Maker: Interim Head of Finance
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
The Officer Scheme of Delegation (paragraph 2.13) authorises the
Chief Finance Officer to:
Take any steps necessary for the recovery of debts and write off
irrecoverable amounts up to the limits determined by the Financial
Procedure Rules
The Financial Procedure Rules in the Council’s Constitution
set out the approval process for debt write off in accordance with
the following limits:
• For debts up to £1,000 - Chief Finance Officer;
and
• For debts between £1,000 and £5,000 - Chief
Finance Officer in consultation with the Leader of the
Council
The debts in the restricted enclosure between £1,000 and
£5,000 are recommended for write off by the Chief Finance
Officer.
Recovering debt is a key priority of the Council and writing off
any debt is either a last resort or a necessity where recovery is
legally prohibited, for example where there is a Debt Relief Order
in place or the debtor has been made bankrupt.
Where debts are recommended for write off for other reasons, all
possible attempts at tracing and recovery will have been
made.
The debts recommended for write off are detailed in the restricted
enclosure and summarised below:
• Business Rates – 22 debts totalling
£60,507.42
• Council Tax – 105 debts totalling
£204,268.18
• Housing Benefit overpayments – 20 debts totalling
£39,240.86
• Sundry Debts – 1 debt for £2,160.50
Decision: Approval to write off the irrecoverable debts in the
restricted enclosure.
Debt write off is requested in order to ensure
that the Council reports an accurate debtor balance in its
accounts.
All possible action has been taken to recover these amounts and
this report is seeking approval to technically write them out of
the accounts. A provision has previously been made in the
Council’s accounts for these costs so there are no additional
financial implications.
Not to write off the debts
Contact: Alex Berry, Deputy Democratic Services Manager Email: alex.berry@reigate-banstead.gov.uk.
Publication date: 09/04/2021
Date of decision: 24/03/2021
Accompanying Documents: