Council debt collectors chase down more than £2 million in one year

Debt collectors chased down more than £2 million owed to a council over the course of a year.

The three 'enforcement agents' have been used by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to collect unpaid council tax, business rates, parking fines and other debts owed to the authority.

Figures published by the council show that the three agencies – Dukes, Newlyn and Jacobs – collected £2.11 million between them in 2019/20.

This equates to around a fifth of the £10.6 million of debt which was issued to the agents during the year, with all three having a similar level of performance.

Unpaid council tax accounted for most of this debt, with £1.5 million out of £5 million collected from Stoke-on-Trent residents in 2019/20.

But they were less successful at collecting unpaid business rates, chasing down just £287,383 out of the £2.1 million that was issued to them.

The agents also collected £118,361 of unpaid parking fines owed to the city council. It should be noted that all these figures mostly predate the Covid-19 pandemic.

The city council is now set to appoint its enforcement agents for the next four years, with the current contract due to expire in July.

Cabinet members will be asked to authorise officers to begin the procurement exercise when they meet today (Tuesday, March 23).

The report to cabinet states: "Enforcement agents are the last choice of recovery method for revenue officers.

"Wherever possible, special payment arrangements and attachment of earnings will always be the preferred choice as these carry no additional costs for the debtor other than the standard summons and liability order costs.

"While every effort to engage with and obtain employment details for a debtor is made, there are circumstances when neither of these can be done. This leaves no alternative but to issue cases to enforcement agents for collection."

According to the report, enforcement agent fees are paid by the debtor and not the city council. VAT on the fees is charged to the council but can be recovered from HMRC.

Fees can vary according to the action taken by the agent, which can include a letter, a visit or taking the debtor's property.

The council uses three enforcement agents so the performance of each can be measured against the others, 'to ensure that a consistently high performance service is delivered'.

The report notes the current Covid-related restrictions on residential and commercial evictions, and says the council's residential tenants 'will be supported'.

Councillor Jane Ashworth, leader of the opposition Labour group, believes the council should be doing more to support people struggling with debt, including those whose incomes have been hit during the pandemic.

She said: "We need to make sure that the people who are struggling are able to access the right advice on debt and welfare.

"We proposed to spend more on welfare advice services through an amendment to the council's budget last month, but sadly it was voted down."