Decision details

The Cabinet authorised the write-off of the irrecoverable debt shown as outstanding in respect of Non-Domestic (Business) Rates (NDR) accounts included in the Appendices to this report (which detail the financial year and the category for the write-off request). The total value of irrecoverable NDR debts in excess of £10,000 outlined in this report is £554,336.

The authorisation for write-off is requested due to one of the following scenarios:

· the individual/ company being made insolvent/ bankrupt/dissolved;

· recovery action attempted but no longer enforceable under the Limitation Act 1980 (Statute Barred); and

· all recovery action has been exhausted with no prospect of recovery.

Where debt being written off is in relation to companies that have gone into administration/ individuals being made bankrupt/ proposals to strike off etc, proof of debt has been lodged with the Administrators or Liquidators in all appropriate cases, and either it has been confirmed that no dividend is payable, or a final dividend payment has been received. Recovery action has therefore been exhausted and there is no further action that can be taken to obtain any further payments in relation to the debt. This amounts to 88% of the total write-off in this report.

Table 2 in Appendix 1 summarises the rationale for the different reasons for write-off decisions by year and by value.

The alternative option is to not write off this debt. This would result in irrecoverable debts continuing to be shown as outstanding, with a bad debt provision apportioned to these balances. It should be noted that once a debt is no longer collectable it should be written off in the Council’s accounts and the debt provision adjusted accordingly.

All other alternative options available to the Council to collect the debt have already been undertaken before making a decision to recommend a debt for write-off.

None.

None.