Action urged to chase up £240k owed to North Warwickshire Council

Updated figures have been called for outlining the extent of long-term council tax and rent debt owed to North Warwickshire Borough Council.

At a meeting of the resources board on Monday, councillors were told that nearly £120,000 of council tax was outstanding with a similar amount of housing benefit overpayments yet to be clawed back.

Cllr Mark Simpson (Con, Curdworth) said: “I remember last year we had a similar issue with the undercollection on budget because the IT system wasn’t working properly. Where are we on the previous year and also on this year’s council tax and rent arrears?

“I really don’t understand why Covid would have made an impact of what looks like £240,000.”

In a report on North Warwickshire Borough Council’s general fund revenue estimates, it was noted that court summons and liability orders were not issued during the pandemic.

Corporate director for resources Sue Garner added: “The system issues have certainly been sorted out. Unfortunately during the Covid period there was something of a moratorium on debt recovery generally and that did extend with the extension of the pandemic but we have taken the view that debt recovery can now recommence so we are sending out reminders and chasing up the debt. We are hopeful we can now start to catch up but there is quite a bit of work involved in that.”

Cllr Simpson said he was relieved to hear that the IT systems were now fully working but added: “My question was about the under recovery - is that amount still the amount it was? And while I do recall there was a moratorium on sending in bailiffs, I don’t recall there being a moratorium on sending out reminders.

Ms Garner confirmed that the council was trying to catch up on previous years. She said: “We probably didn’t send out reminders to the extent that we possibly could have because we couldn’t take it through to the court procedure.”

She agreed that updated figures would be circulated to councillors.

The council’s revised budget for 2021/22 is estimated to be £3,177,660, which is a reduction of £95,930 on the approved position. The revised figures were approved in spite of the Labour group abstaining.