Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services introduced the performance report covering the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year in respect of the Council’s debt management functions.

The Cabinet Member reiterated the plight of many residents who were experiencing severe financial problems due to the cost-of-living crisis, the Government’s welfare reforms and other factors impacting on their disposable income.  The Council had introduced a range of initiatives to support those in financial difficulty, including the Homes and Money Hub and the Council’s discretionary Council Tax relief fund but it was becoming clear that more needed to be done.  In respect of the latter, the Cabinet Member referred to an almost doubling in the amount of Council Tax discretionary relief awarded in March 2022 compared to the previous month and suggested that a review of the discretionary relief scheme may be required in the coming months.  An increase of almost £1m in Council Tax arrears in 2021/22 compared to 2020/21 was directly impacting on the Council’s finances and while the majority of collection rates were increasing back to previous levels following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Cabinet Member stressed the importance of maximising the collection of revenues owed to the Council.  With that in mind, it was noted that a report would be presented to a future meeting of the Cabinet on measures to reduce outstanding debt, including the write-off of unrecoverable debt.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the performance of the debt management function carried out by the Council’s Revenues service, including the improvement of collection rates and the continued recovery techniques applied to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

(ii)  Note that a review of the number of businesses that qualified under the Council’s COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) policy, approved by Minute 94 (22 March 2022), meant that the level of Business Rates relief awarded to the 716 qualifying businesses was able to be increased from 90% to 100% for the 2021/22 financial year, as detailed in section 4 of the report; and

(iii)  Note the arrears project started in April 2022, as detailed in section 11 of the report.