Issue - meetings

Councillor Worby introduced the Cabinet Member for Finance’s report on the proposed introduction of a Payment By Instalments policy, aimed at helping local residents to spread the cost of a number of high-value Council services.

Councillor Worby commented that a number of Councillors had raised concerns at the difficulties that some local residents faced when receiving large pre-payment invoices from the Council.  While some structured payment arrangements were already available on request, it was felt that any additional support that could be offered by the Council would be very much welcomed at a time when the Government’s austerity measures were having such an impact on the local community. 

Therefore, a review of the types of services suitable for inclusion in an instalments scheme was undertaken, alongside an assessment of the additional costs that would need to be added to make such a scheme cost-neutral to the Council.  Councillor Worby advised that five services had been identified for inclusion in the scheme, which would be available only to Borough residents and where the payment exceeded £500.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree to the introduction of a Payment By Instalments policy on the terms set out in the report;

(ii)  Agree that the following services shall qualify under the policy:

·  Dropped kerbs;

·  Funerals;

·  Hire of halls;

·  Hire of pitches;

·  Registrars.

(iii)  Agree that the policy shall only apply to residents of Barking and Dagenham;

(iv)  Agree the financial arrangements that shall be applied under the policy, as detailed in paragraph 4.5 of the report;

(v)  Note the financial implications arising from the introduction of the policy;

(vi)  Note that the appropriate amendments shall be made to the Council’s Financial Regulations and Rules (Part 4, Chapter 2 of the Council Constitution) to reflect the new arrangements, and reported to the Assembly for information; and

(vii)  Agree to review the policy after one year of its introduction to assess the impact on the Council’s income, bad debt provision and the cost effectiveness of the policy.