Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the performance report for the second quarter of the financial year 2020/21 in respect of the Council’s debt management functions.

The Cabinet Member reminded Members of the COVID-19 restrictions that had impacted on collection rates over the past year and the actions being taken by the Council to support those who found themselves unable to pay their rent or Council Tax as a result.  One of those actions was the launch of the Council’s own ethical enforcement agency which would have a supportive attitude towards residents in difficulty and be able to refer them to, for example, the Citizens Advice Bureau for debt advice.

It was noted that there had been a stark increase in the number of residents claiming Universal Credit, up from 13,913 claimants in February 2019 to an estimated 32,244 claimants in December 2020.  Discretionary Housing Payments had also increased significantly, with 93% of the 2020/21 allocation already spent compared with 79% for the same period in 2019/20.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the performance of the debt management function carried out by the Council’s Revenues service; and

(ii)  Note the impact of Covid-19 on collection levels across all revenue streams and the continued recovery techniques applied to reduce the impact of the pandemic.

(Standing Order 7.1 (Chapter 3, Part 2 of the Council Constitution) was suspended at this juncture to enable the meeting to continue beyond the two-hour threshold).