Council ‘left with little choice’ but to write off nearly £400K of debts

The money was owed as part of social care debts that are more than six years old and which the council is now barred from continuing to pursue.

A recent meeting heard how the report compiling around £390,000 worth of debt to be written off was the first of its kind prepared by the council, but new measures were being put in place.

Council cabinet member for adult services and community housing Cllr Sean Fielding said: “Obviously it’s disappointing to write off debt that’s accrued.”

Addressing the meeting, he added: “But I’m pleased with the reassurance you’ve given us about being more on top of this going forward so that we can prevent it from accruing and catch it earlier.

The debts were owed to Bolton Council (Image: Anthony Moss)

“The last thing we want is for people to watch this and believe that they can just not pay for long enough and get away with it, that’s not the case.

“So I’m pleased with the actions that you’ve set out but we are left with little choice but to write this off today so I will agree those recommendations to write off the debt as set out.”

Cllr Fielding had been addressing an executive cabinet member meeting.

The meeting heard how the debt was more than six years old, meaning it was statutorily barred and that the council was unable to continue chasing it from those who owed.

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Cllr Fielding and the other attendees heard that council officers had been working hard in the background to get the money owed to the authority up to date.

The £390,000 worth of debt was said to relate to 18 clients of the council.

Council officers said they had also been working hard to mitigate losses like this in the future and had been working on strategies to improve communications and audit trails.

The meeting heard that there would be new resources devoted to the team that dealt with this and there was further work ongoing to deal with this.  

Source – INDIA TV