barnet council dpr2065 special parking account write off june 13

7/28/2019 Barnet Council DPR2065 Special Parking Account Write Off June 13

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DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO.

SUBJECT: Special Parking Account write off and deletion of PCN debts

Control sheet

All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process andthe signed and dated report MUST be passed to the Governance Service for

publishingAll reports

1. Governance Service receive draft report Name of GSO Maria Lugangira

Date 05/06/2013

2. Governance Service cleared draft report asbeing constitutionally appropriate

Name of GSO Maria Lugangira

Date 05/06/2013

3. Finance clearance obtained (report author tocomplete)

Name of Finance officer Mark Taylor

Date 05/06/2013

4. Staff and other resources issues clearanceobtained (report author to complete)

Name of Resource officer N/A

Date N/A

5. Strategic Procurement clearance obtained(report author to complete)

Name of SPO N/A

Date N/A

6. Legal clearance obtained from (report authorto complete)

Name of Legal officer Tazafar Asghar

Date 06/06/2013

7. Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained(report author to complete)

Name of P&P officer Andrew Nathan

Date 05/06/2013

8. Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained(report author to complete)

Name of officer Andrew Nathan

Date 05/06/2013

9. The above process has been checked andverified by Director, Head of Service orDeputy

Name Lynn Bishop

Date 12/06/2013

10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copyreceived by Governance Service forpublishing


Date 13/06/2013

11. Report published by Governance Service towebsite


Date 13/06/2013

12. Head of Service informed report is published Name of GSO Maria Lugangira

Date 13/06/2013

Key decisions only:

13. Expiry of call-in period Date Not Applicable

14. Report circulated for call-in purposes toBusiness Management OSC members &copied to Cabinet Members & Head ofService

Name of GSO

Date

2065


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ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER INCONSULTATION WITH CABINET MEMBER(S) (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION)

Subject Special Parking Account write offand deletion of PCN debts

Officer taking decision StreetScene Director

Date of decision 12 June 2013

SummaryTo approve the write off / deletion of the SpecialParking Account PCN debts (


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1. RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS

1.1 None

2. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

2.1 The write off of these debts is in line with good accounting practice, which requiresthat debit balances accurately reflect realisable income.

3. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES

3.1 The recommendation to write off these debts recognises that there is no longer arealistic possibility of economic recovery or the particular Penalty Charge Notices(PCN) have been cancelled for a variety of reasons including the acceptance ofrepresentations and successful appeals against the issuing of PCNs. Allappropriate avenues have been exhausted in attempting to recover these sums.

3.2 I consider the issue involved is unlikely to raise significant levels of concern or giverise to policy considerations.

4. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES

4.1 It is not considered that this matter is likely to raise any concerns under theCouncils Equalities Policy or compromise the commitment outlined in the CouncilsEquality Scheme.

5. USE OF RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS (Finance, Procurement, Performance &Value for Money, Staffing, IT, Property, Sustainability)

5.1 Standard accounting practice requires the Council to calculate the debt at thefinancial year end and then makes an assessment of the likelihood of these beingpaid. This is known as a provision for bad debt.

Table 1 Proposed deletions and write-offs on PCN at 31st March 2013.

Year Area Deletion Write off Live TOTAL

2011/12 Bus lane 250 202 632,705 633,157

CIVICA PCN 33,465 847,380 1,631,565 2,512,410

33,715 847,582 2,264,270 3,145,5672012/13 Bus lane 0 3,018 650,687 653,705

CIVICA PCN 505 191,690 2,896,600 3,088,795

505 194,708 3,547,287 3,742,501

sub total 34,220 1,042,290 5,811,557 6,888,067

Pre11/12 PES Bus lanes/PCN 0 2,798,473 0 2,798,473

Grand Total 34,220 3,840,763 5,811,557 9,686,540

5.2 The debts referred to in this report covers the years 2009 2013. These write-offdebts have either: (i) little to no prospect of recovery or (ii) the PCNs werecancelled. There are a number of reasons for this including:

the debtor has moved that the debt is outside of the statutory limitations for PCN recovery

The debtor is untraceable through government and debt recovery agencies


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The Council received valid representations against the issuing of the PCNs

Successful appeals to the Parking Adjudicator.

5.3 Appendix A and B details a comprehensive categorisation and listing of debts andtheir status for the years 2011/12 and 2012/2013. This information is sourced fromCIVICA. Any parking debt write off for the period 2011 to 2013 will be against

2011/12 and 2012/13 provision. Appendix A details the 34,220 worth of deletions.Deletions include:

Representations accepted

Notice cancelled

Appeal acceptedAppendix B details the write offs (1,042,290) for this period sourced from theCIVICA system.

5.4 Pre 2011/12 the previous parking information system called PES (ParkingEnforcement System) was used by Council. The total write off figure on this systemis identified as 2,798,473 and detailed in Table 1 above.

5.5 For 2012/13 a bad debt provision was set manually and identified levels of writeoffs and deletions detailed in table 1 above. Support documentation of CIVICAdeletions and write-offs is provided in the Appendices A and B.

5.6 The recovery of live debt, which was 5,811,577 as the 31st

March, continues withthe recent instruction and contract of two new bailiff operators. The aim is toimprove and increase recovery rates and reduce write offs and the bad debtprovision on debts.

5.7 The vast majority of live debt in the SPA area is provided for (via a bad debtprovision) as at 31-03-2013 for final accounts.

6. LEGAL ISSUES

6.1 The Council has a fiduciary duty to its council taxpayers to recover monies owing toit, where it would be acting reasonably in so doing. However, in the cases dealt

with within this report and for the reasons given, it is either not possible (as thestatutory time limit for recovery has passed) or not reasonable and economical topursue recovery of the debts.

7. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS

7.1 Constitution, Part 3- Responsibility for Function- section 7.12: The Chief FinanceOfficer has the powers set out in the Financial Standing Orders and inparticularsubject to details being incorporated into the next available budgetreport being submitted to Cabinet Resources Committee on the action taken, to

write off individual debt amounts of up to and including 5,000 (includingcancellations of penalty charge notices or any other sums due to the Council), inconsultation with the Head of Legal Practice- HB Law.

8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

8.1 As noted in the main report.


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9. LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS

9.1 Appendix A and B attached.

10. CONSULTATION WITH CABINET MEMBER(S)

10.1 The Cabinet Member for Environment has been consulted and has given theirapproval.

11. OFFICERS DECISION

I authorise the following action:11.1 the write off / deletion of the Special Parking Account PCN debts (

barnet council dpr2065 special parking account write off june 13

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