Content

Salford City Council - Record of
Decision
 
I, Councillor Jack Youd, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Finance, Support
Services & Regeneration, in exercise of the powers contained
within the Council Constitution,
do hereby approve:
 

The debt write-off of
former tenant’s arrears to the value of
£48,466.21
 
The
Reasons are:
The arrears, after exhaustive
attempts to collect, are found to be irrecoverable for a variety of
reasons, as detailed in the report.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
No other options are available due to the nature (age
and value) of these accounts.
 
Assessment of Risk: Low
 
The
source of funding is:
There is a
debt provision within the Housing Revenue Account in 25/26 to write
off the proposed amount of £48,466.21in full.
 
Legal Advice
obtained:
Supplied by Tony Hatton – Solicitor Group
Leader, Commercial 30/05/25
Under the Council’s constitution, Chief Officers must
ensure that the Council is not put at risk from any bad debts
(8.3.8), obtain the approval of the Lead Member for Finance and
Customer Services when writing off debts (7.2.21), and to take
effective action to pursue non-payment within defined timescales
and relevant legislation (7.2.23).
 
It is the responsibility of the
Chief Finance officer to:
7.2.5 To agree the submission of reports for the write-off of
bad debts to the Lead Member for Finance and Customer Services for
approval, as appropriate in line with the scheme of delegation of
the Council.
7.2.6
To keep a record of all sums written off and to
adhere to the requirements of the Accounts and Audit Regulations
(as amended).
 
The report suggests that there
is no further recovery action which can be taken by the Council
with regards to the arrears as listed in the report other than
observing the “write off “collectable””
process described in section 2 of the report
 
Financial Advice
obtained: Supplied by Grace Rogerson
– Capital Finance Manager – 27/05/25
This report sets out the
current position on former tenants’ arrears and makes a
recommendation to Lead Member to write off a value of
£48,466.21 in relation to 47 cases. Of those 47 cases, 16 are
deemed collectable with a value of £35,599.22, whereby former
tenants may reapply with Together Housing Association and the debt
must be repaid in full prior to approval for future housing. Future
reporting on the success of rents collected that were written off
but deemed collectable is advisable.
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: N/A
 
HR Advice
obtained: N/A
 
Climate Change Advice
obtained: N/A
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
All
information is contained within the report and supporting
appendices
 
Contact
Officer:       Jane Barlow –
Service Manager Contracts                           
Email: jane.barlow@salford.gov.uk
 
This decision is subject to
consideration for briefing purposes by the Lead Member for Housing
and Anti-Poverty. The Lead Member is supportive of the
decision.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel to
call-in the decision is the Overview & Scrutiny
Board.
 
 
 

Signed: Councillor Jack Youd                        
Dated: 12th August 2025
Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Finance, Support Services
& Regeneration
 

 
This decision was published on 14th August 2025.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 21st August 2025, unless it is called-in in accordance with the
decision-making process rules.