Decision

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

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

·       The write-off of irrecoverable debts for Business Rates to the value of £2,379,518.88 

·        Notes the write on value of £22,822.30

The Reasons are:

The liabilities mentioned in the report for write-off are irrecoverable.

Options considered and rejected were:

To leave outstanding amounts on the accounts for a further period. 

Assessment of Risk:

The write-off of irrecoverable amounts is an essential part of account administration. 

The write-off figure amounts to 1.91% of the Net Collectible Debt as of 1 April 2025. The write-off of these debts has been provided for in terms of the bad debt provision.

The source of funding is:

The bad debt provision has been confirmed. 

Legal Advice obtained: Jeanette Williams, Principal Solicitor ?

The Council must follow the legal framework for the collection and recovery of business rates. In some cases it will be impossible to recover unpaid rates for legal reasons such as insolvency, or where it is considered uneconomical to pursue a debt.  

Financial Advice obtained: David Eden, Finance Manager

There are sufficient provisions available to cover the cost of the proposed write offs  

Procurement Advice obtained: NA

HR Advice obtained: NA

Climate Change Advice obtained: NA

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process:

Lead Member Report.

Some of the relevant documents contain exempt or confidential information and are not available for public inspection

Other documents which are in the public domain are the relevant write-off strategies 

Contact Officer:         Jane Betts, Service Manager-Business Rates                                 

Email:                         jane.betts@salford.gov.uk

This decision is not subject to consideration by another Lead Member.

The appropriate scrutiny panel to call-in the decision is the Overview & Scrutiny Board.

Signed: Councillor Youd                                 Dated: 10th March 2026

Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and Regeneration

This decision was published on 12th March 2026.

This decision will come into force at 4.00 p.m. on 19th March 2026, unless it is called-in in accordance with the decision-making process rules.