Content

11.1

To inform the committee of the need
for the Council to operate debt recovery activity, to set out the
proposal to commission those services, and to seek the approval of
the committee to do so. This provision will be for a period of 4
years commencing on 16 March 2024, with an estimated cost to the
Council of £300k.

 

 

11.2

RESOLVED
UNANIMOUSLY: That Finance
Committee approves the commissioning of debt recovery
services as described in this report for the four-year period from
16 March 2024 to 15 March 2028, with an estimated cost to the
Council of £300k.

 

 

11.3

Reasons for Decision

 

 

11.3.1

This commissioning decision will
enable the Council to continue to have a debt recovery service in
place from March 2024 (when the current debt recovery framework
expires) for a further four years, to ensure there is no break in
debt recovery activity at the point the current framework expires
on 15 March 2024.

 

 

11.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

 

 

11.4.1

Although the Council does undertake
debt recovery activity, it does not have the resource to carry out
the full scope of activity being commissioned via this report. For
example, an external provider can use its national infrastructure
to trace and collect debt from debtors who have moved away from
Sheffield.

 

 

11.4.2

Additionally, external partners
provide valuable resilience to the Council’s own in-house
enforcement team to deal with peaks in workload and cover for staff
absence.

 

 

11.4.3

Doing nothing, which would mean
having to rely solely on in-house resources to undertake this
activity, has therefore been disregarded.