DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO.

Control sheet

2065

SUBJECT: Special Parking Account write off and deletion of PCN debts All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process and the signed and dated report MUST be passed to the Governance Service for publishing
All reports 1. Governance Service receive draft report Name of GSO Date 2. Governance Service cleared draft report as being constitutionally appropriate 3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete) 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) 5. Strategic Procurement clearance obtained (report author to complete) 6. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete) 7. Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained (report author to complete) 8. Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained (report author to complete) 9. The above process has been checked and verified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy 10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copy received by Governance Service for publishing 11. Report published by Governance Service to website 12. Head of Service informed report is published Name of GSO Date Name of Finance officer Date Name of Resource officer Date Name of SPO Date Name of Legal officer Date Name of P&P officer Date Name of officer Date Name Date Name of GSO Date Name of GSO Date Name of GSO Date Key decisions only: 13. Expiry of call-in period 14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to Business Management OSC members & copied to Cabinet Members & Head of Service Date Name of GSO Date Not Applicable Maria Lugangira 05/06/2013 Maria Lugangira 05/06/2013 Mark Taylor 05/06/2013 N/A N/A N/A N/A Tazafar Asghar 06/06/2013 Andrew Nathan 05/06/2013 Andrew Nathan 05/06/2013 Lynn Bishop 12/06/2013 Maria Lugangira 13/06/2013 Maria Lugangira 13/06/2013 Maria Lugangira 13/06/2013

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

Subject Officer taking decision Date of decision

Summary

Special Parking Account write off and deletion of PCN debts StreetScene Director 12 June 2013
To approve the write off / deletion of the Special Parking Account PCN debts (<5,000) totalling 34,220 deletions and 3,840,763 Write offs. Ian Baruch Parking Manager Public All Appendices A & B Not Applicable No Ian Baruch, SPA Parking, 020 8359 7576 ,

Officer Contributors Status (public or exempt) Wards affected Enclosures Reason for exemption from callin (if appropriate) Key decision Contact for further information: Ian.Baruch@barnet.gov.uk

Serial No. 2065

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RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS None CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS The write off of these debts is in line with good accounting practice, which requires that debit balances accurately reflect realisable income. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES The recommendation to write off these debts recognises that there is no longer a realistic possibility of economic recovery or the particular Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) have been cancelled for a variety of reasons including the acceptance of representations and successful appeals against the issuing of PCNs. All appropriate avenues have been exhausted in attempting to recover these sums. I consider the issue involved is unlikely to raise significant levels of concern or give rise to policy considerations. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES It is not considered that this matter is likely to raise any concerns under the Councils Equalities Policy or compromise the commitment outlined in the Councils Equality Scheme. USE OF RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS (Finance, Procurement, Performance & Value for Money, Staffing, IT, Property, Sustainability) Standard accounting practice requires the Council to calculate the debt at the financial year end and then makes an assessment of the likelihood of these being paid. This is known as a provision for bad debt.

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

Year 2011/12 CIVICA 2012/13 CIVICA Area Bus lane PCN Bus lane PCN sub total Bus lanes/PCN Deletion 250 33,465 33,715 0 505 505 34,220 0 Write off 202 847,380 847,582 3,018 191,690 194,708 1,042,290 2,798,473 Live 632,705 1,631,565 2,264,270 650,687 2,896,600 3,547,287 5,811,557 0 TOTAL 633,157 2,512,410 3,145,567 653,705 3,088,795 3,742,501 6,888,067 2,798,473

Pre11/12 PES

Grand Total 5.2

34,220

3,840,763

5,811,557

9,686,540

The debts referred to in this report covers the years 2009 2013. These write-off debts have either: (i) little to no prospect of recovery or (ii) the PCNs were cancelled. 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.

Appendix A and B details a comprehensive categorisation and listing of debts and their status for the years 2011/12 and 2012/2013. This information is sourced from CIVICA. 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 accepted Appendix B details the write offs (1,042,290) for this period sourced from the CIVICA system. Pre 2011/12 the previous parking information system called PES (Parking Enforcement System) was used by Council. The total write off figure on this system is identified as 2,798,473 and detailed in Table 1 above. For 2012/13 a bad debt provision was set manually and identified levels of write offs and deletions detailed in table 1 above. Support documentation of CIVICA deletions and write-offs is provided in the Appendices A and B. The recovery of live debt, which was 5,811,577 as the 31st March, continues with the recent instruction and contract of two new bailiff operators. The aim is to improve and increase recovery rates and reduce write offs and the bad debt provision on debts. The vast majority of live debt in the SPA area is provided for (via a bad debt provision) as at 31-03-2013 for final accounts. LEGAL ISSUES The Council has a fiduciary duty to its council taxpayers to recover monies owing to it, 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 the statutory time limit for recovery has passed) or not reasonable and economical to pursue recovery of the debts. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS Constitution, Part 3- Responsibility for Function- section 7.12: The Chief Finance Officer has the powers set out in the Financial Standing Orders and in particular subject to details being incorporated into the next available budget report being submitted to Cabinet Resources Committee on the action taken, to write off individual debt amounts of up to and including 5,000 (including cancellations of penalty charge notices or any other sums due to the Council), in consultation with the Head of Legal Practice- HB Law.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION As noted in the main report.

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LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS Appendix A and B attached.

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CONSULTATION WITH CABINET MEMBER(S) The Cabinet Member for Environment has been consulted and has given their approval.

11.

OFFICERS DECISION I authorise the following action: the write off / deletion of the Special Parking Account PCN debts (<5,000) totalling 34,220 deletions and 3,840,763 Write offs.

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Signed

Lynn Bishop StreetScene Director

Date

12/06/2013