The Head of Financial Services has submitted a report to seek the approval and formal adoption of the revised Oxford City Corporate Debt Management Policy.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.    Approve the Debt Management Policy, as set out in Appendix A attached.

The Head of Financial Services had submitted a report to seek the approval and formal adoption of the revised Oxford City Corporate Debt Management Policy.

Councillor Chapman presented the report and stated that this was a refresh of the Council’s corporate debt policy. He said that as the Council is a large organization which interacts with a wide range of companies and people, they need to have a clear policy on debt. Councillor Chapman said that his view of this matter is that their team is very thoughtful and careful about how they pursue debt. He stated that during his time in this portfolio, the number of evictions from council housing has been extremely small. He added that they work very carefully to try and bring into place a debt repayment plan that is suitable for the individual. In these situations, they have to distinguish between two scenarios, those who have got into debt and can’t pay and those people who could pay but do not want to. There is a need to work thoughtfully with people who can’t pay to help them pay back their debt over time. In the other scenario, there is a need to pursue those individuals more forcefully.

Councillor Chapman added that the way they collect debt is generally quite successful and he commended this policy for approval.

Councillor Turner thanked the officers for their hard work on this matter. He said that it is his impression that the team work diligently to assist people. He said that when the team is approached, they strive to have the right balance between protecting scarce public funds, while also showing empathy to people’s individual circumstances. Councillor Turner also discussed the categories of debt discussed in this report and said that some things in this realm have dipped with the cost-of-living crisis, as would be expected. Given the current financial circumstances, it is important for the Council to collect money. He asked people to keep in mind that during the COVID period, a number of forms of debt enforcement were put on hold and because some debts were not collected, that led to some longer arrangements being put together. The report shows that there is outstanding commercial debt, and they are expecting that to be repaid.

Councillor Turner also noted that as a Council, Oxford is unusual with respect to their network of advice centres which do excellent work supporting people in difficult situations. He said that he was glad to see that referrals for advice are a part of this policy.

Philip McGaskill, Revenues Service Delivery Manager, added that people in Oxford have found this to be a challenging time and they have statutory regulations regarding how they recover debt from our citizens. Additionally, he stated that they support that with a series of text messages and before their action gets to a level of seriousness, for example including court action, members of their team will contact people to offer them repayment programs. The Revenues Service Delivery Manager stated that their team understands that once people start to incur fees, it becomes far more difficult to pay their bill. Thus, they have a structure that gives people every opportunity to talk to them before matters become serious. He added that their teams are aware of the impacts on families if they face eviction. He said that their team takes extra care to ensure that people have every opportunity to talk to them and make an arrangement with them. The Revenues Service Delivery Manager said that they work to install an ethic of repayment, and with that in mind, they are quite prepared to take longer arrangements, so that they can establish a suitable payment plan for those facing difficult circumstances.

Councillor Chapman thanked the officers for their support in putting together this policy. He stated that this is a well put together policy, in theory and in practice. He commended the team for their work and said that they are extremely careful about not putting people into impossible positions. He commended the officers for their work and the balance that they have struck.

Councillor Brown agreed that this is an important piece of work. She stated that they have a duty to taxpayers and other tenants to collect money where possible, but to do that in a way that recognizes peoples’ circumstances and does not put them in a more difficult position. She added that this policy gets that balance right.

Councillor Munkonge emphasized the positive attributes of the policy and agreed with Councillors Brown and Chapman that this is an important piece of work.

Cabinet agreed to:

1.    Approve the Debt Management Policy, as set out in Appendix A of the report.

Councillor Linda Smith entered the meeting during this item.