The Board considered a report from the Director of Finance which sought approval for the write-off of a number of sundry debts, as the debtor had passed away and their estate had no remaining assets available to meet the outstanding debts.
It was noted that in 2019 the Council’s Fraud Investigation Team identified that a significant fraud had been perpetrated against the Council relating to the receipt of Adults Direct Payments. A subsequent Police investigation revealed that the individual involved had been carrying out similar frauds against Oldham Council and the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP). In total the fraud amount to over £1m across the two Councils and the DWP, of which £240,095 related to Halton.
The individual had subsequently passed away and there were no assets remaining in the individual’s estate from which the Council could obtain payment of the outstanding debts. As the debt could no longer be recovered, approval was sought to write-off the outstanding debts, which would be fully funded from the bad debt provision.
RESOLVED: That the write-off of debts against the bad debt provision, as outlined within the report, be approved.