Liberata Recovers £175,000 of Housing BenefitOverpaymentsfor Peterborough City Council

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Background

Peterborough City Council faced a significant challenge with a backlog of Housing Benefit overpayments. These debts had accumulated over several years and included individuals who had moved within the Borough and outside of Peterborough. As a result, the Council was struggling to recover these funds and there was a danger of the debt being written off.

The Solution

Peterborough City Council engaged Liberata, a service provider specialising in debt recovery and financial services to:
Identify and locate individuals with unpaid Housing Benefit overpayments.
Recover as much of the outstanding debt as possible.
Set up manageable payment plans for debtors, facilitating compliance and reducing financial strain.

Liberata reviewed 1,551 cases of Housing Benefit overpayment, representing a total debt balance of £1.1 million. Importantly, Liberata’s systematic approach involved propensity to pay analysis; tailored
communication strategies and flexible payment solutions to maximise results and ensure that individual
indebtedness did not increase.

Results

The initiative delivered remarkable results, surpassing initial expectations:

  • Debt Recovery: Liberata successfully traced 1,100 correct addresses, enabling
    effective communication with the majority of the debtors.
  • Immediate Payments: 120 individuals paid their debts in full.
  • Payment Plans: 180 payment arrangements were established.
  • Financial Impact: £175,000 projected collections (twice the original estimate).

Conclusion

The partnership between Peterborough City Council and Liberata stands as a testament to the power of datadriven strategies in public sector debt recovery. By exceeding the expected recovery yield, the initiative not only improved the Council’s financial health but also demonstrated the potential for similar approaches to be taken for other debt types and adoption by other councils facing similar challenges. This case study highlights the importance of innovative solutions and effective collaboration in achieving significant financial recoveries within the public sector”.

The service from Liberata was extremely effective and we were surprised by how they managed to
engage with citizens in an empathetic manner and recover a significantly higher than expected percentage of the overpayments.
EMMA RIDING, SERVICE DIRECTOR – FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & DEPUTY 151 OFFICER,
PETERBOROUGH CITY COUNCIL.

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As a Council we are focused on ensuring that the services delivered are both sustainable and of the highest quality. We are delighted to be working with Liberata to help deliver these services on behalf of our residents and businesses. Liberata stood out with its ability to drive transformational change and improve customer access and digital services.
Richard Baker
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Borough of Broxbourne
Liberata is the ideal delivery partner to help us achieve our aims, whilst ensuring we can drive down processing times and improve the service for our customers. Council tax and business rates collection will improve, ensuring that we have the funds to deliver the vital services that have a positive impact on residents’ lives. We look forward to working closely in partnership with Liberata to help achieve our aims
Rebecca Keene
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Eastleigh Borough Council has worked with Liberata for a number of years who undertake the council's empty home reviews, and I must say, their service exceeded all expectations. From start to finish, they demonstrated professionalism, efficiency, and a genuine commitment to addressing this critical issue in our community. Thanks to Liberata, the council has been able to maximise our empty home bonus year on year. This positive impact on our community cannot be overstated.
Kerrie Thomas
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The RV Finder service from Liberata has really helped us ensure that our data is as accurate as possible and, when the VOA has processed the outstanding cases, I fully expect to see more than £1,000,000 of additional RV. The “risk and reward” model works well and the Council only has to pay for their success and the service is something that we will use on a regular basis.
Steve King
Leicester City Council
Liberata has been empowered to create a seamless integration with technology to digitally transform the Revenues and Benefits service whilst trying to protect local jobs. The joint strategy has helped to deliver innovative solutions that have exceeded expectations, whilst providing savings to the authority. This surge in digital engagement has helped deliver strong year one outturn with electronic billing and the technology will enable us to show improvements in the benefits speed of processing and in Council Tax processing of moves, discounts and exemptions.
Andy Stevens
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