Almost £1.5m of Outstanding Debt Recovered Using Liberata’s static debt Solution
Overview
The London Borough of Hounslow, situated in West London, covers an area of about 22 square miles that includes Feltham, Isleworth, Brentwood, Gunnersbury and parts of Chiswick. It was formed in 1965 from an amalgamation of districts that were then included in Middlesex. The council provides a range of services to approximately 275,000 residents.
Hounslow has been in a long term partnership with Liberata across a number of service areas and therefore, Liberata were a natural fit to support the Council with debt recovery within social care and related (and sensitive) areas of the organisation.
The Requirement
However efficient the Council had been in collecting outstanding debt, there was a need for specialist and dedicated support against Social Care. The number of untouched historical cases equated to significant amounts of money owed to Hounslow Council without any indication of action to repay. Though legal support was available for authorities, the need for management of the entire process was large.
The Solution
Liberata has been providing Debt Recovery Services to local authorities for many years. This is a fully-managed service and follows the protocols of statutory legal guidance while liaising directly with the client on behalf of the Council. The process for Hounslow specifically, involved an initial case review investigation, a financial assessment of the individual in debt, an expenditure analysis to come up with a repayment plan or an agreement to settle and reconciliation with the Finance Income department once funds had been received. There were even instances where Liberata would work with the DWP, client solicitors and lawyers, executors and estate managers and appointees & deputies in order to recover debts. In many cases, we would assist in the completion of Financial Assessments, which prevents errors from happening when calculating client contributions and ultimately stops future debt from accumulating.
Highlights
Importantly, the service from Liberata included physical visits, essential in collating sufficient evidence and allows the local authority to have insight of individual client’s circumstances when considering settlement options.
In addition, Liberata was able to identify issues that may be impacting other areas of the Council’s financial support such as outstanding Council tax, misuse of benefits or perhaps the need for representation if the client is now lacking mental capacity or health is deteriorating.
This service commenced with Hounslow in November 2019 and has proved to be hugely successful.
£1,390,351 recovered from 2019 – 2022
My experience of using Liberata Debt Recovery has been very positive. The Debt Recovery Officer/s have been efficient, engaging and pro-active. The funds obtained by the Debt Recovery Service have far outweighed the cost.
HELEN TAYLOR, HEAD OF SERVICE, ADULT SOCIAL CARE, LONDON BOROUGH OF HOUNSLOW COUNCIL
