...as we cannot comment on the MEN website, it is time to let Choughworld lead the discussion.
One of the reports in the MEN today concerns Stockport Council 'writing off' roughly £200K.
Whilst Stockport Council knows exactly who owes it, for a variety of reasons, the money cannot be collected and is therefore being written off.
Please read the full story and then continue reading my viewpoint...
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/stockport-council-writes-200k-owed-1348366
OK, read it now? then here goes...
In a paragraph in the report it states that Stockport Council only collects the money before passing it on to Central Government, if the money cannot be collected and is 'written off,' it does not come off the Councils budget but off the Central Government's pot.
So, in my opinion, the main thrust of the story is -shock horror what a wasteful council, despite 'slashing' jobs it is also writing off a huge amount of money due to their 'incompetance.' But this is a load of bollocks, as the journo goes on to admit.....it doesn't make a jot of difference to the Council's financial situation.
Now the bit that may make Stockport Council clever....possibly
As the report correctly states, come April this arrangement changes. After April any uncollected moneys will have to be 'made up' from the council's pot of money. So are the Council dumping as much 'debt' as possible before the change occurs such that afterwards they do not impact their ongoing finances in years to come.
Clever or just plain incompetent
I didn't read it like that. I thought the rival rag was saying that Business Rates are collected on behalf of HMG, with unpaid rates meaning only HMG loses out. But from April, unpaid rates mean councils lose out instead. Expect them to be a bit sharper with the collections that affect their own budget.
ReplyDeleteSo probably not them being clever or wasteful. It's probably just a matter of them having to make a statement of the write offs for the annual accounts.
I reached my view because the measly mag interspaced the news with references to job losses, cutbacks, increased charges etc.
ReplyDeleteI still wonder whether the Council has pulled a blinder by being flexiable on what the definition of non-recoverable means whilst HMG pick the tab up. From April, they will then not have so much debt to try and collect when it does come out of their coffers?
BTW Chough, can the next poll be whether we have a sense of humour - given the responses to the current poll
ReplyDeleteIt will have to wait in line. We've not had a pet-related poll in days now.
DeleteClearing the decks, unrecoverable debts going back 7 years, if every other council in the country isn't doing this a) their accounts staff want shooting b) they are now
ReplyDeleteIn other news cats = good
dogs = bad
but we all agree, pet shite = bad
Delete