Debt Management Policy document
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Approved Date |
April 2026 |
|---|---|
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Next Review Date |
April 2029 |
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Related Legislation/Applicable Section of Legislation |
The Judgments (Interest) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 |
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Related Policies, Procedures, Guidelines, Standards, Frameworks |
n/a |
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Replaces |
Previous version dated May 2024 |
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Policy Lead (Name/Position/Contact details) |
Michelle Hegarty Assistant Director – Finance michelle.hegarty@midandeastantrim.gov.uk |
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Sponsor Directorate |
Corporate Support Services |
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Version |
2 |
Revision record
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Date |
Version |
Revision Description |
|---|---|---|
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Pre-2024 |
Original |
Initial policy created (date not documented) |
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May 2024 |
1 |
Amendments made to strengthen the policy by clarifying the criteria for debt write-off and refining approval thresholds for write-off authorisation. |
|
March 2026 |
2 |
In depth detail has been applied to this version, particularly around the time frames for reminding a customer of any outstanding debt |
1. Debt Management Policy
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is committed to minimising the risk of bad debts and ensuring that public funds are managed responsibility.
To support this, a robust debt management procedure must be followed by all relevant staff and applied consistently to all customer sales transactions.
2. Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to set out the Council’s approach for effective management and recovery of debt, ensuring that all income owed is pursued in a timely, consistent, and fair manner.
It sets out the framework within which debt will be monitored and recovered, supporting the Council’s responsibility to safeguard public funds and maintain financial stability.
3. Scope
This policy applies to all Council staff involved in the billing, management, monitoring, and recovery of income owed to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
It covers all customer sales transactions, including charges for goods, services, statutory fees, and any other income-generating activity carried out by the Council.
The policy applies to:
a) The Finance Department – specifically the Credit Control function.
The finance team will continually monitor the debtors’ listing produced by the Council’s finance systems, and will identify any debts which remain unpaid, after the period set out in the council’s terms and conditions (normally 30 days after invoice date unless stated otherwise).
b) Service Areas are responsible for providing timely and accurate information to enable invoices to be raised correctly, supplying all supporting documentation required for effective recovery, and cooperating fully with the Finance Department throughout the recovery process.
Service areas must ensure that information is complete, accurate and provided promptly so that debts can be pursued without delay.
c) A debtor is anybody (whether an individual or organisation) who has received goods or services from the Council, or is liable for a statutory debt, and who has not yet paid the full amount owed.
d) This policy does not apply to domestic or non-domestic rates. All matters relating to rates debt are administered by Land & Property Services (LPS) processes and fall outside the scope of this policy.