How Debt Collection Agencies Help Local Authorities Recover Debts
March 2017
Council tax & other local charges help to fund an array of local services that we all expect from our community such as care services, education,
emergency services, street lighting and much more. In order to keep up the standards of these local services it’s extremely important that everyone pays what they can afford towards their council tax, non-domestic rates,
housing arrears and other related local charges. However, where there are unacceptable delays in payment,
Alex M Adamson are dedicated to ensuring that our Scottish local authority clients receive the funds they are due.
In most cases, there is an initial internal recovery process carried out by the local authorities and if that has proven to be unsuccessful it will then passed to collection agencies like ourselves for recovery.
To ensure our Scottish local authority clients recover the debt they are owned we use a range of collection methods as there can be a variety of approaches required in order to find the appropriate solution for each case. Once contact has been made with the debtor, we provide the advice they need at all stages of the debt recovery process which will help them and us to develop the most appropriate debt management plan for their circumstances. Throughout the process, our range of customer communication platforms maintains a regular flow of contact with our clients as we know customer communication is key to the recovery of local authority debts.
By working in partnership with our local authority clients, using our flexible approach and refining the processes outlined above, we have helped them to improve their collection rates. All of our current clients in 2015-2016 reached levels of at least 95-96% of council tax received, an increase on their previous year and in some cases their best result since 2005/6. These increases in revenue collection continue to support local authorities to increase the standards of our local services and develop our local areas.