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Better debt collection

The Corporate Debt Team was formed in order to have a coordinated approach to debt recovery for the City Council. The challenge was to ensure we had an effective 'end to end' recovery process.

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New ways to pay

The methods of payments for Council Tax open to Liverpool City Council customers were limited to direct debit, cash and payment by booklet. The solution deployed was an electric payment card called ALLPAY.

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Revenues Services

Revenue Services staffThe Liverpool Direct Limited Revenues Service currently collects over £260m of revenues on behalf of a growing number of customers.

Investment in the Revenues Service has transformed collection performance and the customer experience across Council Tax, Business Rates, Corporate Debts and Rents. 

  • Today we are an upper quartile collector of Business Rates (99.3%) and collection of Council Tax has improved by 4.2% in two years. 
  • Last year we reduced Council Tax arrears by £11.8m, collected £8m sundry debts and reduced rent arrears by nearly £1m.        

Our services are holistic and driven by our understanding customer needs, and delivering flexible solutions that feature high degrees of integration and automation into the revenue collecting processes. This is facilitied through close working with the Liverpool Direct Limited ICT Service.

We pro-actively manage cases from taking measures to prevent rent payers falling into debt through and take ownership of debt collection at all stages including court processe and the engagement of baillifs.

The Liverpool Direct Limited Revenues Service offer a wide range of payment methods and the service is always seeking to challenge current practices and drive business improvement. Examples include:

  • Introduced e-billing for Council Tax and Business Rates.
  • Increased the number of Direct Debit payers for Council Tax by 50,000.
  • Replaced payment booklets with payment cards.
  • Improved tracing of absconders by using Experian and increased integration with bailiff firms.
  • Using Experian to determine employers' detail for attachment to earnings.
  • Taking early Committal and Bankruptcy proceedings against debtors who refuse to pay.      

For more information contact Head of Revenues Services, Phil Robinson.