THURROCK Council says it plans to get tougher on residents who willfully fail to meet their financial obligations to the council – but is offering beacon of help and hope to those who are genuinely struggling to pay their way.

The council currently has around £5 million in outstanding council tax arrears and at a meeting of the council's corporate overview and scrutiny committee last night (Tuesday, 16 November) its members were briefed on the authority's new 'Fair Debt' policy which has been developed in consultation with Citizens advice and other external agencies.

Committee chair Cllr Sue Little described the new procedures as "taking a holistic view and puts fairness at the heart of the council's debt management by providing clear information, easy access and help when needed.

"Debt can be extremely worrying for many people, especially because it can often be so complex to tackle."

She added: "It also takes a firm approach in recovering those that try to shirk their responsibilities for selfish reasons.

The new approach has been designed to ensure that residents who are struggling to pay their debts to the council have the opportunity to get the help and support they need, while those who can pay but habitually don't are taken to task.

The policy sets out an approach for billing and collecting debt that includes:

• ensuring residents receive clear, up-to-date information about what they owe the council and that numerous payment options are made available to everyone
• that a 'single view of debt' is obtained for those who owe different payments to the council to allow, where appropriate, one overall plan to clear their debt
• support will be made available to those who are struggling or vulnerable to help them clear their debt and better manage their finances in the future
• using all legal powers possible to recover debt from those who can pay but choose not to on an habitual basis

Cabinet member for finance Cllr Shane Hebb, told the meeting: "This policy has come from what we learned, from various contributors, at the Fair Debt Summit.

"It ensures that those struggling get help and support and that those who have the resources but deliberately and consistently attempt to avoid payment do not get away with it. For context at the current time 20 per of the Council Tax arrears – around £1m - is owed by just five per cent of debtors. "Not all debt should be treated the same and this policy will ensure that residents have all the information they need on what they owe the council, multiple pathways to make payment, help on hand if they find themselves in trouble and a robust response to those who think that they should allow others to pay their way by avoiding payment, including the top-habitual offenders being taken through the process of committal if they continue not to pay. "It is the latest outcome from the Fair Debt Summit along with new lessons in financial management for school pupils in the borough and the nationally recognised single 'view of debt' management system." Meanwhile the committee heard the councils wants to continue with its Local Council Tax Support Scheme (LCTS) which gives borough residents of working age, and who meet the criteria, an opportunity to reduce their bill by up to 75 per cent. Cllr Hebb said: "This scheme provides vital financial help to those that need it and we want to make sure it is available in its current form for the borough's residents next year. "Our proposals ensure that working residents in economic difficulty are helped where help is possible. The first £25 per week of earned income will not be included when calculating support. "We will also not include child benefit and maintenance payments to help families. "Military compensation including War Disablement Pensions, War Widow's Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments will also not be included as part of income in our support calculations, meaning that those receiving them keep all this money without it affecting the level of Council Tax support they receive. "We want to provide consistency of support and again propose to provide more than £8.5m of funding to support the scheme which helps some of the borough's most vulnerable residents." Proposals on the LCTS will now go on to full council for a decision in the new year.