“Ey up Barnet what you doing about this debt?

In the context of ‘Austerity’ and the constant cuts it has brought to frontline services and staff, it is important that the employer is doing all that it can to ensure it doesn’t lose any income.

Recently the External Auditor had not signed off the Councils accounts due to a number of serious issues.

I attended the Extraordinary Audit Committee on Tuesday 19 September 2017 yo listen to some of the discussion.

Below is an extract from the External Auditors report http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=144&MId=9401

The use of bold and underline is mine.

 “As part of the review of aged debts, we noted that the Council had excluded two older debts from the calculation of the allowance for non-collection or for impairment as management was of the view that these were recoverable.

The first relates to The Barnet Group at £296,000 that is in excess of one year old. Management has stated that as The Barnet Group is a wholly owned subsidiary that this debt is secure.  However, we have not seen evidence of why this amount is considered to be a valid debtor.”

“The second relates to Comer Homes at £925,711 that is in excess of two years old. Management believe this is recoverable and relates to energy costs paid on the North London Business Park premises that should have been paid by Comer Homes. We have seen correspondence in 2015 suggesting that this will repaid at £50,000 per month but we have not seen any recovery to date. The case has been passed to HB Public Law.

Due to the aging of these debts and lack of recovery action to date, we are seeking a specific management representation to confirm that these amounts are recoverable.”

http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s42287/Appendix%20A%20-%20Audit%20Completion%20Report.pdf

I am currently involved in a consultation in Street Services Cleansing services. Approximately 25% of posts are being deleted in order to make a £600K saving.

Imagine my disbelief and then anger that we can let the above debts go without a fight.

Furthermore I have since learnt from a post by Barnet Blogger Mr Reasonable “Capita have claimed a saving of £942,000 made up of actual annual energy savings of £111,071 plus £202,420 of “corrected overcharges”.”

http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/gainshare-contract-clause-that-keeps-on.html

How does that work?

We are owed £923,711 from energy costs yet I read we are paying Capita a bonus for making savings on energy costs.

How does that work?