Debt recovery and enforcement

Collecting monies owed

We are committed to collecting money owed to safeguard public services and taxpayers’ money.

Our professional debt recovery and enforcement team is experienced in:

Contact us

Adult Care Financial Services

If you are having difficulty making payment of an invoice from Adult Care Financial Services, please contact the Statutory debt recovery team:

Other invoices

If you are having difficulty in making payment of an invoice for road traffic accidents costs, meals at home, cleaning services, rental charges contact the Non-statutory debt recovery team:

Ways to pay

See how you can pay your invoice online, by Direct Debit, phone or at a bank.

If you can’t pay an invoice

If you are unable to pay your invoice for genuine reasons you must contact us as soon as possible.

We can negotiate payment arrangements depending on your personal circumstances as we recognise a 'one size fits all approach' is not always appropriate. All arrangements will be made on the basis that further debt does not accrue so you must ensure that all future invoices are paid on time.

If you require a significant length of time to bring your account up to date, we will not be able to agree a payment arrangement without the provision of income and expenditure details to evidence why payment cannot be made sooner.

We will compare this information against current pre-agreed reasonable costs for certain areas of discretionary household expenditure set by the British Banking Association and Money Advice Trust.

We will ask for documentary evidence of income and expenditure in all cases where it appears the level of expenses provided are excessive in order to make a decision. This evidence can be form of:

  • current bank account statements
  • savings account statements
  • loan agreements
  • utility bills
  • receipts
  • other information as applicable to your circumstances.

If you provide satisfactory evidence showing that you require a lengthy period to clear the arrears on your account, we will agree to accept a payment arrangement in line with your disposable income.

If a payment arrangement is agreed, our preferred method of payment is Direct Debit. This is cheaper and simpler for you and us. A Direct Debit mandate can be requested when a payment arrangement is agreed.

If you refuse to pay an invoice

If you refuse to pay an invoice, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Debt Enforcement team will take legal action to collect the overdue debt.

This applies if you:

  • do not respond to any requests for payment
  • make a commitment to pay and do not honour it
  • agree to provide information or contact us by a specified future date and do not do so
  • fail to provide evidence of why you can’t pay 
  • do not adhere to any payment arrangement agreed.

Enforcement action

Action can include:

  • referral to a Third Party Debt Collection Agency
  • issue a claim and enforce this through the Small Claims Court 
  • referral to internal Solicitors to issue a claim and enforce this through the County Court
  • referral to High Court for the debt to be enforced by a High Court Sheriff.

Potential enforcement action to recover the debt may involve:

  • Warrant of Execution – Court Bailiffs
  • Charging Order – a Legal Charge over your land or property 
  • Attachment of Earnings – deductions will be made directly from your wages 
  • Third Party Debt Order – an amount owed to you by a third party will be frozen and paid directly to us 
  • Order to Obtain Information – you will be ordered to attend Court and be examined in relation to the debt under Oath.

If we take enforcement action additional charges including Court costs, interest and compensation charges will be added to the overdue debt which may be payable by you in line with the following;

  • Section 69 County Courts Act 1984 (interest charged at 8%)
  • Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act 1998 (interest charged at 8% above the Bank of England Base Rate).

If you receive a Court Order please contact our Debt Enforcement Team:

Road Traffic Accidents/Insurance Companies

Via East Midlands Limited are our joint venture partner for providing Highways Services into Nottinghamshire. They have delegated authority to recover third party damage to County Council property such as a streetlight, road sign or road surface, which requires subsequent repair or clearing up.

If you are involved in a road traffic accident in Nottinghamshire or damage County Council property as described above, your insurance provider will be approached directly for the recovery of costs through Via East Midlands Limited or their agent, Osha Recoveries Limited, under the principle of subrogation.

Alternatively, Via East Midlands Limited or Osha Recoveries Limited will seek recovery directly from you should there be no insurance in place. Your insurance provider should contact you to confirm the details of the claim against your insurance policy. If you decide you wish to settle the claim yourself, you should seek to arrange this directly through your insurance provider in the first instance.

Via East Midlands Limited operate primarily through a schedule of rates, which they review from time to time and form the basis of the cost build up when recovering repair or cleaning up costs. This information is forwarded to Osha Recoveries Limited who act on behalf of Via East Midlands Limited in securing agreement with the insurance provider (or individual if there is no insurance in place). Upon settlement agreement Osha Recoveries Limited will arrange for the associated invoice to be raised by Via East Midlands Limited.

Nottinghamshire County Council are legislatively empowered to recover all associated costs in line with Section 36 of the Local Governments Act 1974. When recovering these costs Via East Midlands Limited do not make a profit on such incidents and have a responsibility to replace any damaged equipment with appropriately conditioned items and in accordance with the latest legislation.

Please note

Via East Midlands Limited do not consider comparator costs with other authorities to be relevant in the recovery of costs.

Via East Midlands Limited will not negotiate on the recovery costs based on salary, material or subcontractor costs charged by other local authorities.

If requested, Via East Midlands Limited will provide the following information to your insurance provider but will not supply anything further:

  • full breakdown of schedule items used in the repair or clearance of debris / oil
  • costs of any subcontractors used and a copy of the invoice to confirm subcontracted costs
  • photographs of the site where these are available.
  • incident response log.

Via East Midlands Limited will not supply further information to support the payment of charges incurred including:

  • timesheets – Via East Midlands Limited will not provide timesheets of employees involved in repairs to the Highway. This is considered personal and confidential information and therefore will not be provided in support of a claim.

How to dispute an invoice

If you think the charges on your invoice are incorrect, please contact the department that raised the invoice. Their contact details can be found in the top right hand corner of your invoice.

A dispute will only be considered if you can provide the following information:

  • what is wrong with the invoice
  • what you think the invoice should be and why.
  • the name and / or copies of any correspondence you have from someone within the Authority which suggests the charge should be different.
  • what you believe is required before payment will be made.

We will not consider the following as valid disputes or reason’s not to pay:

  • "The invoice is wrong" – if you cannot tell us why as mentioned above we will continue to pursue you for payment.
  • "I can’t afford to pay".

Once a dispute has been responded to, we will expect you to make immediate payment. If you do not make payment we will pursue you – please see the section on If you refuse to pay your invoice.

Details of disputes and the responses are maintained on record. If the same dispute is raised again and a response has been provided we will continue to pursue you for payment.

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