THE FOREST Council is going into the debt collection business – but councillors are not too keen to be linked explicitly with it.

Currently, when Council Tax or Business Rates are not paid and initial efforts to recover the debt fail, it is passed onto a private enforcement agency who start a three-stage process.

But now the council has decided the first stage – and the £75 fee that comes with it – could remain in-house.

Last year 1,424 Council Tax and 101 Business Rates accounts were passed onto the enforcement agency bringing them a total of £114,375 at the first “compliance” stage.

Given that around one of third of outstanding debts are dealt with at this stage, that is £36,600 that could be going back to the council rather than the enforcement agency.

The council’s Cabinet agreed the move last week and that it would it done under the banner of Publica – the joint venture with Cotswold and West Oxfordshire council – and which is already done by the other two authorities

A report to the Cabinet noted: “This allows some political distance within the administration and reduces the reputational risk of the Councils.”

The council says dealing with issues early prevents costs further into the process from mounting up.

Cabinet member for economy, Cllr Bernie O’Neill (Lab, Ruspidge) said the council should move from “enforcers to enablers”.

He said: “I see our officers working with people in difficult situations to overcome those difficult situations rather than imposing more and more debts upon them and scaring them about prison.”

Council leader Cllr Tim Gwilliam (Ind, Berry Hill) said: “This is something that could do a lot for the council and, more importantly, the taxpayer.

“There are issues in life but they can be dealt with in a certain way. Let’s discover the Forest of Dean District Council way on dealing with these things.”

Cabinet member for environment Cllr Sid Phelps (Green, Lydbrook) asked why the council wanted to “hide behind the Publica mask”.

Cllr Richard Leppingon (Ind, Bream), the Cabinet member for finance, said: “There is a feeling that in sensitive matters like this where, unfortunately, actions have to be escalated and external agencies used to pursue debts, having it under the Publica umbrella removes the Forest of Dean District Council a little bit from being seen as the body that is pursuing the debt.”

He added: “We are an authority that would rather work with people when they have problems rather than waving a big stick around.”