Issue - meetings

Report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director

Councillor Dick Tonge presented the report which introduced an Income Management Strategy.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: the links to the efficiency agenda, income collection and charging strategies; the need to continue to improve how people contact and pay for services; how support to people to help manage different debts held with the Council can be developed; how credit unions and work with other parties would be addressed in the development of the action plan; the balance to be struck between charging to enable overhead cost to be appropriately recovered, and the need to remain competitive; and the risks involved in the Council creating a new payment system rather than using a system provided by the fast-changing market.

Councillor Tonge agreed to look into a query from Councillor Hubbard on whether there had been any progress on the One Card for Wiltshire initiative previously considered by the Council. Tonge acknowledged that with technology, methods of payment were quickly evolving.

Resolved

1.    To note the contents of this report; and

2.    To adopt the income strategy. With the strategy in place engagement with officers can begin. The engagement process will involve agreeing the steps each service will need to take to meet the objectives set out in the Action Plan.

Reason for decision:

As local authorities continue to face cuts in government funding and growth in demand for Adult Care and Children’s Services to maintain key services we need to focus on raising and collecting income from our residents, businesses and visitors efficiently and to ensure the financial sustainability of our excellent service delivery. In doing so we need to be commercial in our approach and use both technology and data to make more informed decisions. We must use our knowledge and experience to offer the right services at the right price and offer the most suitable and efficient means to enable customers to pay for those services.