The Trinity Federation DEBT MANAGEMENT POLICY

Transcription

1 The Trinity Federation DEBT MANAGEMENT POLICY

2 DEBT MANAGEMENT POLICY This policy should also be read as an appendix to the Charging and Remissions Policy. It applies to all schools within The Trinity Federation. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION The effective management of debt is important to the success of any school. The Executive Headteacher and Governors of The Trinity Federation have a duty to ensure effective use of school budgets to raise standards and maximise the achievement of pupils. As part of our community cohesion strategy, we do however believe that we have a wider social responsibility. We need to ensure that there is a balance between the competing needs to maximise income collection and ensuring that parents/carers who are historically shown to be our debtors are treated in a fair and equitable manner. In order to ensure that the required balance is applied in the recovery of debts, the Governing Body has developed a Debt Management Policy. The aims of the policy are: To ensure a professional, consistent and efficient approach to debt collection. To effectively pursue all debts owed to the school ensuring that those with the means to pay do. To consider fully the debtors circumstances and ability to pay and so distinguish between the debtor who won t pay and the debtor who genuinely can t pay. To ensure that debts are managed in accordance with legislative provisions and best practice. To treat the individual consistently and fairly regardless of age, sex, gender, disability and sexual orientation and to ensure that the individuals right under Data Protection and Human Rights legislation are protected. A sensitive approach to debt recovery will be carried out, taking the following factors into account: Hardship where paying the debt would cause financial hardship Ill Health where our recovery action may cause further ill health Cost of debt where the value of the debt is large in comparison to the person s income DEBT RECOVERY Each school s administration team, working under the direction of the Schools Business Manager and on behalf of the Executive Headteacher, collects and recovers the key sources of income. The most likely causes of debt are likely to be from pupil school meals (unless pupil is eligible for either Free School Meals or Universal Infant Free School Meals), peripatetic music services, after school clubs and additional sessions in our nurseries, and other chargeable activities. (See also Charging and Remissions Policy) Non-payment of debt could leave the school vulnerable.

3 PREVENTATIVE MEASURES School Meals At Worfield Endowed CE Primary School and St. Mary s Bluecoat CE Primary School School Meals are provided by Alliance in Partnership (AiP). Non-payment of school meals by parents can be passed on to the school by AiP thus impacting on each school s budget. At Beckbury CE Primary School, School Meals are provided by Shire Services. Again, non-payment of meals can be passed on to the school by Shire Services which will impact on the school s budget. Therefore the school must work in partnership with these external providers to minimise the risk of debts accumulating by; Reminding parents/carers that school dinners should be paid for in advance. Not allowing parents/carers to owe debts of more than 2 weeks. Sending, on behalf of our external school meal providers, formal invoices for recovery of money owing at the end of 2 weeks. Helping parents/carers make alternative school meal arrangements until their debt is cleared e.g. collecting pupils for home dinners or sending in a packed lunch. Peripatetic Music Services Where parents elect for their child to participate in extra-curricular music lessons provided by Shropshire Music Services, or a similar outside provider who is contracted through the school, from Spring term 2016 all lessons will be billed in advance of the next terms lessons. This should reduce the likelihood of parents getting into debt with the service provider. Shropshire Music Service pass on all debts to the school and therefore this becomes a charge on the school budget. Additional Nursery Sessions No charge can be made for the free 15 hours of government nursery entitlement. This 15 hours entitlement can be taken across a maximum of two settings. However parents can opt to access in excess of their child s 15 hour entitlement. Therefore the governing body makes charges for any provision which extends beyond the 15 hours free entitlement. The following process is followed by all schools within The Trinity Federation in relation to collecting payments for additional nursery sessions.

4 See appendix 1-3 for letter templates in relation to non-payment of nursery fees. Debt Recovery Procedures in respect of non-payments (other than Nursery Fees) Where any payment has not been received, the following process will be applied. Initial overdue payment reminder An initial informal reminder will be made either in person or by text (sent from Text Tank) if overdue after 2 weeks. The date of the initial reminder shall be recorded. Examples of text to be sent POLITE REMINDER:. is outstanding for (name of child) s lunches. Please submit payment to the school office immediately together with this week s lunch money. Thank you. Second overdue payment reminder If no payment is received within a week following the informal reminder a formal reminder letter is issued with the parent or carer being invited to meet with the Executive Headteacher to agree a repayment plan*. The date of the formal reminder letter shall be recorded. If action is to proceed further it is necessary to evidence that all reasonable attempts have been made in a timely manner. Failure to respond to reminders / settle a debt If there has been no response to the overdue payment reminder text and formal letter the debtor will be sent a further letter explaining that if they do not clear the debt within 7 calendar days then the service will be withdrawn (i.e lunches/after school

5 club) and not available to them and that the matter will be referred for legal advice. The debtor will also be invited to meet with the Chair of the Finance Committee to organise a repayment plan. If they do not clear the debt then the case will be referred for legal advice and debt recovery processes may follow. Where cheque payments have been dishonoured by the bank, full settlement of any outstanding debt must be made in cash. *Repayment terms Debtors are expected to settle the amount owed by a single payment as soon as possible after receiving the first overdue payment reminder. A debtor may request repayment terms following a discussion with the Executive Headteacher. Where a debtor owes more than one debt to the school, one repayment plan to include all debts will be established. A record of such agreements will be retained. In all cases, a letter will be issued to the debtor confirming the agreed terms for repayment. The settlement period should be the shortest that is judged reasonable. The decision and its basis will be recorded and reported to the Governors Finance Committee. Costs of debt recovery Where the school incurs material additional costs in recovering a debt then the Finance Committee will decide whether to seek to recover such costs from the debtor. The debtor will be formally advised in writing that they will be required to pay the additional costs incurred by the school in recovering the debt. Bad debts The school may reduce or cancel a debt in certain circumstances. This may include where the value of the debt is less than the cost of recovering it, or where all reasonable and vigorous attempts to recover the debt have failed. The Executive Headteacher has the discretion to write off debts up to 50 in exceptional circumstances and will report back to the Finance and Premises Committee. Write-off of any debt between 50 to 150 requires approval from the Governors Finance and Premises Committee. Write-off of any debt between the value of 150 and 500 will be referred to the Full Board of Governors. Debts over 500 will be reported to the Local Authority. Records of any debts written off will be retained for 7 years. Policy approved: 16 th November 2015 Date of policy review: Autumn term 2017

6 Appendix 1: Nursery Fees 1 st reminder letter [DATE] Dear (Name of parent), Our records show that there is an outstanding balance of [ xx.xx] on your Nursery fee account. This is from your invoice [INVOICE NUMBER], which was due on the [DATE]. Please make payment for the total of [ xx.xx] in the next 7 days to avoid any further action. If you are experiencing any difficulty paying your invoices then please let us know so we can discuss options to help you. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me on (insert phone number of school) Yours sincerely, Claire Gaskin Executive Headteacher The Trinity Federation Appendix 2: Nursery Fees 2 nd reminder letter [DATE] Dear (Insert name of parent), Further to our letter dated on [DATE], there is still an outstanding balance of [ xx.xx] on your Nursery fee account. We now ask that you do not bring your child in to Nursery until your outstanding balance is paid in full. You can contact me on (insert telephone number of school) to discuss your account. Failure to make this payment within 7 days from the date of this letter will result in your child s place being withdrawn and your outstanding balance being passed to a debt recovery agency. Yours sincerely,

7 Claire Gaskin Executive Headteacher The Trinity Federation Appendix 3: Nursery Fees final reminder letter [DATE] Dear (insert name of parent), Further to our letters dated on [DATE] & [DATE], there is still an outstanding balance of [ xx.xx] on your Nursery fee account. As you have not attempted to make any form of contact with us in regard to this debt, we have no other option than to remove your child s Nursery place and to refer your outstanding balance to a debt collection agency. If you have any further questions or wish to discuss this decision, please contact me on (insert school phone number) Yours sincerely, Claire Gaskin Executive Headteacher The Trinity Federation