Writing off this debt is criminal (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Writing off this debt is criminal

I CAN see how failing to collect £3 million worth of debts would look good and not help a performance assessment, but to simply write off the debt is criminal. Part of the duty of the council officers is to manage the collection of money owed to the council.

Of course some debt will be difficult to collect and some may be impossible to collect. However, that is the duty of the council.

The £3 million is not an inconsequential figure and would make a significant difference to the work of the council in any number of areas.

I despair when I hear such silly comments as "we are going to try to pursue debts sooner rather than later" hardly rocket science is it. Like many of your readers I am thoroughly fed up with hearing what the council intends to do such as centralising its debts recovery process. Why is it that things which are so obvious seem to dawn on councillors and senior officers only when they are in the proverbial.

As for writing off debts of over £50,000 how many of these are there in the year? Management, I don't believe the council understands the concept never mind the reality.

D MORGAN

Swindon