Corporate debt recovery

Standard payment terms

Where the council invoices residents and businesses for certain services they use, this is known as a corporate sundry debt. The customer should pay in line with the payment terms as stated on their invoice. To make payment towards your invoice(s), please go to our payments page for further information. See also 'Who to Pay' in the following sections.

The council's Corporate Sundry Debt Management, Recovery and Write Off Policy can be found on the Publications area of this page.

Standard payments terms

Our standard payment/ credit terms are 30 days from the date of the invoice. Depending on the debt being invoiced, this term may be varied - for example commercial tenancies/ leases are normally due 21 days from the invoice date. Please read your invoice carefully to avoid it becoming overdue.

Instalments and/ or Direct Debit recovery of an outstanding invoice will only be considered where requested by the customer and there is no history of late/ missed payments on the customer's account. If you are paying by instalments, we may remove this facility if you fail to bring your account up to date, the remaining balance of your account will become due.

Brentwood Borough Council will exercise its statutory right to claim interest and compensation for debt recovery costs if it is not paid in line with the agreed payment terms. This is includes reclaiming costs charged to the Council by its Collection Agent (see following sections).

If you do not pay

If you are having difficulty paying your invoice you must contact us immediately to discuss your payment options.

If you do not comply with the payment terms agreed, Brentwood Borough Council reserves the right to take further recovery action, which may include:

Referral to a Civil Collection Agent to pursue the debt
Third Party Order (attachment to your bank account)
Charging Order (including the forced sale of your home)
Warrant of Execution (County Court Enforcement Agents)
Bankruptcy

In accordance with Late Payment legislation, Brentwood Borough Council will exercise its statutory right to claim interest and compensation for debt recovery costs if it is not paid in line with the agreed payment terms.

Interest, compensation and recovery costs

Under the provisions of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 as amended, Brentwood Borough Council has a statutory right to claim interest, compensation and reasonable debt recovery costs where an invoice becomes overdue.

Statutory Interest

Under Section 1 of the above Act, statutory interest is calculated at 8% plus the ‘reference rate’ (the Bank of England base rate) that applied at the time the debt became overdue.

Interest owed on late payments is ‘simple’, not ‘compound’ interest, so is therefore calculated as follows:

'Debt times interest rate, divided by 365, times the number of days late'

Statutory Compensation

Under Section 5A of the above Act, suppliers are entitled to an additional fixed sum depending on the level of the debt. The sum shall be:

for a debt less than £1000, the sum of £40;
for a debt of £1000 or more, but less than £10,000, the sum of £70;
for a debt of £10,000 or more, the sum of £100.

Reasonable recovery costs

Under Section 5A of the above Act, where the statutory compensation does not cover the costs in recovering the debt, suppliers are entitled to the difference between the fixed sum above and the actual costs.

Under the terms of the Service Level Agreement between Brentwood Borough Council and our collection agent, Reventus Ltd, Reventus Ltd will charge Brentwood Borough Council to the value of 20% on outstanding balances where they are required to attend on site to recover the money owed. Brentwood Borough Council will seek to recover these costs from the customer.

Further information on interest and compensation can be found on the gov.uk website.

How can I ensure that I don't receive a claim for interest and/or compensation for debt recovery costs?

Purchasers must not enter into a contract that realistically they do not think they will be able to fulfil. (A purchaser's reputation and credit rating will be damaged, notwithstanding the increased risk of having to pay significantly more than originally envisaged as interest accrues and compensation is claimed.)
Purchasers should ensure that agreed payment terms are complied with
Purchasers should reconcile invoices and statements of account promptly.
Purchasers should raise any genuine complaints or disputes as soon as they arise, and at the very latest upon receipt of an invoice.
If a dispute or complaint arises, purchasers should obtain (where possible) written confirmation from the supplier that a query exists.

Collection agents

Brentwood Borough Council has instructed Reventus Ltd to act as a Collection Agent on its behalf to recover outstanding debt where a customer fails to comply with the payment terms of the original invoice/ instalment plan.

Brentwood Borough Council will provide customer details to Reventus Ltd only where a balance remains outstanding once the council's own internal recovery process has been completed without the outstanding debt being paid, or where no contact has been made to agree a repayment plan.

If your account is passed to Reventus Ltd as a result of unpaid invoices/ instalments, you will need to contact them directly in order to agree repayment of the outstanding balance(s). You should not pay any money to Brentwood Borough Council directly if your account is with Reventus Ltd.

Please note that failure to contact Reventus Ltd when your account has been passed to them could result in fees being added to the total amount outstanding.

Reventus Limited, 9 Harforde Court, John Tate Road, Hertford SG13 7NW

Website: www.reventus.co.uk

Contact Number: 03301 221 221 Email: info@reventus.co.uk

Who to contact

Who to contact

If you have received an invoice but have a query regarding it, you should speak to the department that raised it.

If you have received either a 'Reminder Notice' or a ‘Notice of Further Action’ letter from the Council, you should contact the Accounts Receivable team by emailing corporatedebtors@brentwood.gov.uk

If you have received a letter from Reventus, you should contact Reventus directly on 03301 221 221.

Cases that have been passed to Reventus cannot be resolved by either the department that raised it, or by the Accounts Receivable team. Any dispute or correspondence should be with Reventus, otherwise the customer could incur additional fees.

Vulnerable customers - debt and money advice

If you are in debt and finding it hard to cope, it is important to deal with the problem immediately to avoid additional recovery action.

The Council is committed to providing advice and support as well as a variety of payment options including:

Holding enforcement action once a customer makes contact to inform of a difficulty in making payment
Voluntary payment solutions considered in preference to statutory or civil remedies

Further information on the help available to you can be found on the Council's Debt and Money Advice pages.

External money advice links:

Citizens Advice

The Money Advice Service

Who to pay

Invoices that have been passed to Reventus can only be paid directly to Reventus.

Invoices that have not been passed to Reventus can be paid to the Council directly. Details of the various payment channels on offer can be found on the back of your invoice or by going to the Council's payments page.

Data protection, privacy and fraud prevention

The Council is under a duty to protect the public funds it administers, and to this end may use/ share the information it holds about you/ your company with other Council services and bodies (including Reventus Ltd) for the prevention and detection of fraud, and to aid administration. Any processing of your data will be performed in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.

For further information, and to find details of your rights and how we process personal data, please go to the Council's Data Protection page.

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