Council pledges crack-down on bad debtors

Pembrokeshire County Council is cracking down on bad payers.

In the past 12 months over two dozen County Court Judgements (CCJs) have been obtained against people whose debts range from non-payment of commercial rents to failure to pay for school meals.

Council Leader Jamie Adams said that with the continued pressure on the Authority’s finances, it was redoubling its efforts to pursue its debtors.

He went on: “While the Council will always be sympathetic to those who genuinely cannot pay, we will not allow the delivery of vital services to be prejudiced by the irresponsible attitude of the small minority of people who owe money to the Council and refuse to pay it.

“It is imperative that the Council successfully collects all monies owed promptly and effectively as the income is vital in providing resources to continue delivering essential services to our residents.

“In the past year 26 CCJs were successfully obtained against individuals and businesses for non-payment in Pembrokeshire.

“These include arrears for school meals, rents and other property-related debts.”

Councillor Adams revealed one of the most alarming facts was the number of parent’s failing to pay for their children’s school meals with a couple of individual debts totalling over £1,500.

“To date a total of ten CCJs have successfully been obtained in this area and for the next twelve months this figure is going to increase significantly.”

“Bills and invoices will continue to be issued promptly and correctly. In all cases where recovery action is required, the Council will act quickly, fairly and impartially, but with due regard to the social welfare of the human rights of all our customers.”

He added: “I would stress that if people are having genuine difficulty in settling an account, we would prefer to have a conversation with them at an early stage in order to try and resolve the problem rather than let the debt grow and become unmanageable.”