Jacobs - ERYC - 120911

15th September 2011 FAO Sarah Mackey Partnership and Technical Services Manager East Riding of Yorkshire Council County Hall Beverley East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA Dear Sarah Re: Bailiff Services Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) Contract 984CC Thank you for your letter dated 6th September, the contents of which are noted and it is with delight I confirm the acceptance of the offer of the contract under the ESPO Contract 984CC and the councils requirements as discussed and detailed in your Appendix A and B for a period of 3 years commencing on Monday 19 September. We at Newlyn very much look forward to forming a successful relationship and working together in partnership with you and your teams. Yours sincerely Cheryl Vickers Business Development Director

County Hall Beverley East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA Telephone (01482) 887700 www.eastriding.gov.uk

Caroline Lacey Head of Finance

Mr S Jacobs Jacobs Certificated Bailiffs 4 Europa Boulevard Birkenhead Merseyside CH41 4PE

Your Ref: Our Ref: SM

Enquiries to: Sarah Mackey E-Mail: [email protected] Tel. Direct: (01482) 394831

Date: 6 September 2011

Dear Simon Bailiff Services Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) Contract 984CC

I am pleased to confirm that the Council’s Cabinet have today agreed to the recommendation that the Council adopt the above contract for the provision of corporate bailiff services for a period of three years, to commence Monday 19 September 2011. This agreement is in accordance with the ESPO framework agreement and terms and conditions and also the Council’s additional requirements as discussed and as detailed in Appendix A. Appendix B details the fees and charges to be made for these services. I should be grateful if you would write to me to confirm your agreement to this offer and look forward to working with you in the very near future. Yours sincerely Sarah Mackey Partnership and Technical Services Manager



Ms C Vickers Newlyn plc 59 Clarke Road Northampton NN1 4PL


Enquiries to: Sarah Mackey E-Mail: [email protected] Tel. Direct: (01482) 394831 Date: 6 September 2011

Dear Cheryl Bailiff Services Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) Contract 984CC




Mr C Rundle Rundles 53 Northampton Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 9HB


Enquiries to: Sarah Mackey E-Mail: [email protected] Tel. Direct: (01482) 394831 Date: 6 September 2011

Dear Chris Bailiff Services Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) Contract 984CC


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Appendix A: Additional requirements to ESPO specification

1. Customer Service and Liaison

The council and contractor(s) shall provide nominated points of contact to liaise over operational matters. Contractor(s) nominated points of contact should include a specific account manager who will be the primary point of contact for the council in all matters and team of competent staff to deal with all operational enquiries from the council’s representatives between 8.30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday. The contractor(s) will confirm that literature left with debtors clearly indicates both contractor office enquiry lines and the visiting bailiff’s mobile telephone number. To ensure that all debtors are given the opportunity to talk to an actual bailiff or back office member of staff personally in order to discuss settling the debt, any literature left for the debtor must make clear reference to the type of debt the contractor is seeking to recover and clearly show referencing information (such as account numbers or case identity numbers) which are more than sufficient to enable the debtor to identify the case adequately when contacting the contractor(s). The council will appoint specific nominated points of contact to liaise with the contractor(s) on all operational enquiries. These points of contact are for contractor(s) use only. Contractor(s) should not provide debtors with details of these points of contact under any circumstances. The council will have given debtors every opportunity to discuss liability or repayment issues before liability orders are forwarded to a contractor(s) for collection.

• The contractor(s) will be given discretion to either collect or, where necessary, make arrangements to collect debts without reference to the council.

• The contractor(s) will also be given discretion to make arrangement to collect debts within nine months of receipt.

• Where a bailiff determines that debtors circumstances are such that only a minimal amount can be paid, approval should be sought through the nominated point of contact for payment arrangements which will extend over longer than twenty four months. Bailiffs should review such arrangements every three months to determine whether any change in circumstance has occurred which would affect debtors’ ability to pay.

• Arrangement periods and their effectiveness will be discussed at liaison meetings.

• Debtors who contest liability should be directed to the council’s billing and collection team to resolve such issues, not the nominated point of contact.

The contractor(s) must make an appropriate officer available when reasonably required by the council to give evidence in any court proceedings relating to cases involving the recovery of council tax and business rates and associated costs and penalties. Claims for payment of expenses by the contractor(s) in respect of these cases and work associated with them should be submitted to the court for payment as appropriate and the council will not be liable to pay the contractor(s) in respect of these claims.

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2. System Access Data security is of the utmost importance to the council. The contractor(s) should have in place an internal debtor management system capable of secure electronic transfer of debtor information. Information transmitted to and by the council should be by secure file transfer protocol or by encrypted e-mail. Where it is required, encryption should be in the relevant format, as agreed with the council. If encryption is not appropriate, this should be agreed with the council in advance. To ensure debtor data is not lost, no information should be sent in the postal system whether within the contractor(s) own organisation or to the council. Should data be lost, the council will require a full report of the circumstances and outcome, and what will be done to ensure it does not happen again. Electronic returns must adhere to a file naming convention which sufficient to differentiate between the content of individual files. The contractor(s) system must be able to identify debtors previously dealt with and, if instructions for such debtors have previously been unenforceable for reasons of having moved without trace, bankruptcy, liquidation, death or absconded, the new instructions must be returned with an appropriate report. Subject to relevant information legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998, the council must have, throughout the contract period, internet access to the contractor(s) computer systems. Such systems should be web based and have a minimum operational availability of 90% during working hours. Access should be sufficient to allow council staff, or its service provider to:

• allow searches to be made by council account reference, contractor reference and name

• show the name, property and correspondence address of debtors

• show the original and current amounts outstanding including fees

• show action taken and notes made on the case file

• show a complete breakdown of individual fees charged

• run and extract reports of all available data on the entire caseload. (these reports will be reasonably required by the council for the purposes of performance management of the contract and for general contract management). The contractor(s) will be required to ensure that its computer systems can accurately input and process the data provided by the council’s IT provider. If they are not, the contractor(s) will be liable for any software development costs associated with the need to ensure that they can process files in the format and layout the council requires. If the council changes any of their software suppliers for any of the services in this tender during the contract term, the contractor(s) may have to amend its software at its own expense. The contractor(s) should ensure that reports or data files supplied to the council in connection with cases referred under the contract are in a format which is compatible with and can be uploaded directly into the relevant database.

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3. Fees

Statutory fees for Council Tax and NNDR may be charged. Only one visit fee may be charged per day in respect of any visits carried out on that day. The statutory fees will be limited on multiple liability order cases to 1 van call per visit regardless of the number of liability orders involved. This fee is to be standardised between the three bailiff companies in the contract. The amount of the fee for van calls is to be agreed with The East Riding of Yorkshire Council and will be reviewed on a two yearly basis. The council places great emphasis on the proportionality of the value of levies or fees to the debt. The council may on occasion have no choice other than to ask bailiffs to collect debts with comparatively small balances however the council expects contractor(s) to exercise sufficient discretion to ensure that the value of any goods levied on or the sum of the costs applied are equitable and proportionate to the debt to be recovered. Where possible, the value of goods levied on or the sum of fees charged should not exceed the value of the original debt. Where any doubt arises over fees to be applied, prior consent must be obtained from the nominated point of contact before such fees are charged. Fees which put payment of the debt beyond the means of the debtor should not be applied. This will be subject to review following any amendment to enforcement regulations affecting the relevant fees.

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4. Payments and remittances

An option for the debtor to make payment at a customer service centre in the East Riding of Yorkshire must also be available, as well as payments over the telephone. Any payments paid direct to the council for council tax or business rates will be subject to a commission charge. No commission charge is payable for payments paid direct to the council for former tenant council rent arrears. The contractor(s) will liaise with the council or its payment service provider to establish this facility. Payments will be remitted in full to the contractor(s) by BACS on a daily basis. These daily remittances will be accompanied by a text file and summary schedule. Monthly invoices will be raised in respect of the commission charges. Contractor(s) should submit debtor payments weekly by BACS remittances. The remittances should be accompanied by appropriate reports which will enable the council to allocate payments to a specific debt automatically. The council reserves the right to request additional payments to be sent should they be required, for example at the end of the council's financial year.

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5. Returns and Reports

Monthly reports should summarise remittances and returned cases within a defined set of reason codes:

• Returned - Paid

• Returned - Our Request

• Nulla Bona - our request

• Nulla Bona - insufficient goods

• Nulla Bona - unable to gain entry

• Nulla Bona - unable to make further contact

• Debtor Gone Away no Trace

• Debtor in prison

• Debtor insolvent

• Company insolvent

• Small Balance less than £25.00 Returns should also include employer and or benefit details or an indication where these are not known. For transparency and benchmarking purposes, performance will be measured in terms of percentage of caseload for collection and returned cases. This information will be made available to all contractors. For ease of manipulation, information required for benchmarking purposes should be provided in the form of an Excel spreadsheet separate to any reports provided in ‘Adobe Acrobat’ document format.

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6. Bailiff Conduct

Unless already notified by the council or our service provider’s nominated point of contact, the contractor(s) when visiting to levy distress shall establish whether the debtor falls into one or more of the following categories. Where such is the case the contractor(s) shall inform the nominated point of contact at East Riding of Yorkshire Council immediately and seek further instructions.

• The debtor or a close member of the debtor’s family has a long-term serious illness.

• There has been a recent bereavement (within 3 months) of a close member of the debtor’s family.

• The debtor or their partner is elderly (over 70) and has limited means.

• The debtor has communication difficulties including illiteracy, blindness, deafness, learning difficulties, a lack of knowledge of English or has a mental disorder.

• The debtor or their partner is in receipt of income support or job seekers allowance or similar benefit.

• There is a dispute as to the liability.

• That to continue would be prejudicial to the reputation of the council or its service provider.

• When the contractor(s) consider it would be beneficial for an officer of the council or our service provider to be present to witness the levy.

In such a case the bailiff shall take special care to ensure that he or she deals with the debtor in a proper and reasonable manner, taking into particular account the circumstances of the debtor. Where any agreement is entered into the bailiff shall ensure that the debtor fully understands the effect and consequences of the agreement. Where he or she is not satisfied that this is the case then no agreement shall be concluded and the nominated point of contact shall be notified immediately, verbally and followed up in writing, setting out the circumstances fully. Bailiffs must make no more than two visits to a customer's address on the same day and only if:

• contact was made with the customer at the first visit and a second visit is necessary and arranged with the agreement of the customer; or

• the customer was not present at the time of the first visit and the bailiff has good reason to believe they will be present at the time of the second visit.

Only one visit fee should be charged for a visit or visits carried out on the same day. Visit fees should not be added until the visit has taken place. The council reserves the right to request the removal of an individual from the contractor’s caseload, where the council has significant concerns about that individuals work or conduct that cannot be resolved. No removal of goods should be effected without prior consent being obtained from the council via the nominated point of contact.

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7. Additional requirements Contractor(s) are also asked to consider the provision of the additional services on a free of charge basis to the council, this list is not exhaustive and suppliers are free to respond with their own proposals if they would prefer:

• Return of cases

• Tracing services

• NNDR inspection services

• Training for council staff

• AOE implementation and monitoring

• Data cleansing and combination

• Northgate interface

• Debt collection services, including door knocking

• Insolvency/bankrupcy proceedings

• Any IT development

• Third party letters

• Telephone debt collection

Specifically regarding car parking enforcement the contractor(s) will provide an ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) vehicle in the council’s enforcement area at least once per month unless otherwise agreed between the parties in writing.

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Appendix B: Fees and Charges

Council tax

First visit fee £24.50

Second visit fee £18.00

Third or subsequent visit fee nil

Levy fee < £100 – 24.50

24.5% on first £100

4% on next £400

2.5% on next £1,500

1% on next £8,000

0.25% on any additional sum

Walking possession charge £12.00

Van fee £120.00

Waiting time Free for the first hour, then £60 per hour thereafter. Permission to be sought for any chargeable time.

Auctioneers charges (auctioneers premises)

Auctioneer’s commission fees & out of pocket expenses (not exceeding 15% of sum realised) plus reasonable costs & fees for advertising.

Auctioneers charges (customers premises)

Auctioneer’s commission fees & out of pocket expenses (note exceeding 7.5% of sum realised) plus reasonable costs & fees for advertising.

Bounced cheque admin fee No higher than charge made by bailiff’s own bank

Debit card fee nil

Credit card fee No higher than charge made by bailiff’s own bank

Payment made after goods seized but before sale

£24.50

Business rates

First visit fee £24.50

Second visit fee £18.00

Levy fee nil

Walking possession charge < £100 – 24.50

24.5% on first £100

4% on next £400

2.5% on next £1,500

1% on next £8,000

0.25% on any additional sum

Van fee £150.00 - £300 depending on debt value and

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time taken or £120 if debt below £500

Waiting time Free for the first hour, then £60 per hour thereafter. Permission to be sought for any chargeable time.

Auctioneers charges (auctioneers premises)

Auctioneer’s commission fees & out of pocket expenses (not exceeding 15% of sum realised) plus reasonable costs & fees for advertising.

Auctioneers charges (customers premises)

Auctioneer’s commission fees & out of pocket expenses (note exceeding 7.5% of sum realised) plus reasonable costs & fees for advertising.

Bounced cheque admin fee No higher than charge made by bailiff’s own bank

Debit card fee nil

Credit card fee No higher than charge made by bailiff’s own bank

Payment made after goods seized but before sale

£24.50

Sundry Debts

Commission Nil

Housing benefit overpayments

Commission Nil

Former council house tenant arrears

Commission Nil

Documents

Jacobs - ERYC - 120911