BOROUGH OF POOLE

REPORT TO COUNCILLOR SORTON, PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES

31 DECEMBER 2007

REPORT OF HEAD OF LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES

ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION SERVICE

1.Purpose of the Report

1.1To consider details in Appendix A, with regard to write off procedures, following the transfer or Registration staff to Local Authority employees on 1st December 2007.

2. Decision Required

a)To approve write off and free services procedure produced jointly by Internal Audit and The Registration Service

b)To approve the required delegation needed for a specified amount.

3. Information

3.1Up until 1st December 2007, Registration Officers were appointed as statutory officers, and therefore not employed by the local authority

3.2Statutory officers undertaking duties of Superintendent Registrar, Registrar and Additional Registrar will continue to be subject to requirements of the Marriage and Registration Acts, and be personally responsible for any offences committed.

3.3Registration Officers will no longer be required to account to the Registrar General for registration fees, therefore local authority accounting and auditing procedures will apply.

3.4Registration Officers, have followed local authority banking procedures, with regard to paying money in to the Council, but the accounting of those fees has been the responsibility of each principal officer, and these have been inspected by Her Majesty’s inspector.

3.5On certain occasions, it is inappropriate to charge a member of public for a statutory service, such as the fee required for a certificate of a wedding taking place in a hospital, where someone is not expected to recover, a still birth or death of a baby. It is not considered to be an appropriate time to ask for a fee in this case. This has been the custom and practice in the Registration Service for many years.

3.6Registration Officers were required to complete a prescribed form, to account for the fee not taken, and this was sent to the Proper Officer (Tim Martin), for him to approve the “write off “ of that fee. This was specifically named as a fee irrecoverable by the council.

3.7Before the changes to the status of Registration Officers in December 2007, a meeting was arranged with relevant people including The Proper Officer and an Officer from Internal Audit, to discuss the implementation of new audit and accounting procedures.

3.8It was agreed that the irrecoverable fees, that were below a certain amount, did not require the authority from The proper Officer provided certain auditable procedures were in place. It was also suggested that fees for certificates issued to relatives of deaths where the person was under the age of 18 years, should not be asked for.

3.9After discussions with Internal Audit and Christine Stainton Superintendent Registrar, it was agreed that there was now a distinction between a write off and a free service. This was raised in conjunction with the Borough of Poole’s write off policy.

3.10It was suggested that due to the nature of our work and the amount of fees that we charge, that a specific write off policy should be approved for the Registration Service (appendix A)

3.11Fees have been capped to take into account the maximum amount that could be written off or given as a free service

3.12It was also suggested that each officer has a form, which lists any write offs or free services, and these need to be approved by the Superintendent Registrar on a monthly basis.

3.13The Superintendent Registrar’s form would need to be approved by the Registration Services Manager

3.14Where a Registration Officer uses a paper cash book, a note of these services should be annotated on the bottom of the book, and similarly noted on an electronic copy.

TIM MARTIN
HEAD OF LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES

Name and telephone number of Officer Contact

Christine Stainton

Tel: (01202) 633720

Fee / Free service / Delegation
Under £10.00 / Death bed weddings/civil partnerships, deaths under 18 years, still births, Neo-Natal deaths, or any
certificates not received in post from either registrar or chief registrar / Chief Registrar
Deputy Chief Registrar
£10.00 to £100 / Administrative errors with regard to notices of marriages/civil partnerships. Waivers. Ceremony errors etc such as loss of use of building (flooding, fire etc) / Head of Legal and Democratic Services
Debt / Write-off criteria / Delegation
Under £10.00 / Any certificate where payment has been referred and/ or not able to recover payment of debt / Chief Registrar
Deputy Chief Registrar
£10.00 to £100 / Any payment of services such as notices of marriage/civil partnership where payment has been referred and/or not able to recover debt.
Recovery procedure taken to and including Stage 6 as per Appendix ‘B’ of ‘Sundry debt and Housing Benefit overpayment recovery and write-off procedure.’ / Head of Legal & Democratic Services or
Head of Financial Services (Income Manager)
Over £100 to £400 / Any payment of services such as notices of marriage/civil partnership where payment has been referred and/or not able to recover debt.
Recovery procedure taken to and including Stage 9 as per Appendix ‘B’ of Sundry debt and Housing Benefit overpayment recovery and write-off procedure. / Head of Legal & Democratic Services or
Head of Financial Services (Income Manager)

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