Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Summary of Submission

The team at Basingstoke and Deane commits to innovation. They have implemented a series of automation tools to streamline administrative tasks and significantly boost overall output. They recognise that unlocking their full potential requires embracing automation to eliminate time-wasting processes. By reducing unnecessary enforcement and improving resident engagement, they have maximised revenue collection while maintaining a customer-first ethos.

The team welcome experimentation, sometimes initiatives succeed and sometimes they don’t, but every attempt offers a valuable lesson. Time saved through automations and enabling customers to take control of their own accounts has allowed innovation to extend beyond software, streamlining processes and procedures to increase output and minimise errors.

The team have introduced numerous innovations, each working together to deliver positive results. At this stage, there is very little they don’t already use, or haven’t already tried. The team are proud to submit their achievements for the IRRV Excellence in Innovation award.

Bath and North East Somerset Council

Summary of Submission

Bath & North East Somerset Council has developed an innovative, in-house Document Management System for its Revenues and Benefits service using Microsoft SharePoint and the wider Microsoft 365 suite. The solution integrates with back-office systems and automates document indexing via RPA, enabling efficient workflow management and prioritisation. It also offers seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook and Teams, alongside advanced reporting through Power BI to support performance monitoring at both service and individual levels. Delivered entirely using existing O365 licences, the project has significantly reduced costs compared to commercial alternatives, while enhancing staff skills and supporting the council’s digital strategy. This agile, scalable solution demonstrates how local authorities can harness existing technology to drive transformation, improve service delivery, and build internal capability.

Land & Property Services

Summary of Submission

The Missing Capital Value Project brought together the Valuation Improvement and Modernisation Section (IMS) and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) Geospatial Innovation and Integration Team. By leveraging innovations in mapping software, the teams compared the Domestic Valuation List with OSNI’s authoritative ‘Pointer’ address database—a live dataset maintained by LPS in collaboration with local councils and Royal Mail. Through expert analysis and rigorous sampling, the team identified genuine cases of missing valuations, including multiple addresses linked to single properties. The initiative, a model of cross-divisional collaboration, has already identified over £7.4 million in potential annual rating revenue, while promoting a fairer distribution of the rate burden across Northern Ireland.

Attached photograph from left to right

Angela McGrath (Director of Valuation), Nicole McStay (OSNI), Keara McKay (OSNI), Sonia McIntyre (Valuation) Suzanne McLaughlin (Director of Ordnance Survey)

Liberata 'Debt Assist'

Summary of Submission

Liberata’s Debt Assist is an award-winning, ethical, and data-driven debt recovery solution helping councils boost collections while supporting residents in hardship. Addressing sector challenges like connecting the dots between debt and building financial resilience, ensuring there’s an alternative solution where enforcement may not be the best course of action, uneconomical debt pursuit, and identifying early intervention opportunities. Debt Assist combines predictive modelling, socio-demographic insights, and tailored communications to create personalised repayment plans and proactive support. The service integrates income maximisation tools, vulnerability registration, flexible payment channels, and digital self-service portals, streamlining engagement and improving recovery outcomes.

By tackling root causes and improving access to financial advice, Debt Assist prevents perpetual debt cycles, strengthens resident relationships, builds trust, and provides councils with actionable case recommendations, setting a new standard for sustainable, compassionate debt management.

Newlyn plc

Summary of Submission

At Newlyn, we recognise that our responsibilities extend beyond debt collection. As with all organisations working with individuals in financial difficulty, we understand the importance of identifying and supporting vulnerability.

One of our key strengths lies in our robust approach to recognising vulnerability and providing our clients with confidence in our processes. Our innovation is centred on closing potential gaps in identification by leveraging technology to detect signs of vulnerability that may not be immediately apparent.

We understand that individuals experiencing financial hardship may not always express their concerns directly. To address this, we have developed a comprehensive reference framework based on common patterns of communication linked to vulnerability. Conversations across all communication channels are automatically analysed using this framework, enabling our systems to flag potential indicators of concern.

This proactive approach serves as an additional safeguard, enhancing our ability to identify and support vulnerable individuals effectively.

Payment Plan and Plymouth City Council

Summary of Submission

For over 40 years councils’ primary collection method for non-payers has been enforcement agencies and many see this as their only option. Payment Plan recognises that consumers don’t answer the phone, and once they recognise EA and council letters, they won’t even open them. Our system interacts in a 100% non-confrontational digital voice. Principally, a debtor can choose their own terms and create plans that suits them, not the EA. The result is a 75% and higher engagement rate, collection rates that are magnitudes higher than EAs and flexible plans that work with debtors, to a successful conclusion.

Our ethos; the true innovation, is that we are selling to a debtor, encouraging not threatening them to enter a plan, and then through technology, allowing that plan to work for them through to completion.

The result: not a small improvement, but a leap in collection rates and successful outcomes.

Walsall Council and Ascendant Solutions

Summary of Submission

Walsall Council and Ascendant Solutions focuses on efficient revenue collection and support for vulnerable citizens through innovative automation in handling enforcement agent returns. Their approach integrates robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline workflows and improve recovery actions amid financial pressures and community deprivation.

• Focus on vulnerability and automation: Due to high deprivation levels, the council prioritises identifying vulnerable individuals and selecting suitable recovery actions, promoting self-service options and automated communications to optimise resources and support.
• RPA for enforcement agent returns: Working with Ascendant Solutions, Walsall developed a bot to automate the processing of enforcement agent returns by extracting key data from PDFs and updating systems, reducing manual workload and accelerating recovery processes.
• Future automation enhancements: Developments include integration with Pathway to trace cases with updated addresses, automated attachment of earnings and benefits, and advanced decision-making for next recovery stages using combined data sources, marking a significant innovation in enforcement recovery.