A major problem with a new financial accounting system implemented by Warrington Borough Council on April 1st, which has resulted in many thousands of pounds worth of invoices not being sent out to social care customers, has been uncovered by Warrington Worldwide this week.
It’s understood as well as social care invoicing, there have been other ad hoc issues for the cash-strapped council, which is battling to reduce debt, which at one time peaked at nearly £2 billion, but has now been reduced to around £1.4 billion.
The invoicing issues were caused by a system issue that affected part of the invoicing/billing processes involving invoices that aren’t sent out electronically. It excluded things like council tax and business rates, which have been unaffected.
But it has meant customers paying social care top-up fees have not been receiving invoices and, unable to receive statements of account on how much money they owe. Individually, these can run into several thousand pounds a month.
Independent Group leader Cllr. Stuart Mann said: “After being contacted by Warrington Worldwide for comment on this matter, I have this afternoon received an official update from WBC, who confirmed that delays did indeed occur issuing invoices following the implementation of its new SAP financial system.
“I believe the issue has affected social care charges and other one-off or ad hoc recharges but that Council Tax and Business Rates billing have not been impacted and that any delayed invoices are now beginning to be issued.
“I welcome the Council’s acknowledgement of the issue, the apology offered to affected customers, and the assurance that work is ongoing to resolve the problem. I also welcome confirmation that manual workarounds have been put in place where possible to minimise disruption.
“The Council remains in a challenging financial position and is operating under Government intervention and an Exceptional Financial Support framework. For that reason alone I believe any issue affecting core financial systems, invoicing or income collection deserves scrutiny.
“Residents will rightly want reassurance that there has been no wider impact on the Council’s finances, cash flow, debt collection processes, budget monitoring, savings delivery programme or overall financial resilience. They will also want confidence that lessons have been learned from the implementation process and that any remaining issues are being addressed as quickly as possible.
“The best way to achieve that is through clear communication, full transparency, and timely updates to both councillors and residents and I am pleased that for now this seems to be the case.
“I would add however, that once again, finding out first from the press about such an important council issue that could directly affect local residents is not what I would expect as a Cllr.”
After Warrington Worldwide became aware of the issue, which has been ongoing since April 1st when the new SAP financial system went live, a Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: “We have experienced delays in issuing social care invoices due to technical issues encountered during the implementation of our new financial system.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this delay may cause. The technical issue has now been resolved and invoices will be delivered to households in the coming days.”
