Stockton Contract & Local Cash Office
- Posted: 08/04/2008
Stockton on Tees Council undertakes a tender exercise for a sole supplier of local taxation bailiff services periodically. The latest contract was awarded to Jacobs on 1st May 2006 for 2 years duration with an option to extend a further 12 months.
We are pleased to announce that the Council has today informed Jacobs that they wish to take up the option of the 12-month extension and subsequently the contract will run until 30th April 2009. An addendum to the contract is to be inserted whereby the requirement to provide a local cash office is no longer necessary.
Dave Cornes (Partner) said "We were first appointed to work for Stockton on Tees Council back in 2000 when a condition of the contract was that a local cash office had to be provided for debtors to pay in person by cash. Since that time we have introduced several additional ways to pay notably Allpay swipe cards, on-line banking, debit and credit cards.
The Council recognise that the current demand for a cash office has reduced significantly and ALL administration of our business can be undertaken at head office on Merseyside. They have, therefore, agreed that a local cash office is no longer an essential factor in servicing their work.
The Stockton cash office will therefore close on Friday 2nd May 2008. Any debtors still paying in person at the local office will be written to in mid April and supplied with an Allpay card. The debtors will be advised of the fact that they can use the card to pay "at no additional cost" at local outlets in their area offering the Allpay facility.
We are stronger than ever in the North East area in terms of client base and market development. We do not see the closure of the cash office as a hindrance to current or future service delivery. Indeed a precedent to this scenario is the earlier decision to close our Hull office in 2004 - in that region we have remained strong in terms of our market share and business development.
In summary the decision to close the office has been made with the total agreement of the client and is due to the fact that there is little demand for this facility anymore as suitable alternatives are available. We aim to continue to working for Stockton on Tees and our other North East clients for many years to come and rely on our staff and bailiffs continued efforts to achieve this."