Many thanks to those Local Authorities who participated in our recent Single View of Debt (SVoD) survey. We heard from 41 different Councils with their views on sourcing and implementing a single view of debt system and whether they felt this could assist with the current ‘cost of living’ crisis.
Just over 31% of respondents said that they were planning on using a single view of debt solution to deal with debts more holistically. Over 46% however were not and the remainder were undecided or not ready to take the plunge yet but were considering it.
Plans for implementing a Single View of Debt system
65% of respondents do not yet have an SVoD system in place with 34% of respondents citing lack of budget or spending freeze and 31% citing a lack of time available to review the solutions. Other comments included ‘there is no centralised debt function to be able to manage this’. 
Features you want in a Single View of Debt system
When identifying key features Councils would want within a SVoD system, the two highest ranked features were ‘the ability to easily identify largest debtors & liabilities’ followed closely by ‘the ability to assist vulnerable customers to come up with manageable repayment plans’. These scored 76% and 72% respectively.
Benefits a Single View of Debt system should deliver
In terms of benefits Councils would expect to receive from implementing a SVoD system, the highest ranked was ‘the ability to better identify vulnerable debtors’ with over 78% rating this as important, followed closely by ‘the ability to proactively inform debtors of total debt owed’ with 63% rating this. Another important benefit was highlighted by one respondent who suggested that ‘the ability to handle breathing space notifications through one system rather than multiple channels’ would also be beneficial.
Conclusion
What was apparent from the results was that many Councils are currently hampered from investing in this type of solution due to budget constraints and time to actually review all the available options open to them. However investment in any such system going forward would be likely to focus on how the solution can identify and assist vulnerable customers, rather than focusing solely on the revenue generational aspects.
