Meeting held on Thursday 4^th May 2006 at 11:00am, 3^rd Floor Conference Room, Insolvency Service headquarters, Ladywood House, 45-46 Stephenson Street, Birmingham.

Graham Stewart welcomed attendees to the user group.

1. Matters arising from previous meeting 

1b. Cashiers Newsletter -

• GS thanked Alyson Williams for suggesting the idea of a “Cashier’s Newsletter” in the last User Group. 
• A draft copy was included in the pack for all to look at.  A questionnaire will be sent out with the first edition to ask for feedback on how cashiers feel IP Banking are performing.  The published edition should be out by the end of May and will be issued twice yearly.

2. Performance -

• A copy of the Balance Scorecard was included in the pack and GS explained how the ‘traffic light’ system worked showing there was no red areas that indicated danger. 
• IPB met the operational targets set as Key Performance Indicators.
• GS explained an objective target for BACS target was missed due to large dividend requests that increased the volume of payable orders issues outside of IPB control; this objective is measured as electronic payments are more secure and efficient.

(To see this Balanced Scorecard presentation, please follow this link)

• Security – The security item no longer needs to be on the agenda as currently there are no problems relating to security issues on IP Banking.

• Usage of the Insolvency Service Account-
• Marc Landsman suggested that due to the Banking Fee, for cases with that hold under £3,000 it is cheaper to bank with a commercial bank.  For cases with a higher value it is in their interest to stay with the ISA due to the high interest rate offered.

• Members Voluntary – These are banked at the ISA to gain from the high interest rate offered.  

• Payments from the ISA – The length of time and the procedures that are in place to have cheques issued form the ISA is a timely process and a key service area that needs to be focused on, e.g.

• Payment Requisitions- IPB currently requires an original copy of the requisition that is to be signed by the IP. 
• The possibility of having indemnity requests in place would speed the process up as IP’s would not have to wait for an IP to sign the requisition, the requisition could then be faxed or e-mailed so no postage delay, to check the ‘special password’ or ‘number code’ would be a quicker process than signature checking etc. 
• All aspects of this system will need to be looked at as problems could arise by having joint IP’s on cases and the return address and remittance advise would need to be established. 
• IP Banking hopes to deliver this service improvement during the course of the financial year.

• Urgent Payments and CHAPS -
• Currently there is a limit of £250,000 on CHAPS payments. 
• Again there is an issue with IPB requiring a hard signed copy for the request.
• Given the urgent nature of such requests the IP’s represented commented that such delays are unsatisfactory.

• Transaction Charges -
• At present the same fee is charged for both BACS and CHAPS payments (£0.15). 
• This neither reflects the commercial banks charge for CHAPS & SWIFT payments nor the charges suffered by IPB from it’s supplying bankers so IPB will have to review this fee structure

• High Value CHAPS/SWIFT Requests -
• IP’s are requested to advise IPB if they are aware of pending high-value instructions so that available funds would be drawn down (if required) from the ISIA into the ISA to meet the demand. 

• Insufficient Funds -
• Marc Landsman explained that they are having IF letters on cases that have had a cheque sent but has not cleared the ISA by the time the request has been received into IPB. 
• ZD explained that Payments section send around 300 letters a month regarding insufficient funds on accounts. It would not be feasible for the staff to check credits that are due to hit the accounts via the valuables book.
• ZD advised the cashiers to write on the request if a cheque had also been sent so the payments staff would know to hold onto the request until the cheque had credited that account.
• It was, however, agreed that the correctly addressed letters will be sent rather than being attached to the back of the statement as at present.
• The statement will also be stamped with an “insufficient funds statement” to clarify this.  

• Bancs Online -
• Is it possible for closed cases to remain available to access on Bancs on-line? 
• AP explained she would ask the development team the availability of this and will try and set up an option to ‘view closed cases’.
• Is it possible to view interest statements on-line? 
• AP explained that this was already in the process of enhancement and will be beneficial to both IP’s and IP Banking.

·        Reorganisation of Systems -

o       GS explained that for a time, previous development has been frozen due to the planned delivery of replacement systems, a project that was temporarily halted. 

o       GS apologised for this halting of service improvement and said that IPB now see that they must continue to implement service improvements (where these are financially feasible) even when the “legacy systems replacement project” recommences.

o       GS advised that plans were now in place to recommence the project to replace our legacy systems.  A GAP analysis was commencing and it is hoped that a replacement system should be in place within the next 36 months.

o       In the meantime improved service deliveries are in place and up to 85% of work has been carried out.  A notice will be put on the web page of further updates to this. 

o      Improvements in the pipeline:

•Interest details on statement to show gross & tax rather than net -Due March 2007

•Send electronic payment files (Excel) directly into unit - Due March 2007

•Interest earned to date to be available on statements & online - Due March 2007 

3. Reorganisation of the Directorate -

• A presentation was shown by GS to explain how the Banking Directorate is due to change to be rebranded as Estate Accounts Directorate. (To see this presentation, please follow this link)

• GS emphasised that he would appreciate feedback from IP’s regarding any further improvements or suggestions regarding any part of our service.

4. Annulment Orders -

• Devra Burns from IP Policy Unit explained the current procedures when finalising an annulled case.
• It was explained that IP Banking will return final receipt and payment accounts if an annulled case does not include the annulment order.  Banking fees however will be rebated in annulment cases after the annulment date.

5. Amendment to Fees Order -

• A handout was included in the packs to help explain the change. (To see this document, please follow this link)

6. Unclaimed Dividends Section -

• GS explained that a new unclaimed section has been set up in IP Banking. 
• It was originally dealt with on the Receipts and Payments section but this workload has increased year-on-year as Tracing agents are now better able to look for creditors therefore the work relating to unclaimed monies has increased.
• We have decided to deliver a dedicated team to service the creditors needs.  

7. Any other business - No issues were raised. 

Date of Next Meeting - 26^th October 2006