Meeting held on Thursday 26^th October 2006 at 11:00am, 3^rd Floor Conference Room, Insolvency Service headquarters, Ladywood House, 45-46 Stephenson Street, Birmingham.

In attendance:

Representing:  

Apologies:  

Ruth Duncan	Maxwell Davies
Pritesh Kataria	Haines Watts
Clare Davies	PricewaterhouseCoopers
David Watchorn	Elwell Watchorn & Saxton
Karen Honnoraty	ACCA
Marc Landsman	Carmichael & Co
David Kerr	ICAEW
Sue Ward	Vantis
Julie Hefter	Cooper Parry
Lesha Parsons	PricewaterhouseCoopers

Introduction

Graham Stewart welcomed attendees to the User Group

1. Matters arising from previous meeting -

GS explained that we are currently looking into ways of improving the speed of releasing money from the ISA to creditors.  

1a. Electronic Payments (2) 

In the past there have been problems regarding the creditors details on electronic payments.  For high value payments over £5,000.00 it is more secure and costs less to release the money electronically.

1b. Cashiers Newsletter (4)

The next edition of the cashier’s newsletter will be distributed before the end of November 2006 (actually delivered December 2006). GS said that this edition will include another readership survey as EAD is engaged in a continuous monitoring process to analyse our performance.

2. IPB to EAD the story so far…              

A presentation was shown by GS to explain the story so far.

A question was raised asking if the current requisition form names will be changed.  GS explained they would remain the same due to this being imbedded into certain IPs’ current systems and common usage. He suggested that changing the name of the forms could increase confusion and consequent risk of error.

(To see this presentation, please follow this link)

3. Performance -

A presentation was shown explaining EAD’s key performance indicators and service delivery.  This showed that EAD is currently working on target despite the reorganisation and whilst working on the system replacement.

The graphs in the presentation showed more Insolvency cases closing than being opened.

Voluntary estate data proved that there were a high number of voluntary cases with large amounts of money on them to gain from the high interest rate we provide which results in an increased workload on the unit due to the requirement of payments processing etc. (To see the performance presentation please follow this link)

GS advised that EAD are looking at the possibility of handling other insolvency transaction types to offer best value to our stakeholders.

4. Customer Survey -

A presentation was shown to the group explaining the results from the customer survey. 

GS explained that there was a low return on the recent customer survey sent out.  It was asked if it was possible for the future to look at different methods of sending the surveys out.  GS explained there are restrictions to the number of questionnaires that can be sent but will look into other methods. 

Alison Asher suggested sending the survey with the cashier’s newsletter as this is sent direct to the cashiers who will be completing the survey form.

Another suggested idea was to send the questionnaires out via e-mail on a PDF version. EAD will produce a contact list of cashiers’ e-mail addresses.

GS emphasised the fact that the business performance needs to be measured and in order to do this EAD needs hard proof of its performance.  For example the comments card is only filled out if there are any complaints and the customer is unhappy.  At present customers don’t send positive comments.

(To see the Customer Survey presentation, please follow this link)

5. Security -

GS explained that security had been deleted from the previous agenda however he felt the need to raise the issue again due to a recent incident.

Sarah Plumb provided a hand-out and explained the suspected fraudulent cheque incident to the group that had proved to be legitimate but stopped by the bank due to concerns about the payee details. Sarah Plumb then advised the group that the best way to avoid an incident happening like this again in the future was to provide the full name of the payee or to do an electronic payment.

6. Finals and Fees -

Kuldip Chima explained that finals need to be sent to EAD at least 4 working days prior to the banking fee date to ensure the final will be closed in time.

GS then raised the issue of annulment orders and asked to ensure that if a case is annulled then the court order should state the IP’s release date.

Zoë Drew provided a handout of common question and answers to explain the difference between unclaimed monies and undistributed funds as it was felt that there has been confusion between the two. 

Zoë then further explained that on a monthly basis unclaimed cheque details are sent to the tracing organisations. The intention for the future is to produce a report to send to IPs’ once a list is produced of the name and details.

Tim Foley added that it would be beneficial to know what cheques were not cashed when paid out of the ISA as if cheques were paid from an external account they would have a report to show the uncashed cheques.

Tim also explained that when a dividend is issued from an external account they still earn interest on their money until it is cashed and this is not so in the ISA. 

Zoë explained that it is possible to produce a report showing the status of cheques if requested.  There would not be a limit on the number of cases and the report could be produced in a few working days.  This information could also be sent on an excel spreadsheet and then e-mailed directly.

Sheila Bowles commented that she prefers the ISA to issue dividends as once cheques have been paid out of the ISA nothing else needs to be done from their end.  Likewise if the cheque is not cashed it automatically goes to the ISA unclaimed monies account and no further work is needed for the IP. This way Sheila explained the case can be closed off, whereas if the cheque was drawn from an external account the case would need to be kept open.

A further suggestion was the possibility of having Bancs-online showing the status of the cheque when looking at the statement. 

GS explained that whilst the “CAMEO” project was active system & service enhancements were put on hold until the project was halted in December 2004 and since then a raft of improvements have been delivered.  GS commented that wherever possible, such a situation would not re-occur with the EAS project as asking customers to wait until the summer of 2008 would be unsatisfactory.  Various improvements are being implemented on Bancs as soon as possible.

8. Any Other Business -

David Probert, manager of the Business Support Team explained that they recently launched a webpage in Bancs-online showing future developments and plans.  David asked the group to look at this and fill in the feedback form if they feel any ideas are missing or for any other ideas.

Sheila Bowles has faced a recent negative complaint saying that a cashier called EAD to ask a query and received one timescale as a reply.  When this had not been met they then re-called and was told a different answer.  GS asked Sheila for further information to look into this complaint in more detail.  On the other hand Sheila had a very positive comment regarding a large dividend request and was pleased with this progress and the fact that she had been kept informed on the progress.

A further request asked was that when a dividend is requested either numerically or alphabetically they would like it received back in the same order as it was requested.  GS to follow up with BST.

Telegraphic Transfer Fees – A question was raised that there was talk of this fee being raised.  GS confirmed that this is still to be set however it will reflect the real cost and will be a significant percentage increase.  Also when looking at amending the fees the issue of setting a limit for telegraphic transfers will be set.  In both circumstances IPs’ will be notified in advance of the proposed changes.

Ursula Du Toit raised a question regarding foreign currency.  Ursula used US Dollars as an example and explained there is not a long enough reference field to state the account number.  Also when paying into a Natwest account they are not sure which account to use.  Ursula stated also that they are then unsure if it will be a Chaps or BACS payment.  GS explained the details are on the website and that EAD are working with OPG to overcome these problems.

Sheila Bowles also raised the issue of having so many different sort codes and said it becomes a problem as her cashiers often forget to change the code.

GS said he is meeting with OPG next week and will address these issues.  He explained that OPG are now part of HMRC although they still have offices at the Treasury. OPG are running a project to streamline their back-office services to benefit both EAD and its customers. 

Currently EAD use Lloyds TSB for Lola.  GS and Neil Haddon are looking at the banking systems to consider the benefits of single source supply of banking services.

Andrew Keywood asked for cashiers to be provided with a list of contact telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for team leaders so they can phone accordingly with various enquiries.  GS explained a telephone contact list has been provided in the pack today.

A question was raised regarding the upgrade to having interest notifications available online.

David Probert advised that this is in the process of being made available electronically along with the upgrading of the statement to become user-friendlier. 

The last question raised was why does the ISA only hold Sterling money?

GS explained that this is controlled by current regulation.  EAD would have to seek an opinion from IP users as to a broad need and expected usage of such a service to determine if a cost/benefit exercise should be undertaken in this regard.

GS thanked all those present for attending the meeting and making the event valuable and mutually beneficial and invited them to attend a buffet lunch.