Debt Collection (Pre-Claim)

Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) is a statutory water undertaker operating in the north east of England under the trading name Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) and in the southern area of England under the trading name of Essex and Suffolk Water (ESW).

This Procurement is split into three lots, those being:

Lot 1- Pre or post litigation visit to single domestic properties (circa 10-12000 per annum)

Lot 2- Pre or post litigation to managing agents/companies regarding charges for domestic properties (circa 1000 per annum)

Lot 3- Service of Court paperwork and return of Court required evidence to allow certificate of service under the Attachment of Earnings or Order to Attend processes* (circa 1000 per annum)

We would invite parties to bid for all or part of this work.

Where our internal activity of letters, mms and outbound calling has been unsuccessful in engaging with customers who have no agreed payment arrangement in place, our intent is to outsource visits to a domestic supply address either before or after legal action is taken against the customer. Customers will be mainly domestic, there will be a small proportion of commercial customers who are being billed for a domestic property.

The visit will look to re-engage with the customer in a professional and timely manner to understand their current financial situation, identify vulnerability and identify the most suitable tariff option for the customer.

Visit requirements could include the following (but not exclusive to):

• Confirmation of occupier
• Priority Services Registration
• Signposting to third party debt advice for support
• Agreeing an appropriate payment arrangement
• Appropriate mechanism for taking a payment
• Identifying most affordable tariff for the customer and supporting both meter and tariff applications
• Completion of Income & Expenditure
• Serving of court paperwork (provided)