Both York City Council and the regional Citizens Advice Bureau have recently received boxes of PPE, donated by Bristow & Sutor, one of the UK’s leading players specialising in debt recovery.
This PPE donation was made as part of ongoing support to York City Council, whom Bristow & Sutor have successfully worked with since 2011 on the recovery of Council Tax, NDR and road traffic debts.
In that time, Bristow & Sutor has developed and enhanced services including the introduction of webchat for debtors, increasing outbound calls, implementing text reminders for cases in payment arrangements, implementing more payment methods and prioritising the most successful contact methods. It is hoped the boxes of masks, hand gel, and visors provided by Bristow & Sutor will help ensure the important work of local authorities can continue safely.
Every Bristow & Sutor enforcement agent, formerly known as bailiffs, now possess equipment such as masks, hand sanitisers, antibacterial wipes, disinfectant sprays and gloves as standard. All members of staff have been trained on the use of PPE and must pass an industry approved course before being allowed to conduct visits. They are not permitted to enter properties currently, so any resolution found is done so in a socially distanced manner from the doorstep. The business has also obtained NQA COVID Secure Verification accreditation, an independent review that provides assurance measures in place successfully mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 per government guidelines.
On receiving the donation of PPE, Paul Sanderson, Revenues & Benefits Manager, City of York Council said, “I was delighted to receive this gesture as it will contribute to the safety of our local community, which remains our number one priority. The Head of Customer & Exchequer Services for City of York Council has also commented that the PPE is welcome, and an excellent additional service from Bristow & Sutor”.
Bristow & Sutor employees are directly employed and are not paid based on the performance of one visit, their goal remains to help find the best solution and not focus purely on achieving immediate revenue. Before resuming visits, Bristow & Sutor supplied reconnection letters to debtors, giving them the opportunity to set up flexible payment arrangements and discuss changing circumstances. Emma Watson, Head of External Communications at Bristow & Sutor, says,
“We understand better than anyone the importance of communicating with those in debt and the positive outcomes those conversations can lead to. We wanted to do something to help the local community and York City Council have been very grateful for the PPE donation. We are currently looking into the possibility of making further donations to other local institutions within the region.”
Bristow & Sutor has over 42 years’ experience in the collection of local council tax, non-domestic rates and unpaid Penalty Charge Notices. The company prides itself on delivering an ethical, compliant and high-quality service to the public and private sectors.