Barnet Council is reviewing its approach to recovering outstanding debts from NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (ICBs) and is considering potential write-offs.
During a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, councillors expressed concerns about significant sums owed to the council by NHS ICBs. Councillor Peter Zinkin, Vice Chair and Leader of the Conservative Group, sought clarity on the debt recovery process and the possibility of substantial write-offs. The total outstanding NHS debt over 90 days old stands at £8 million, with an additional £14.2 million related to adult social care also overdue.
Junaid Niazi, Assistant Director of Finance, provided details on the debt, explaining that £4.3 million in credit notes had been raised for children's ICB debt. He confirmed that a settlement of £1 million has been paid for this portion, and adult social care debt is also being addressed. Despite these measures, contingency funds remain. Councillor Zinkin highlighted an old debt of £15 million, but Councillor Radford indicated that negotiations were ongoing for other debt sources, preventing an exact figure for write-offs at this time.
The accumulation of this debt is largely attributed to disputes over tripartite funding invoices for children's external residential placement packages. The ICB stated no agreement was in place, despite Children and Family Services having raised charges based on the existence of such an agreement. While the former executive director for CFS maintained an agreement did exist, a lack of a clear paper trail hindered litigation from a strong position.
For adult social care debt, the report indicates that historical debt has increased significantly due to the implementation of the Oracle system, which led to delays in issuing dunning letters and processing direct debits. As of December 2025, the total unsecured debt for individuals receiving adult social care was £18.352 million, with £14.282 million of this being over 90 days old. An additional £3.864 million is secured via a deferred payment agreement. This makes the adult social care debt considerably larger than the £4.3 million in credit notes issued for children's ICB debt.
The current recovery process involves a dedicated debt recovery team for adult social care debt. For children's ICB debt, a revised process has been implemented where all relevant cases are referred to a tripartite panel that convenes approximately every six weeks to review and agree on funding on a case-by-case basis. The committee agreed that further information on the debt figures and potential write-offs would be circulated, as detailed in the Chief Finance Officer Report - 202526 Q3 Financial Forecast and 202526 Budget Management [https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s94701/Chief%20Finance%20Officer%20Report%20-%20202526%20Q3%20Financial%20Forecast%20and%20202526%20Budget%20Management.pdf].
Further details on bad debt write-offs can be found in Appendix A - Bad Debt Write Offs [https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s94687/Appendix%20A%20-%20Bad%20Debt%20Write%20Offs.pdf].
