Debt Collection Agencies

Description

As part of our commitment to collecting unrecovered debt, we have redesigned our customer debt journey focusing on delivering "right customer, right treatment path" and ensuring our financially vulnerable customers are supported at all stages of the journey. We intend to outsource our unrecovered water debt, provided mainly on a commission basis with some specific customer outcomes chargeable on a fee structure. Both collect and trace solutions are required within various parts of the portfolio. Litigation and field services will also be required at the later stages of the process, where any unrecovered debts will be assessed and selected depending on their suitability. With the cost of living rising, we recognise the importance of collecting debt in a socially responsible manner and as result we are seeking partners who are committed in supporting our customers on this journey while helping Thames Water achieve our goals. We are offering a 3-year contract with the ability to extend up to an additional 2. Field service will be offered at an initial 1-year contract. After year 1 there's a potential for this to be brought inline with the with other contracts mimicking their contract terms. Lot 1: Placement 1 - Active and Final including trace and collect Lot 1 will see circa 218 thousand active customer accounts and circa 54 thousand closed customer accounts placed annually, spread across 8 segments. 6 of these segments relate to the active customers and are allocated to the segment based on Equifax scoring. 2 of the segments relate to the closed customer accounts and are split by the accounts that have a forward address and require a collect solution and those that have no forward address and require a trace and collect solution. The successful supplier will be required to move the accounts with no customer contact from the collect strategy to the trace and collect strategy within their own system after the placement period has expired. Cases in all segments will be placed to the successful supplier daily along with account updates, closures and any new debts that are now at the recoveries stage for customers previously placed. Performance scorecards will determine the allocation % throughout the contract to award the higher performing suppliers with higher allocations. Lot 2: Placement 2 - Active and Final Lot 2 will see circa 156 thousand active customer accounts and circa 47 thousand closed customer accounts placed annually, spread across 5 segments. These accounts have been returned as uncollected from Lot 1. 4 of these segments relate to the active customers and are allocated to the segment based on Equifax scoring. The other segment relate to the closed customer accounts and require a trace and collect solution. Cases in all segments will be placed to the successful supplier daily along with account updates, closures and any new debts that are now at the recoveries stage for customers previously placed. Performance scorecards will determine the allocation % throughout the contract to award the higher performing suppliers with higher allocations. Lot 3: Placement 3 - Litigation - Active and Final Lot 3 will see circa 73 thousand active customer accounts and circa 40 thousand closed customer accounts placed annually for assessment of litigation potential. Accounts that are unsuitable for a litigation process will be closed and returned at no cost to Thames Water, and those selected to move into strategy will be initially placed through a pre-litigation strategy before moving into a formal litigation process. We expect a 3 staged approach and the customers to be reassessed before moving onto each stage and those not suitable to move to be closed and returned at no cost to Thames Water: Pre-Litigation = Contact attempts to resolve the debt with the customer before legal processes begin Litigation = Formal LBA/PAP and the issuing of the claim and judgement Enforcement = Enforcement end to end process. Closed customer accounts may require a trace solution in addition. All customer contact, plan management and payment processing to be handled by the supplier. Cases will be placed to the successful supplier once per month with daily account updates, closures and any new debts that are now at the recoveries stage for customers previously placed. This lot will be awarded on a commission basis, with alternative arrangements for defended cases which will be agreed and charged on a case by case basis. Lot 4: Placement 4 - Field Services - Visit and Call Handling Lot 4 will receive active customer accounts only that are unsuitable for a litigation process and or that have been closed and returned throughout the litigation process with an unsuccessful outcome. Placements will be made monthly and accounts should be assessed for suitability for a field visit. The volume of accounts passing through into the field strategy should be a joint decision between the supplier and Thames Water each month. Performance will be managed via KPIs assessing the positive outcomes of visits with a strong focus on governance and oversight to ensure the right customer outcomes. All customer contact, plan management and payment processing to be handled by the supplier. The commercial structure is expected to encourage a culture of fair customer outcomes and value for Thames Water.