Freedom of Information request on the financial losses and writes off for 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021 (FOI 22/349)
Published 31 May 2022
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FOI 22/349
25th February 2022
Dear,
Thank you for your email of 1st April where you have asked “By losses I am referring to any loss which the organisation was not expecting to make, for example these could include: fruitless payments; constructive losses; storage losses etc. This would not include contingent liabilities
A special payment would be a one off payment, these could include compensation or ex-gratia payments.”
Please see below details for the amount and number of cases of losses and write offs for the periods 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, along with any special payments.
Losses:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (£): | |||
| Write offs | 179,729 | 71,671 | 66,017 |
| Liquidations | 41,250 | 137,757 | 502 |
| Total | 220,979 | 209,428 | 66,519 |
| Number of Transactions | |||
| Write offs | 104 | 98 | 106 |
| Liquidations | 1 | 11 | 2 |
| 105 | 109 | 108 |
Special Payments:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| To HMRC for VAT that had not been collected and paid | £1.8m | ||
| Impairment of software | £497k |
We are unable to itemise each loss as we have determined that the information is exempt under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Section 12 of the Act allows public authorities to refuse requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 24 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
In order to process your request, we would need to print and review each invoice independently, classifying any write offs. We consider that this would take longer than 24 working hours to complete.
If you have a query about the information provided, please reply to this email.
If you disagree with how we have interpreted the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in answering your request, you can ask for an internal review. Please reply to this email, within two months of this reply, specifying that you would like an Internal Review to be carried out.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you were to remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you would have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please bear in mind that the Information Commissioner will not normally review our handling of your request unless you have first contacted us to conduct an internal review. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
MHRA Customer Experience Centre