DMBM616070 - Pre-enforcement: transferring work items to and from Field Force: dealing with new work items when existing work items with Field Force

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Once the debts WI(s) are with the FF office you may find that further debts and/or returns become overdue and appear on your worklists. You will need to review the new WI(s) to determine the next course of action.

Note: Due to the IDMS rules, new WI(s) could also appear on the enforcement worklists in the FF office rather than in the local DTO. Therefore this action could be taken by staff in the DTO or staff in the FF support team dependant on which offices’ worklist the new WI(s) appears.

New return WI(s)

Where the new WI(s) on your worklist is a return you should:

  • for staff in FF:
  • move the return WI(s) to the appropriate worklist
  • transfer the return WI(s) only back to the DTO using function [TRANSFER OWNERSHIP]
  • for staff in DTOs, continue with the normal return pursuit.

New debt WI(s)

Where the new WI(s) is a debt you should review the whole case and take into consideration the stage the existing debts are up to with FF, before deciding the next course of action. The action to take will depend on whether the debts with FF have been selected for a call or not.

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WI(s) not yet selected for a call by FF

If the existing WI(s) have not yet been selected for a call by FF you must consider if the new WI(s) should join the existing linked set in order to make a call for the whole debt.

You should:

  • review the case as a whole in line with the quality gateway checks
  • decide if a further enforcement warning letter can be issued for the new debt and if so issue the letter.

On expiry of the BF you should:

  • for staff in FF, link the new WI(s) to the existing set and follow your existing guidance
  • for staff in DTOs, follow the guidance at Transferring WIs to FF.

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WI(s) already selected for a call by FF

If the existing WI(s) have already been listed for a call the FF support team will make a note of this on the papers at the RP check provided the new WI(s) are visible at the time of selection and ensure that the new amount is requested at the time the collector makes the call on the customer. They will however only levy distraint for the original debt.

After the call has been made, if they have not been able to obtain payment in full, the FF support team will take responsibility for the new debt and:

  • where appropriate transfer the debt to themselves to review the case for CCP or EIS
  • ensure the appropriate enforcement warning letter has been issued before any further enforcement action is taken.