Issues credit note to cover it

Credit Note? GTFO.

What's wrong with a credit note?

I sincerely doubt the Government has paid the bill yet, so a credit note will simply reduce the outstanding amount.

The payment method itself is fine. Whether that's the correct number for it is another matter.

Splendid!

They probably had a point. For each convict they are told to tag, they probably get a purchase order saying put a tag on this guy for X number of months. If the guy goes back to prison, or dies, they have nothing in place to interrupt the monthly billing for that order, and it simply draws to a close at the end of X months.

I work for a company that charges clients to handle their server infrastructure. If I patch and bounce a blackberry server I will then look for active users and bounce a confirm message off thier handheld to make sure everything is working. It is often then that I notice nobody's blackberry has connected for months because they all moved to iPhones. My firm still charges to maintain the pointless BES server, and if they want a refund they can FO.