£120,000 of tax debts written off by Cannock Chase Council

Cabinet members agreed to the write off of arrears deemed “irrecoverable” on Thursday.

They include five cases of unpaid business rates adding up to £64,682.43 and 23 cases of council tax arrears totalling £52,309.32. There were also four irrecoverable Housing Benefit overpayments worth more than £10,000.

Council leader Olivia Lyons, who presented the revenue collection report, said the four benefit overpayments were due to claimant error.

She added that more than 81 per cent of council tax for the current year had been collected by the end of December – around £57.8m.

And £32.7m in business rates had been collected by the end of December – 74.1 per cent of the amount due for this year.

Councillor Lyons said: “Collection has been hampered by the pandemic – and the pandemic has impacted residents and businesses. We encourage residents to seek help.”

Councillor Bryan Jones said: “When the council tax bills come through the door I know as a younger man I blamed everything on Cannock Chase Council. A small proportion of it goes to the district council – the majority goes to the county council for adult social care and children’s care.”

A cabinet report said all reasonable and lawful attempts were made to recover unpaid money.

It added: “In the first instance this involves the issue of bills, reminders, and final notices, followed by summonses in the Magistrates’ Court where the warning notices are not effective. At all stages of this process, debtors are encouraged to engage in voluntary arrangements to repay their arrears, to prevent the need for formal action.

“The recovery powers available to the council are considerable but not completely infallible. There are occasions when bills are not paid, and the debts cannot be recovered.

“Given the specific issues relating to the effect of Covid-19, the council has not yet used these powers in the current financial year. Council taxpayers have been encouraged to seek the help that is available to them, rather than the more formally worded notices that would ordinarily have been issued.

“Subject to our monitoring of the pandemic, we will increase our recovery action in the second half of this financial year.”