More than £375,000 of 'irrecoverable' business rate debts written off by council

The six cases were considered by the authority’s cabinet at a meeting on Thursday, where a £2,865.15 council tax debt considered irrecoverable was also written off.

It is the first time the authority’s new administration has received a report on revenue and benefits collection since it took control in May. And in a departure from the previous administration’s practice of making the decision in public, but not discussing confidential details in the open session, the report was considered entirely behind closed doors.

A report to Thursday’s cabinet meeting said: “Business rates due for the current year amount to £48.2m, of which some 96.3 per cent was collected by the end of March -this compares to 96.1 per cent collected in the same period last year and so would appear to reflect some upturn in the economy following the pandemic.

"The collection rate for 2019-20 was 97.9 per cent and so it would appear that it will take some time to return to pre-pandemic level.

“Council tax due for the current year amounted to £94.6m and we have collected 97.0 per cent of this within the year.

"The knock-on effect of underpayments during the past two years, the current economic climate and the need for revenues staff to have managed Council Tax Energy Rebate awards, added to the difficulty in achieving this target in the current year; action will continue to collect arrears after the end of the financial year, with around 99 per cent traditionally being recovered.

“The distractions of alternative workloads due to Covid-19 and the Energy Rebate payments are believed to have now ended and 2023-24 is expected to be a more traditional year in terms of our ability to recover unpaid bills. It is of course noted that residents continue to face increased costs of living which will impact their ability to pay council tax.”

Cabinet members also approved an updated Billing, Collection and Recovery Policy at Thursday’s meeting. The document was last updated in 2014 and remains largely unchanged, but the revised version describes more clearly how the council will accommodate the needs of vulnerable residents.

The document stated: “The council recognises and takes very seriously its duty to support vulnerable people, to ensure that our services are provided fairly and equitably to all. This responsibility is of particular importance when considering the actions that we take in terms of issuing bills and the actions needed to enforce unpaid debts.

“Vulnerability takes several different forms and there can be no single solution that can be applied in all circumstances. All instances of vulnerability that are brought to the attention of the Revenues Team will be considered on their own merits and where specific actions are considered necessary and are reasonable, they will be taken.

“It is often the case that an individual’s particular vulnerability will not remove their liability to pay or the necessity of recovery action, but help will be given when appropriate. Ordinarily, the council would expect specific actions and adjustments to be made in the case of vulnerability caused by disability, old age, illness or an inability to deal with financial matters, though this list is not exhaustive.”