Stratford Council Writes Off £137,000 in Unpaid Council Tax and Rates

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has written off £137,320 of unpaid Council Tax and business rates, its Cabinet heard on Monday 2 November. The figures are write-offs over £1,000 that have been approved and have to be reported to councillors, listed in the council’s half-year budget report.

According to the council’s budget monitoring report, the write-offs were:

• Council Tax: £89,865.89 across 109 accounts.
• Business rates: £47,454.21 across 16 accounts.
• Housing Benefit: one overpayment of £4,775.64.

That works out at about £824 per Council Tax account and £2,966 per business. The report doesn’t say why the debts were written off.

Rising costs of collecting what’s owed

The same report shows the cost of chasing debts. Council Tax collection was £45,849 over budget at the end of September, which the council puts down to debt collection and recovery costs and professional fees for reviewing the single person discount. Business rates collection was £31,737 over, because of legal and debt collection costs.

Housing Benefit was £170,815 over budget, because the council hasn’t recovered as much in overpayments as expected and there’s a shortfall in the subsidy it gets from the government.

Even so, the council expects to finish the year £608,000 better off than budgeted, as we reported last week. Councillors noted the write-offs without discussion recorded in the minutes.

If you’re struggling to pay

The district council collects Council Tax for the county, police and town and parish councils too. Anyone struggling to pay can contact its Council Tax team through the council’s Council Tax pages.

Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.