Councillors hail 99 per cent business rate collection – but write off more than £60k in 'bad debts'

Around £33.7m was due from businesses in Cannock Chase for 2018/19. By the end of the financial year 98.9 per cent had been collected, which rose to 99 per cent by the end of May.

There was also £49.5m in council tax due from the district’s residents during 2018/19 and 97.4 per cent was paid by the end of March, rising to 98.1 per cent according to a revenues and benefits collection report presented to Cannock Chase Council’s cabinet on Thursday.

But the report added: “Regrettably not all of the monies owed to the council can be collected and this report contains a recommendation to write off bad debts in the sum of £67,864.16.

“The business rates write-offs in this report are 12 cases totalling £61,412.86. This represents 0.2 per cent of the outstanding collectable debit as at 1 April 2019.

“The council tax write-offs on this report are four cases totalling £6,451.30. This represents 0.01 per cent of the outstanding collectable debt as at 1 April 2019.

“The cost of collecting the debts has been considered as part of the decision to put them forward for write off. If further information does come forward about the whereabouts of any of the individual debtors the council will pursue recovery action.”

The report also revealed that the council’s benefit overpayment error rate was less than 0.48 per cent – and the authority had recovered more money during the year than had been overpaid.

The report said: “The council can and is expected to seek recovery of overpaid benefit from the recipient, except in the case of DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) error or a local authority error which the claimant could not have reasonably recognised as an overpayment at the time he was paid.

“During the 2018/19 financial year overpayments were raised in the sum of £872,846.60. The amounts recovered during the year were £911,459.27, meaning we collected more than we raised during the year – a comparison of 104.4 per cent.”