REDDITCH borough council is to write off more than £500,000 in uncollected debts.
The cash loss, covering the period April 2016 to March 2017, is made up of uncollected council tax – £53,654.44; non-domestic rates – £176,680.36; former tenant arrears – £86,623; sundry debts, for instance uneconomical to recover, bankruptcy and over six years – £255,013; and write offs from overpaid housing benefit – £25,379.95.
Councillor John Fisher, portfolio holder for corporate management told Tuesday’s borough council executive committee meeting: “No one likes to write off a debt and we just have to be constantly vigilant to recover our debts.”
The meeting heard the total write off of £597,000 compars to £452,000 last year but that due to the timing of various write offs this did not represent an increasing trend.
