Millions owed in council tax in Shropshire and Mid Wales

Millions of pounds are outstanding, with councils in the region having to make thousands of claims through the courts each year to recover debts.

Shropshire Council was owed almost £8.3million at the end of the 2013/14 financial year.

James Walton, head of finance, governance and assurance at Shropshire Council, said there were a variety of reasons why people didn't pay their council tax.

And he said the council was resigned to losing a proportion of the money it is owed.

He said: "The council has an excellent record of council tax collection with an in year collection rate for 2013/14 of 98.1 per cent, which is far superior to the national average of 97 per cent. This is achieved by taking a firm but fair approach to council tax collection.

"The arrears figure is the total arrears as at March 31 2014 and work has continued to collect this money since then."

Powys County Council cabinet member for finance, Councillor Dai Davies, said: "Council tax collection rates in Powys are among the best in Wales. The council collected 97.6 per cent of the due amount in 2013/2014, up from 97.4 per cent in the previous year and above our target rate of 97.5 per cent for the year. The Welsh collection rate average is 97 per cent and the leading authority collected 97.9 per cent."

Telford & Wrekin had a slightly higher recovery rate. Emily Knightley, spokeswman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "The council has a duty to all taxpayers in the borough to continue to collect any outstanding amounts of unpaid council tax which are due. An ultimate collection rate of over 98 per cent is achieved.

"Any outstanding amounts which relate to 2013/14 will be either subject to payment arrangement or some other form of recovery action."

The figure for Telford & Wrekin Council was more than £5.3 million, and in Powys there were arrears totalling more than £2 million.

Thousands of hours are spent by staff chasing up bills and unpaid bills, as well as time taken up in magistrates courts.

Shropshire Council revealed today that it had to issue 13,460 summonses last year, which equates to 10 per cent of the total number of houses in the council's area.

Following the summonses it asked magistrates to grant 8,469 liability orders, which give the council the power to take further appropriate recovery action should the overdue tax plus the summons and liability order costs not be paid.

Nathan Willis from the information governance team at Shropshire Council, said: "Council tax and business rates bills need to be paid, and that is the personal responsibility of the taxpayer and the ratepayer. Shropshire Council has a firm but fair approach to the collection of council tax and we consider all available options in order to maximise collection of both council tax and business rates arrears."

In Telford & Wrekin more than £5.3million was owed at the end of the financial year, although of that more than £2million has since been recovered.

Its Information governance officer Shannon Hinton said the current outstanding balance is £1.2 million.

In Powys the council securing 3,167 liability orders for overdue council tax. More than half of this has now been recovered.

The councils today said their plans to make cuts was being seriously hit by householders refusing to pay their council tax – and admitted that some bills will remain unpaid.

They say they are struggling with the added pressure created when they have to chase unpaid tax and go through court processes to recover debts.

Our region's councils are not alone – nationally, despite increased pressure on local authorities to make savings, the amount of money collected last year actually fell.