Council writes of debts of £483,723

WARRINGTON Borough Council has written off unpaid debts totalling £483,723.39 as “unrecoverable.”
The total debt is made up of council tax, housing benefit overpayments and other miscellaneous debts.
A report detailing the debts written off will be presented to the council’s audit and corporate governance committee next Tuesday.
For the period covering October last year to March this year, the council has written off £32,465.37 in housing benefit overpayments and £201,426.06 in miscellaneous income.
The council has also written off £249,831.96 in council tax debts from the period of 2003-2004, as part of a review of older council debts. During this year over 99 per cent of council tax was collected, equating to £56.9m.
In many cases debt has been written off be cause the debtor has died or left the area with no trace.
A report to the committee stresses that writing off unrecoverable debts is used as a last option by the council when all other methods of collection have been exhausted.
As an annual income the council collects £88m in council tax, £107m in business rates, £54m in miscellaneous income and £2m in housing benefit overpayment.
Director of finance Lynton Green said: “Whilst we have a fantastic record of collecting a high proportion of council tax, it is inevitable
that occasionally we have to write off some debts. The council takes every action available before writing off a small number of debts which it is no longer economical to pursue.”
The report to next week’s meeting details the process the council follows to recover debts.
A demand notice is served, followed by a reminder and a final notice. A complaint is then made to magistrates and a summons issued.
An application is made for a liability order, a notice served and a request made as to income details.
Where these details are known an attachment to earnings or benefit is made.
Where income details are not known, the liability order is passed on to an enforcement agent. A second agent is used if the first is unsuccessful.
If the arrears are in excess of £3,000 the case is passed to the court officer who will visit the tax payer at their home.
As a las resort, prosecution will be considered and consideration given to applying for a charging order where the arrears are more than £1,000 and the taxpayer is the home owner.
A petition for bankruptcy will be considered where the arrears are more than £3,000 and the taxpayer has likely assets of more than 20,000.
Finally, a pre-committal letter is served on the debtor informing them the council may consider committal proceedings against them to recover the arrears.
Only after all these steps and all options have been investigated is the debt written off.