Salford City Council to write off £1.8m of council tax and business rates debt

Salford City Council will write-off £1.8m of accumulated public-owed debt in a meeting held today (October 17) at Salford Civic Centre in Swinton.

The debt is made up off unpaid council tax, business rates, housing benefits overpayments and sundry debts.

The accounts revealed £928,886.76 in unpaid council tax dated from July 1 to August 31 as well as £39,048.77 in housing benefit overpayments.

Meanwhile a back log of £796,423.06 in unpaid business rates is to be written off while £17,470.38 in sundry debts will equally be forgotten.

This process follows the regular council procedure of clearing the books when debts can no longer be recuperated.

There are numerous reasons as to why the council can no longer retrieve public debts, the most common being bankruptcy and insolvency after what the council describe as “exhaustive attempts.”

Other causes can be absconders, decease of debtors, statute barred debt and uneconomical reasons.

While council tax and business rates are well known, sundry debts are less so.

Sundry debts are known as miscellaneous invoices.

The value of the write-offs for council tax of £928,886.76 is approximately equivalent to 0.54% of the amount collectable debit for 2023/2024.

Meanwhile the total write-off value of £796,423.06 as a percentage of the net collectible debt for financial year 2023/2024 equates to 0.78%.

The next meeting will likely come in the next Lead Member for Finance and Support Services Briefing in the coming months.