North Wales councils owed £24.3 million in outstanding council tax

Welsh councils wrote off over £6 million of council tax arrears in 2019-20 new figures show.

Council tax is the main source of locally raised income for local authorities. It is the source of funding used to meet the shortfall between the amount an authority wishes to spend and the amount it receives from other sources such as the Welsh Government yearly settlement. County and county borough councils are known as billing authorities, as they collect council tax on behalf of the other charging authorities, namely police authorities and local community councils.

The new figures are up to the end of March 2020 so do not cover any impact of the pandemic.

The total amount outstanding across all local authorities in Wales at 31 March was £109 million, of which £51 million was in-year arrears.

During 2019-20, billing authorities across Wales collected £25 million of arrears and wrote off £6.3m million as uncollectable.

Amounts written off during year

The amount actually collected in Wales in respect of 2019-20 bills, excluding council tax reduction scheme, was £1,665 million out of £1,717 million collectable.

Collection rates across North Wales have also been published:

• Anglesey 97.6%
• Gwynedd 96.8%
• Conwy 97.8%
• Denbighshire 97.7%
• Flintshire 97.9%
• Wrexham 96.2%

The amount written off as bad debts per local authority ‘during the current year’ has also been published:

• Anglesey £54k
• Gwynedd £78k
• Conwy £201k
• Denbighshire £166k
• Flintshire £308k
• Wrexham £442k

Merthyr Tydfil has the highest amount outstanding per chargeable dwelling at £177 whereas Flintshire has the lowest at £49. The Wales average is £79.

Overall, total arrears increased by £14.4 million or 15.2% .