Inside the UK's council tax blackhole - full list of 44 areas where £380m is uncollected

A staggering more than £380million worth of council tax went uncollected in the last year, it has been revealed.

The whopping sum, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, is likely to be the tip of a larger iceberg as the total relates to 38 metropolitan and London borough councils. A further 31 of the councils did not provide details and 247 districts, boroughs, county councils and unitary authorities, which also collect council tax, were not approached for their amounts. Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council is among those not confirming shortfalls.

Based on the data obtained for the year 2023/24, this means that English residents missed more than a third of a billion pounds in council tax payments in the most recent year.

Amid calls from the Local Government Association to remove the cap on annual Council Tax rises, the investigation by Accident Claims Advice revealed that English citizens are already falling short in payments to the tune of over a third of a billion pounds.

Figures from the 38 metropolitan and London borough councils that responded show that £386,536,597.11 worth of Council Tax went uncollected in 2023/24.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has reaffirmed the government’s plans to resist scrapping the current cap on increases. Most English councils can raise council tax by up to 4.99 percent without a local referendum, with some councils capped at 2.99 percent.

However, questions remain over discount schemes including the single-person discount, while councils continue to raise taxes annually in light of a budget gap the LGA values at more than £6billion over the next two years alone.

Manchester City Council was unable to recoup the most at £29,116,614, with 52,545 accounts falling short of their expected 2023/24 council tax payments.

It was a similar story in Sheffield, which failed to collect £24,914,377 and Leeds, where the residents were unable to pay a total of £24,740,150.

Coventry City Council, which has forecast a £7million overspend for 2024/25, recorded £12,362,285.99 in uncollected Council Tax for the year prior.

In all, taxpayers from the 21 metropolitan councils who provided a record of 2023/24 uncollected tax contributed to a 226,983,379 shortfall.

In London, Hackney Council was unable to collect £16,734,785 in council tax for the year.

Croydon, Lewisham, Barnet, Enfield and Tower Hamlets all saw their Council Tax income left more than £13million short of the expected total.

The 17 London boroughs that provided responses recorded a total deficit of £159,553,217.

Payment issues are not restricted to English metropolitan or London borough councils.

Glasgow City Council missed out on £44,886,613 worth of Council Tax payments in the 2023/24 tax year. 83,750 accounts were left with some degree of tax debt at the year’s end.

Glasgow’s neighbouring authority, North Lanarkshire Council, was unable to collect £16,797, 971 in the same period.

In Wales, Cardiff Council fell short on Council Tax collections by £9,778,057.32.

Meanwhile, Pembrokeshire Council, which announced a UK-high tax increase of 12.5 per cent in March, lost out on £3,200,000 in 2023/24 payments.

Croydon, Slough and Thurrock were three English councils given special dispensation by Westminster to increase Council Tax beyond the normal limit for 2023/24.

The former, who implemented a 15 percent increase for residents, failed to collect £16,543,437 from 20,713 accounts.

Residents of Slough and Thurrock, who put through a 10 per cent rise for 2023/24, were short on their Council Tax bills for the year by £4,751,000 and £2,406,175 respectively.

Councils across Britain confirmed to Accident Claims Advice that hundreds of millions of pounds worth of outstanding Council Tax from previous years are still being collected, with some debts going back as far as 1999/2000.

For those who miss paying their Council Tax and do not qualify for financial support, the council’s enforcement measures start with issuing a reminder and can result in a court summons.

A liability order, which can be ordered by the courts, gives councils the ability to collect outstanding Council Tax debts from wages or certain benefits payments.

AccidentClaimsAdvice.org.uk provides a dedicated advice service for people concerned about receiving a Council Tax summons. They run a 24-hour free helpline and an online support feature which can be found on their website.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: “Councils have a duty to their residents to collect taxes so important services are not affected but realise that times are still tough for many low-income households.

“Record numbers are claiming a discount on their council tax, which is adding further pressure on this already underfunded vital local safety net. They do their best to protect those affected the most, whether through introducing hardships funds or taking a sympathetic and constructive approach to the way they collect unpaid tax.

“Without enough funding to provide council tax support to those who need it, it is almost inevitable that bills will continue to be forced up for those who can least afford to pay.”