Warrington Council has sent bailiffs to recover £11m

This is according to a response to a Freedom of Information request submitted to the council.

Between January 1, 2021 and August 30, 2023 Warrington Borough Council had enlisted the services of bailiffs to help recover £11,299,610 of unpaid council tax.

The council says that around 97 per cent of council tax has been paid on time since 2021 (Image: Supplied)

According to the council, bailiffs are used as a final resort, with enforcement agents only being sent to a property if: "Residents haven’t engaged with [the council] during the recovery process and have not responded to numerous reminders and final notices."

All in all, the council managed to recover £3,510,217 of the overdue council tax over the two-and-a-half-years - which is just over 31 per cent of the total.

This means that, of the overdue council tax that was owed, bailiffs were unsuccessful in recovering around 69 per cent of the total.

In 2021, the council asked bailiffs to collect £4,995,488 in council tax arrears, with bailiffs successfully recovering £1,535,035 - or, 30.7 per cent.

The following year, enforcement agents were asked to recover £4,490,189 in council tax arrears, and were able to collect £1,575,742 - an improvement on 2021, as the council recovered 35 per cent of the arrears.

As of the end of August 2023, the council had enlisted enforcement agents to collect £1,813,933 in arrears, with bailiffs managing to secure £399,440 of that.

This makes 2023 the worst year of the period, as the council has only managed to recover 22 per cent of those arrears to date.

However, the council did confirm that since 2021 it has issued £450million in council tax bills, and has successfully collected over 97 per cent of the total on time.

The Freedom of Information response also highlights the number of 'charging orders' that were obtained by the council against homes in the time period.

A charging order means that when a property is sold, a portion of the revenue will go to the council in order to pay off outstanding debts.

In 2021, the council obtained two of these orders, and 2022 saw the council obtain 12 of them - as of the end of August this year, the council had obtained no charging orders.

A spokesperson at the Town Hall said that the council has issued tax bills totalling £450million since 2021 (Image: Newsquest)

When quizzed on the findings of the investigation, a Warrington Borough Council spokesperson told the Warrington Guardian: "From 2021, we have instructed enforcement agents to collect over £11million in council tax arrears, with over £3.5million being recovered so far.

“During this period, we have issued council tax bills totalling over £450million, and have a collection rate of over 97.6 per cent.

“Fortunately, the vast majority of residents pay council tax on time. However, we understand the difficulties some residents are facing due to the ongoing cost of living crisis and there is help available for those who need it.

“We use enforcement agents when residents haven’t engaged with us during the recovery process and have not responded to numerous reminders and final notices.

“All accounts are individually reviewed before an enforcement agent is instructed and residents who receive council tax support also have an additional opportunity to discuss their account during the recovery process.”