City council writes off more than £1.8m of debt

The debt write-off included £839,982 of unpaid council tax, a report said

A council has written off more than £1.8m of debt it has been unable to recover.

It included £839,982 in unpaid council tax, £268,942 in business rates and £487,623 in overpaid housing benefit, a report for Stoke-on-Trent City Council said.

The write-offs in the 2023-24 financial year were approved by officials in the local authority using delegated powers.

The report said debts were written off when they were considered irrecoverable or where the cost of recovery would be uneconomical.

More than half of the written-off debt related to cases of bankruptcy, liquidation or dissolution or where the debtor had died - meaning the money could no longer be collected - or fled.

The council kept records of the debts so they could be pursued if it became possible in the future, the report added.

Irrecoverable debts of less than £25,000 were usually written off on a quarterly basis but the report said this was not possible this year due to ‘administering government grants’.

It came after the city council confirmed it had received a £42.2m financial support package from the government which the authority said would save it from effective bankruptcy.

The money is being made available in the form of a loan in the wake of financial pressures it faces due to the rising cost of providing social care.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.