Stoke-on-Trent writes off £4m of council tax debt

Tougher debt collection systems have been put in place in Staffordshire after a council was forced to write off almost £4m in unpaid council taxes.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said it had a “history of horrendous arrears” and had written off £3.8m in unpaid council taxes over the past year.

It said some debt was due to people missing payments in the recession.

Other problems were identified and new systems have been brought in to prevent a repeat of the losses, it added.