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GMB Birmingham & West Midlands Region

Press Release - 08.09.08

BIRMINGHAM TOPS THE WEST MIDLANDS LEAGUE FOR UNCOLLECTED COUNCIL TAX WHILE SOUTH SHROPSHIRE HAD LOWEST AMOUNT UNCOLLECTED

TUC Congress told of £745,666,831 million uncollected council tax in 408 UK councils in 2007/8

 

Birmingham tops the West Midlands league for the amount of uncollected council tax of £16,258,000.  Second was Coventry with £5,106,000 uncollected, Wolverhampton at £2,846,000, Walsall at £2,621,000 and Stoke-on-Trent at £2,538,000 uncollected.

 

At the other end of the league table came the South Shropshire with £183,000 uncollected Council tax. The figures for all 34 West Midlands councils in 2007/8 are shown in the table below.

 

This new analysis by GMB, public services union, published this morning at the TUC Congress in Brighton shows that 34 West Midlands councils were unable to collect a total of £54,316,000 council tax in the financial year 2007/8. The uncollected council tax for the 34 councils in the previous year amounted to £57,800,910. This shows a slight drop in the amount uncollected in the West Midlands as a whole of £3,483,910.

 

For Great Britain as a whole the amount of uncollected council tax in 2007/8 was £745,666,831 million. This compared with £760,603,129 million in 2006/7. 352 English councils’ uncollected council tax amount to £600,754,831 and for Wales 22 councils it was £33,074,000 for 2007/8.

 

UNCOLLECTED COUNCIL TAX WEST MIDLAND 2007/8

1

Birmingham

£16,258,000

2

Coventry

£5,106,000

3

Wolverhampton

£2,846,000

4

Walsall

£2,621,000

5

Stoke-on-Trent

£2,538,000

6

Dudley

£1,889,000

7

Sandwell

£1,738,000

8

Stafford

£1,658,000

9

Stratford-on-Avon

£1,517,000

10

Solihull

£1,313,000

11

Newcastle-under-Lyme

£1,300,000

12

Herefordshire

£1,134,000

13

Telford and Wrekin

£1,125,000

14

Nuneaton and Bedworth

£1,011,000

15

Wychavon

£913,000

16

Redditch

£911,000

17

Lichfield

£890,000

18

Worcester

£863,000

19

Cannock Chase

£780,000

20

South Staffordshire

£762,000

21

East Staffordshire

£734,000

22

Warwick

£698,000

23

Bromsgrove

£652,000

24

Rugby

£623,000

25

Wyre Forest

£622,000

26

Oswestry

£561,000

27

Tamworth

£560,000

28

Shrewsbury and Atcham

£481,000

29

Malvern Hills

£476,000

30

Bridgnorth

£410,000

31

North Warwickshire

£401,000

32

Staffordshire Moorlands

£386,000

33

North Shropshire

£356,000

34

South Shropshire

£183,000

 

Joe Morgan, GMB Regional Secretary speaking at the TUC Congress in Brighton said, “While showing some overall improvement, the amount of council tax uncollected remains stubbornly high.  Well over £700 millions remain permanently owed to local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland.  This money is urgently needed by Councils to provide necessary services particularly to the elderly and vulnerable.”

 

Ends

 

Contact: Joe Morgan, GMB Regional Secretary on 07968 064465 or GMB Press Office: Steve Pryle 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy on 07974 251823.

 

Note to Editors:

1                    The source of the data is the Department of Communities and Local Government. The source of the data for Scotland was The Scottish Executive and for Wales the Local Government Finance Statistics, National Assembly for Wales.

2                    For the full list of all 354 councils in England and the 22 councils in Wales and the 32 in Scotland in the analysis go to www.gmb.org.uk

 

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