Details of the amount of council tax expected to be collected within the year by local authorities in England since 2002-03 (in £ millions), the amount of council tax written off each year, and the proportion of the amount to be collected this represents are shown in the following table. The data are reported annually by all billing authorities and were first collected in 2002-03.
Amount of council tax to be collected (£ million) Amount written off (£ million) Proportion of council tax to be collected written off (percentage) 2002-03 14,624 109 0.75 2003-04 16,574 133 0.80 2004-05 17,730 137 0.77 2005-06 18,576 130 0.70 2006-07 19,554 134 0.69 2007-08 20,609 159 0.73
The amounts written off relate to council tax payable for both the current year and for previous years.
Some authorities net off against write-offs moneys collected that had previously been written off. This can result in a negative total figure for amounts written off in a particular year.
Details of the percentage of council tax liability collected in year by local authorities in England, since the introduction of council tax in 1993-94 and 2006-07, are available in table 2.2m of “Local Government Financial Statistics No 18 2008” which is available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/stats/lgfs/2008/lgfs18/
Data for 2007-08 were published in a Statistical Release on 18 June 2008 and are available at:
http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/ctax/cp078.htm.
Collection of council taxes continues once the financial year to which they relate has ended. This means that the percentage collected will eventually be higher than the figure shown.
Details of the average Band D council tax increase in England since the introduction of council tax in 1993-94, are available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/ctax/data/ctaxtimes.xls