New financial strategy warns of hardship for Blackpool residents
and live on Freeview channel 276
Rent arrears, business rates, council tax and parking fines are among the monies frequently owed to the town hall.
In previous years debts of around half a million pounds have been written off due to issues such as bankruptcy and uncollected fees.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe latest debt management strategy, which will run until the end of 2025, aims to balance the current economic situation with the council’s need to rake in as much income as possible.
A town hall report says: “The council collects approximately £240m of income each year and maintaining these resources in the current economic climate and where possible growing this income is fundamental to the financial stability of the council.”
It adds reductions in government support over the past decade and increasing demand for social services “has meant income collection has a growing importance to the council” and is key to “the financing of quality services for the community of Blackpool.”
Priorities will include maximising income generation and collection, pursuing a sympathetic but robust approach to income and debt management and ensuring strong financial management is in place.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe report warns: “Even before Covid the effect of the economic climate was adversely impacting the ability of individuals to pay.
“Many more households will now need to significantly reduce expenditure as disposable income reduces or even disappears.
“The overall effect now will be to make generating and the collection of income due to the council, both council tax and fees and charges, ever more challenging. ”
Income collection includes around £73m from council tax and £41m from business rates in the financial year 2021/22.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLast December the council wrote off around £250,000 of debt in the latest round of uncollected payments.
The sum, which covered the period from September 2021 to August 2022, included £99,000 of unpaid business rates, which was much less than the previous year when more than £470,000 of unpaid business rates owed by 22 businesses was written off.
The council says it always pursues debts and only writes it off when there is no chance of recovering the money.