PRESS RELEASE

21 June 2002

Ottaway: council failings costing you £51 a year
New government figures expose cost of poor council tax collection

Richard Ottaway, Conservative MP for Croydon South, today pointed to new statistics published by the Government showing the percentage of council tax collected by each council in England. Croydon Council gathered 93.9 per cent of the estimated total it should be collecting over the last year, compared to an average of 97.4 per cent in Conservative councils.

Richard Ottaway said:

"We already know that Labour and Liberal Democrat councils have the highest council taxes in the country - now we can see why. Only 93.9 per cent of council tax across Croydon is collected - compared to 97.4 per cent in Conservative councils. This is equivalent to £51.35 being lost every year per household in Croydon. Frontline public services are losing out because of the poor management of the council."

Notes to Editors

In 2002-03, on average across different tiers, Conservative councils charge £135 a year less on Band D bills than Labour councils and £159 a year less than Liberal Democrat councils.

Council tax collection rates for local councils in England were published on 11 June 2002.
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/news/0206/0004.htm

Using DTLR figures for average council tax in each council, published in March 2002,
(http://www.press.dtlr.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2002_0124), it is possible to calculate a notional amount of lost money per household due to poor collection rates. This reflects how much extra money per average household could be collected if the council tax collection rate was 100%. It has been calculated by = [(average council tax / collection rate x 100) - average council tax].

Ends.

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