Council owed £3m in council tax — Tories

MORE than £3 million of council tax still remains uncollected across Oldham.

According to figures released by the Conservative party, Oldham Council collected £74 million between April last year and March this year — 95.9 per cent of the estimated £77.2 million demanded.

It means £3.195 million was not paid by residents.

Oldham’s collection rate ranks them as the 44th worst authority based on the percentage of monies collected and significantly below the average collection rate in England of 97.3 per cent.

The Tory figures show the top 10 offenders are Labour boroughs and of the 10 councils with the best collection rates nine are Conservative.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps said: “These figures show labour councils couldn’t care less when it comes to protecting the public purse.

“Instead of making political cuts to frontline services in order to score cheap political points, places like Manchester and Newham should have spent a bit more time collecting council tax.

“The millions squandered due to poor financial management could have been diverted to protecting frontline services.”

Council Tax is used to fund services such as schools, rubbish collection, social services, police and fire services and street lighting.

The official figures only state money outstanding as of the end of March, which means the council may have improved significantly with collecting money owed. Nationally, the amount of council tax not collected by local authorities is £612.4 million.

A Labour North West spokesperson said: “The areas highlighted deal with social issues that Tory councils in places like leafy Buckinghamshire simply don’t have to face.

“Progress is being made each year but what does not help this is the Tory-led Government’s decision to cut too far and too fast.”