ALMOST £30m of Somerset Council tax has gone uncollected in the last three financial years.

Freedom of information requests submitted by Accident Claims Advice has found that millions of pounds has also gone uncollected from council tax bills stretching back before the coronavirus pandemic.

Somerset’s five local authorities have written off almost £7m since 2021/22, including debts which were deemed unviable or impossible to collect.

Somerset Council has said it always budgets for a certain proportion of council tax going uncollected and was working to support residents who were struggling to pay.

A total of £28,978,409.13 in council tax remains uncollected between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years, according to the latest data.

These figures include the amounts uncollected by Somerset County Council and the four district councils, which were officially abolished and replaced by Somerset Council in April 2023.

The former South Somerset area has the largest amount of uncollected council tax, at more than £9.1m, followed by Mendip (around £8.8m), Somerset West and Taunton (about £7.7m) and finally Sedgemoor (just under £3.4m).

Under the new unitary authority, £12,909,496.76 remains uncollected from the 2023/24 financial year, with 21,952 accounts being in some form of deficit as of early-July (the most recent figures available).

A total of £7,955,697.71 is still owed from 2022/23, leaving 13,671 accounts saddled with now two-year-old debt.

Council tax due to be paid in 2021/22, to the tune of £8,113,214.66, also remains uncollected – with a total of 11,888 accounts still owing money from this period.

Moreover, 9,257 accounts still have council tax debt from the pre-covid bills from the 2019/20 financial year, leaving the council short of £4,060,022.08 that was expected to arrive in the public purse more than five years ago.

A total of £6,888,494.31 has been written off across the past three tax years, with £2,131,526.51 worth of tax deemed uncollectable in 2023/24.

The council is currently consulting on changes to its council tax support scheme, which, if approved, will be implemented from April 2025 to save around £6m a year.

A spokesman said: “The collection rate for council tax and business rates varies but, as with all councils, it is always below 100 per cent because there are times when some residents genuinely cannot pay.

“We budget for a collection rate of 97 per cent, but with a total collection in 2023/24 of more than £400m, three per cent is still a significant figure.

“Uncollected debt can date back many years and includes debts where repayment schedules are in place.

“To support households on low incomes we offer a council tax reduction scheme and an exceptional hardship scheme.

“We also write off arrears which cannot be collected (for example, where a resident has died or left the country).

“We continue to actively pursue payment of outstanding debt through various mechanisms, including use of enforcement agents.”