{"id":235302,"date":"2025-07-03T17:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235302\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:43:13","slug":"the-london-borough-with-the-largest-amount-of-unpaid-tax-with-more-than-90m-outstanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235302\/","title":{"rendered":"The London borough with the largest amount of unpaid tax – with more than \u00a390m outstanding"},"content":{"rendered":"

The London borough with the largest amount of council tax debt has been named, with councillors warning that cuts to the discount scheme are likely to push even more people into arrears.<\/p>\n

Brent<\/a> has the largest council tax debt arrears in the capital at a staggering \u00a392.2m, according to the latest government figures. Whilst the council says there are those who can pay but don\u2019t, the local authority has blamed the cost-of-living crisis for making poverty an \u201cinescapable reality\u201d that has meant some residents are simply struggling to meet the costs.<\/p>\n

Councils across London<\/a> are owed \u00a31.4bn in unpaid council tax, figures released by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government show. Across the whole of England, the data shows that the total amount owed is a whopping \u00a36.6bn, with 1.8m residents now in arrears.<\/p>\n

As well as being the London borough with the largest amount of council tax debt, Brent \u2013 alongside Croydon (\u00a390.8m), Hackney (\u00a379.6m), Lewisham (\u00a379.2m), and Southwark (\u00a372.7m) \u2013 sits within the national top 10. The London borough with the least amount of arrears is Kingston-Upon-Thames at \u00a310.8m.<\/p>\n

Council tax increases, alongside recent cuts to the borough\u2019s discount scheme, may lead to more Brent residents falling into arrears as they struggle to make ends meet amidst the rising cost of living, something councillors warned against when they were approved.<\/p>\n

Brent Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the enormous amount of tax arrears is \u201cno surprise\u201d considering there has been more than a decade of government cuts, wage stagnation, and soaring living costs. Whilst it is \u201cproud\u201d to support those having genuine difficulty paying the costs, the council said it will take \u201cfirm action\u201d against those who are choosing not to.<\/p>\n

In February, the council, like the majority across the city, agreed to once again increase council tax by the maximum 4.99 per cent. At the same time, it announced \u00a38m cuts to the Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme which means all claimants of working age will be required to pay something towards their bill. The local authority said these increases were necessary primarily due the rising costs associated with the increased demand for temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n

However, when the announcement was made, opposition parties \u2013 the Liberal Democrats and Greens \u2013 warned that changes to the CTS scheme and tax increases will hit families on low incomes the hardest and potentially cause many \u201cto default on their bills\u201d, further exacerbating the problem.<\/p>\n

Council tax is one of three levers available to councils in order to generate additional revenue. Many residents are frustrated and angry about being asked to pay more for what they perceive to be a reduced service in terms of what is immediately visible \u2013 such as the state of the roads and pavements.<\/p>\n

The reality is that 81 per cent of all council tax is spent on three things: children\u2019s social care, adult social care, and emergency services \u2013 such as the fire brigade and police. Brent Council has pledged to take a firmer approach to collecting the outstanding debt in order to make sure it can continue delivering its statutory services, as well as local services.<\/p>\n

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, Cllr Mili Patel, said: \u201cAfter 14 years of wage stagnation, rising living costs, and government cuts, it\u2019s no surprise that many Brent residents struggle to keep up with bills. Like other councils serving communities for which poverty is an inescapable reality, we see this reflected in the level of our council tax arrears.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWe\u2019re proud that Brent Council<\/a> supports those residents with circumstances of genuine hardship with flexible repayment plans and advice, but we also take firm action against those who can pay but choose not to. We all must pay for vital local services, whether we use them today, or in ten years\u2019 time \u2013 so we are continuing to invest in more staff to make sure this debt is collected, and everyone contributes their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce9
\n
\n \"The<\/p>\n

Get the latest breaking news, roadworks, crime updates and local events straight to your inbox \u2013 totally free, every day.<\/p>\n

SIGN UP below<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London borough with the largest amount of council tax debt has been named, with councillors warning that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[2796,55803,748,393,4884,7833,257,12,55805,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-235302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-brent","9":"tag-brent-council","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-harrow-online","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-news-in-brent","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114790544526545418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}