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Hard-up folk can’t afford to pay their dues it is claimed as shock figures reveal more than £40m of council tax went uncollected across the North East.

The region’s local authorities should have brought in £1bn in the financial year 2014-15.

But some £9.3m was outstanding in County Durham, with a further £3.7m due in Gateshead, 3.6m in Northumberland and £3.1m in Newcastle.

Teesside taxpayers owed a total of £9.4m, North Tyneside £3.0m, South Tyneside £2.1m, and Sunderland £3.1m.

However Labour-run Middlesbrough Council has said the problem was not their ability to collect it, but the fact some residents simply could not pay the bill.

They said their collection rate had dropped due to people being unable to come up with the money following the previous Coalition government’s changes to the council tax benefit scheme.

Durham County Council said their residents had an ‘excellent’ track record of paying and that their collection rate had increased three years in a row.

Councillor Nicky Walker, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Finance and Governance, said: “This is not an issue of councils’ ability to collect but an issue of people’s ability to pay.

“In 2013, the Conservative Government replaced the Council Tax Benefit with the Council Tax Support Scheme which meant that thousands of people in Middlesbrough, on the lowest incomes and least able to pay, were required to pay Council Tax for the first time and thousands more, many from working households, have had to pay an increased amount.

“Prior to this, in 2012/13 we collected more than 98% of all Council Tax

“At the same time millions of pounds of funding has been taken away from Middlesbrough Council which was used to assist those residents most in need of support.

“That said, we continue to work with partner organisations to provide help and support to individuals to assist them in paying their Council Tax bills and will always actively pursue unpaid Council Tax on an ongoing basis.”

Altogether, 41.1m was owed across the North East - money that should have been helped cash strapped councils balance the books.

Middlesbrough had the worst performance in the North East - and one of the worst in the entire country.

The council collected just 93.6 per cent of the £52.3m it was owed.

Northumberland County Council (97.7 per cent) had the best collection rate in the region, with Newcastle (96.9 per cent) second and Sunderland (96.6 per cent) third.

Across England as a whole, some £740.8m of council tax due for 2014/15 remained uncollected by the end of March.

Don McLure, Corporate director of resources at Durham County Council, said: “Durham County Council’s in-year council tax collection rate increased in 2014/15 for the third year in a row amounting to 95.8% of the council tax liability.

“We have a debt management strategy which ensures that we use all the powers at our disposal to collect this tax but we will do so with understanding and consideration for those who are experiencing financial difficulty.

“We look to ensure that all council tax payers on relatively low incomes receive all their entitlements to benefits.

“The collection of the outstanding sums for 2014/15 has continued in 2015/16 with a further £1.425m being collected in the past three months.

“The overall collection rate, shows that our council tax payers have an excellent track record of paying their bills and we are successful in recovering sums due with in excess of 99% being collected eventually.”

However, this missing money is not necessarily lost to the public purse for ever.

Councils across the North East will chase up money they are owed for months or even years after it was originally due.

Local Government Minister Marcus Jones said: “The Government has helped keep council tax down for hardworking people – average Band D bills have fallen by 11 per cent in real-terms since 2010. We have pledged to keep council tax low and ensure residents can continue to veto high rises via a local referendum.

“Every penny of council tax that is not collected means a higher bill for those law-abiding citizens who do pay on time. So we expect councils to be sympathetic to those in genuine hardship but ensure they are proportionate in enforcement while delivering a fair deal for local families.”

“Localising support for council tax helps decentralise power, giving councils increased financial autonomy and a greater stake in their local economy.”

COLLECTION RATES: NORTH EAST

Council / Collection rate (%) / Amount uncollected at end of March 2015 (£ms)/ Overall amount that should have been collected in 2014/15

Middlesbrough / 93.6 / £3.3m / £52m

Darlington / 95.2 / £2.2m / £46m

Gateshead / 95.4 / £3.7m / £80m

Hartlepool / 95.4 / £1.7m / £38m

Redcar and Cleveland / 95.5 / £2.8 / £63m

Durham / 95.8 / £9.2 / £220m

South Tyneside / 96 / £2.1m / £53m

North Tyneside / 96.4 / £3.0m / £82m

Stockton-on-Tees / 96.4 / £3.0 / £85m

Sunderland / 96.6 / £3.0 / £88m

Newcastle upon Tyne / 96.9 / £3.0 / £97m

Northumberland UA / 97.7 / £3.5 / £155m

WORST COLLECTION RATES FOR 2014-15

Council / Collection rate (%) / Amount uncollected at end of March 2015 (£ms)

Salford / 91.6 / £7.8m

Manchester / 91.8 / £12.2m

Blackpool / 92.4 / £4.2m

Nottingham / 92.5 / £7.9m

Oldham / 93.1 / £6.0m

Rochdale / 93.5 / £5.4m

Derby / 93.6 / £5.9m

Greenwich / 93.6 / £6.2m

Middlesbrough / 93.6 / £3.3m

Kingston upon Hull / 93.6 / £5.1m

BEST COLLECTION RATES FOR 2014-15

Council / Collection rate (%) / Amount uncollected at end of March 2015 (£ms)

Chiltern / 99.3 / £0.4m

Wokingham / 99.3 / £0.6m

North Kesteven / 99.2 / £0.4m

Mole Valley / 99.2 / £0.4m

South Cambridgeshire / 99.1 / £0.8m

Guildford / 99.0 / 0.8m

Waverley / 99.0 / £0.8m

Rutland / 98.9 / £0.2m

Epsom & Ewell / 98.8 / £0.6m

Surrey Heath / 98.7 / £0.7m