Unpaid clean air zone fines reach £32m as Bristol City Council faces funding shortfall
Bristol City Council is owed £229 million in unpaid debt, including nearly £52 million worth of council tax.
New figures reveal that as of 31 March 2024 there was £32 million in unpaid Clean Air Zone fines and almost £19 million in overpaid housing benefits which had not been recovered.
It comes after council leader Cllr Tony Dyer warned that the organisation follow other local authorities, including Birmingham and Nottingham, in effectively declaring bankruptcy if it could not find savings to plug a £22 million budget shortfall this year.
The report showed the reasons debt had accumulated included the fact bills in Bristol were higher than the national average, additional reminder notices which meant unpaid cases took longer to progress, and court backlogs which made it difficult to obtain time before magistrates.
The report reads: “Aged debt becomes increasingly difficult to collect for several reasons including: greater likelihood of there being a change in the debtor’s circumstances – they may have moved, become insolvent for example; debtors may have other, higher priority debts; debtors question the legitimacy of the debt.”
Outstanding housing benefit overpayments totalled £18.6 million, while council tenant rent and related charges such as those paid by leaseholders was £15.2 million,.
The report said: “Cost of living pressures are clearly continuing to impact and we are endeavouring to maximise the support we are able to offer through new initiatives and processes.
“The ‘premium rate’ telephone line for payments has been replaced, making calls to this line more affordable.
“The debt support referral service allows customer-facing teams across the council to refer those struggling with unmanageable debt, and who often have other non-financial problems, for support, advice and signposting.
“We hold regular debt clinics around the city targeting those living in the locality where our records indicate unmanageable debts exist.”
Credit: Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporter.