Kirklees Council collects £5m less in council tax during first half of financial year

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic means some councils may soon face difficult trade-offs for what they can afford.

Figures from an IFS report show Kirklees Borough Council forecasted it would collect a total £222.2 million from council tax requirements in 2020-21 – 5.9 per cent more than the year before.

With council tax collected over 10 months, its expected income in the first half of the year was £118.1 million but it collected just £113.1 million.

This means the council collected around £5.1 million less than it hoped to in the first two quarters.

The IFS says some councils allow people to defer bills, so their receipts for the second half of the year may be much higher.

However, it warned that councils across England expect to collect £1.3 billion less council tax this year than they forecast, with some areas suffering more than others.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the Government has committed over £11 billion to support councils in England.

A spokesman added: “This includes a guarantee to meet 75 per cent of losses in council tax and business rates income this year, worth an estimated £800 million, and £670 million of new funding to enable them to continue reducing council tax bills next year.”