OVER 20 per cent of Council Tax went uncollected in one part of Bradford last year, according to new figures.

Just 79 per cent of Council Tax liability was collected in the City ward, which includes much of the city centre, in the 2017/18 financial year.

And Bradford Council says high levels of "transience" in this part of the district were partly to blame for low collection rates, with a quarter of residents in the area classed as living in there on a temporary basis.

The figures will be discussed at a meeting of the Council's Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, when members will be given details of collection rates in all 30 wards in the district.

In total there was almost £12 million in Council Tax that went unpaid in the 2017/18 financial year, although work is continuing to collect as much as possible.

In recent years the collection rate in the district has hovered around 92 per cent. Last year it was 94.2 per cent.

However, the Council says that eventually 98.5 per cent of Council Tax debt is collected, although it sometimes takes a number of years.

The best performing ward for Council Tax collection was Wharfedale, where 99.22 per cent of Council Tax was paid.

Many of the areas where collection rates were lowest are wards that are ranked poorest in the district.

Manningham, classed as the most deprived ward in Bradford, had an 85.71 per cent collection rate, while Bowling and Barkerend, the most deprived, had a collection rate of 87.66 per cent.

But the City ward was by far the worst for collection rates (79.02 per cent), with residents in the ward racking up over £1.38 million in Council Tax debt in the past year.

Explaining the low collection rates in the city centre, the report says: "Transiency, or the rate at which residents move addresses, appears to correlate strongly with collection performance. A higher rate of transiency makes collection difficult for two reasons. First, the effort needed to keep up with residents as they move around the city - often ‘disappearing’ as they move in to property in which they are not liable to pay Council Tax. Secondly, because they are often low income households, they tend to leave small amounts owing, which are often uneconomical to collect.

"In Bradford, the City Ward has seen transiency rates of nearly 25 per cent this year, much higher than other Wards, including those with high levels of deprivation."

A Council spokesperson said: “The Council is committed to maximising the amount of money it collects in Council Tax, but is also mindful of the difficulties some low income families face meeting their bills.

“High levels of deprivation, in some areas of Bradford, make collecting Council Tax more difficult and this is exacerbated in some parts of the district where residents might only live in Bradford for a short time before moving on to another city. The Council is often faced with collecting small amounts from residents, often the most vulnerable, which can be costly to recoup if they have no funds.

“Whilst collection remains challenging for the Council, it is pleasing to note that the firm but fair approach of making affordable arrangements to pay arrears eventually leads to around 98.5 per cent of all debt being collected.”

The report also reveals that in 2017/18, 43,000 applications were made by the Council for court action in Bradford, which incurs costs for the debtor. It adds: "It is not the intention to create further financial hardship by adding costs, but the Council must collect Council Tax from those able to pay; and not passing on such costs means that they would be borne by those that pay regularly."

The report admits some outstanding Council Tax will never be collected, due to factors including untraceable taxpayers, deaths and bankruptcy.

Shipley MP Philip Davies is running a campaign to split the Shipley and Keighley constituencies from Bradford Council. He has claimed in the past that some areas of these constituencies pay far more in to Bradford Council than they receive back in services.

On the Council Tax collection figures, he said: "I am delighted that Bradford Council will at last look at Council Tax collection rates. This is long overdue. I hope they will look at how they can make sure the collection rates in the Bradford constituencies come up to the levels of those in the Shipley constituencies."