A council has written off more than £200,000 worth of debt so far this year.
Torfaen County Borough Council has written off £209,598.37 worth of debt.
A report which outlines the decision to approve the write-off says that all appropriate attempts to recover the debt have been made.
The highest proportion of debt that was written-off came from business rates.
A total of £74,838.71 has been written-off as a result of outstanding charges from business rates. However, £53,363.11 is as a direct result of businesses which are going through insolvency proceedings.
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The council said: “The current write-off is in respect of debts that cover previous years so this must be balanced against the debt that has been raised as it represents one percent of the total debit raised.”
More than 20 percent of the debt write-off is in relation to council tax.
Torfaen council has written-off £45,856.29 in relation to outstanding charges.
The council said council tax debts cover previous years and must be balanced against the debt that has been raised.
They said: “In order to fairly reflect the commitment of taxpayers and staff it is appropriate to consider that the total write-offs to date is 0.3 percent of the total debit raised.”
A total of £43,137.46 worth of housing benefit overpayments have been written-off.
The council said overpayments generally arise as a result of failures to notify the authority of changes in circumstances or fraudulent activity.
£33,000 of the housing benefit overpayments write-off is uncollectable because the individual has died.
The write off represents 0.26% of the annual housing benefit awards.
The rest is made up of sundry debts, which totals £45, 765.91.
Sundry debts tend to be smaller and can be issued for a variety of reasons for by number of different services, including education, social care housing and resources.
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