Flintshire Council tax debt rising as authority lacks powerful sanctions
Council tax collection rates in Flintshire remain among the best in Wales – but without an effective penalty for those who choose not to pay debt levels are growing.
In Flintshire council tax debt – where residents simply do not pay – grew last year by £839,000. That’s more than the council’s end-of-year underspend.
Flintshire County Council’s draft statement of accounts for 2025/26 revealed that despite serious concerns about the council’s debt position last year it finished the financial year in a small surplus – with an underspend of £790,000.
But during a meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee this week Cllr Arnold Woolley flagged council tax arrears as an issue as council tax debt rose from £6,358,000 in 2024/25 to £7,197,000 in 2025/26.
“A slight worry is what appears to be a rising trend of council tax debt,” he said. “We seem to have a slightly rising figure and, of course, when we get trends that don’t look too good one automatically asks the question: is anything being done to look at the cause and to stop any further increase in that debt?”
Officers highlighted that Flintshire still had the second-highest council tax collection rate in Wales and the second-lowest rate of arrears, but Chief officer for Governance Gareth Owens said the rise was a matter of concern.
While missing just one monthly council tax payment can mean residents are liable to settle the entire year’s bill on one go – enforcement reforms that came into effect in April this year across Wales meant the grace period for settling the bill was extended from two weeks to two months.
Those rules also required councils to intervene earlier with offers of support for families struggling with their council tax while quicker, sharper sanctions – such as legal action and jail – have been removed.
“There has been a national trend towards increasing levels of arrears of council tax,” said Mr Owens.
“That is since the abolition of the power to have people committed to prison for non‑payment of council tax. We never did use the power, but it was a very effective threat. Nobody wanted to go to prison and that focused their minds on paying their debts.
“That power has been abolished for a while now. As a tax collector, I rue its passing, but as an individual, clearly it’s a very Dickensian thing that somebody should be going to prison for. So we haven’t got that power anymore.
“Revenue teams across England, Wales and Scotland have struggled to find alternative powers for enforcement. We did ask Welsh Government for additional powers as part of their recent review of council tax but they were not prepared to grant them to us.
“So what we have done is increase the amount of resource available within the revenues team in order for them to be able to devote more time to pursuing non‑payment.
“Our position in Wales remains extremely positive, but that is a relative position in an overall worsening situation. It is a shame that, given all the reform that took place around council tax payment last year, the position for collection authorities was made more difficult rather than easier.”
By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter
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