Liquidated manufacturer’s £67,000 rates debt to be written off by Flintshire council
Flintshire County Council never had the chance to chase a £67,000 business rates debt before the firm that owed it went bust, a report reveals.
Senior councillors will be asked on Tuesday 16 June to write off £67,250.41 owed by Westminster Worldwide Trading Ltd, a manufacturer based at Minerva House on Chester West Employment Park.
Although the site has a Chester address, it sits on the Flintshire side of the border, making the company liable for business rates in the county.
The firm was liable for rates at the premises from October 2024, but the council’s first demand notice was not issued until early January 2025. A report to Cabinet says it took time to receive sufficient evidence from the property owner to establish that the business was the correct party to bill.
The first instalment fell due on 1 February. Twenty-six days later, on 27 February, the company entered creditors voluntary liquidation, with Leonard Curtis Insolvency Practitioners appointed.
The report says no recovery action could be started before the insolvency began. The business had stopped trading and left the premises, with the lease ended on 6 May 2025.
The council submitted a claim to the liquidators for the full unpaid bill, but documents lodged at Companies House show the company had an estimated £8,100 in cash against debts to creditors of around £229,000. The liquidators have confirmed there will be no payout for ordinary unsecured creditors, leaving the council with no prospect of recovering the money.
Under the council’s financial rules, any individual debt over £25,000 can only be written off with Cabinet approval.
Writing off the debt will not directly cost Flintshire taxpayers, as business rates are paid into a national pool and redistributed to Welsh councils by formula. The report notes, though, that because the pool is supported by the Welsh Government, unpaid rates have ‘a wider impact on the Welsh taxpayer more generally’.
The report says the council normally pursues unpaid rates at the earliest opportunity, including court action and the use of enforcement agents, but that legal action such as winding up a company in the High Court is not always appropriate where there is no prospect of recovering the debt.
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