Cash-strapped Falkirk Council owed £15 million in unpaid council tax

The Conservative FOI revealed £45 million had not been paid – but Falkirk Council says that figure is out of date and the actual amount is currently around £15 million.

The Conservative group – which proposed the lowest council tax rise of 10 per cent in this year’s budget – say they want to see more efficiency rather than huge tax rises.

The Freedom of Information request revealed that, as of January 1, 2025, Falkirk Council was owed £45,583,822.67 in unpaid council tax.

Conservative councillor James Bundy said: “Residents deserve better. Instead of reaching deeper into people’s pockets, the council should be ensuring everyone pays their fair share.

“This is a failure of financial management, and Falkirk taxpayers are being left to pick up the bill.

“Falkirk Conservatives are calling on the council to urgently prioritise the collection of unpaid council tax before placing further financial strain on hardworking residents.”

Stephen Kerr MSP said: “The Falkirk Conservatives made it clear in our budget that the council should focus on efficiencies rather than punishing residents with eye-watering tax increases.

“Unfortunately, Labour and the Independents had other ideas — forcing local families to pay more instead of tackling nearly £46 million in unpaid council tax.”

Falkirk Council says the total is actually under £15 million – while the total amount billed from April 1, 1993 to March 31 last year was £1.5 billion.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Falkirk Council had a total outstanding council tax of under £15m , as at March 31, 2024 and anticipate a similar position at March 31, 2025.

“The total amount billed from April 1, 1993 to March 31, 2024 is just under £1.5 billion.”

“While Falkirk Council’s collection rate is ahead of budget forecasts we will, in line with our corporate debt policy, continue to make every effort to collect all remaining outstanding amounts.

“The balance outstanding at January 1, 2025, provided in response to a freedom of information request, was the total due at that date, inclusive of Scottish Water charges, up to March 31, 2025.

“That total included scheduled/expected payments, e.g. by direct debit, that have since been paid which has therefore reduced the balance outstanding.

“The outstanding council tax is one per cent of the total amount billed.”

Councillor Bundy responded: “Even if we take the council’s revised figure of £15 million, that’s still more than all the revenue raised by this crippling 15.6 per cent increase.

“Instead of hammering hardworking families, the council should focus on collecting what it is already owed.”

The Labour group leader, Councillor Anne Hannah, said Falkirk Council officers are “extremely diligent in pursuing debt or ensuring people who are unable to pay their council tax get the help they need”.

She added: “The decision to raise the council tax by £4.08 per week was needed to keep essential public services running.

“It was needed as a direct result of 18 years of underfunding by the Scottish Government, the imposition of council tax freezes or caps almost every year since 2007 and increasing costs. Every councillor on Falkirk Council knew the council tax rise was essential to protect public service delivery.

“Falkirk Conservatives proposed a budget which would have raised council tax by 10 per cent while cutting services by £11 million, increasing fees by £1.5 million and raiding the council reserves to do it, leaving the budget in an unsustainable position.

“This would not have been sound financial management.”

Councillor Hannah pointed out that Falkirk Council’s collection rate for council tax is already above the Scottish average. She said Falkirk Council officers are “extremely diligent in pursuing debt or ensuring people who are unable to pay their council tax get the help they need”.