Bailiffs were called every hour in Nottingham over unpaid Council Tax last year with residents' debt ballooning to more than £32 million. Figures released by Nottingham City Council in response to a Freedom of Information request show there has been a substantial increase in the amount of money owed to the authority, resulting in thousands of court proceedings and bailiff referrals in the year leading to February 2024.
As of February 28, the total arrears was £32,353,356, a significant jump from £27,588,367 a year before. The local authority disclosed that it frequently resorted to legal action to try claw back the millions owed, taking 22,275 people to court over their debts in the last year. The figures showed 32,870 indebted residents were currently in the "recovery stage" at the end of February. These recoveries regularly involve bailiffs, with 8,926 referrals made to enforcement agents in the last year