Liberal Democrats improve council tax collection

12.13.12am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 29th Sep 2005

Thanks to the work of Lib Dem councillors the 2004-05 collection rate for Council Tax in Lambeth was 92.03%, an increase of over 3.3 percentage points. This is well above the average increase in performance in England and Wales, which was a mere 0.1 %

Under Labour in 2001-02, Lambeth was the second worst collector in England and Wales. The increase to 92.03% takes us to 28th out of the 33 collectors in London - ahead of Labour-controlled boroughs of Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Hackney. The target for this year is 93%. Based on the 2004/05 collection, this would take Lambeth out of the bottom quartile of performance in London.

Lib Dem action towards better collection of Council Tax has gone along with reducing the local authority's debts (thus reducing interest payments), building up essential reserves, and getting the Council's accounts approved without qualification by the District Auditor for the first time in 17 years.