Herefordshire Council is one of the best council tax collectors

Herefordshire Council has out-performed many other authorities in the region and across the UK after collecting 98.6 per cent of the council tax it should have during 2007/08.

The average amount collected by council across the West Midlands stands at 97.2 per cent, while the average for councils in the UK stands at 97.1 per cent.

The average amount collected by other unitary authorities in England stands at 96.7 per cent - nearly two per cent less than Herefordshire Council's collection rate.

"This is good news for the people of Herefordshire as it demonstrates that the council is very efficient at collecting local money which goes towards the cost of providing more than 800 different services it provides to the communities in the county," said Cllr Harry Bramer, cabinet member with responsibility for resources.

"No council can achieve a collection rate of 100 per cent - one of the reasons for this is that bills issued later in the year are unlikely to be recovered before the end of March, so there is always a figure that is outstanding to be collected in the next financial year.

"Herefordshire people have a strong sense of civic responsibility, so it's only fair to those people who pay their council tax on time that we secure late payments as quickly as possible.

"Indeed, since the year end financial figures were published, we have significantly reduced the amount which remains uncollected from around £1 million to £800,000.

"While we recognise that there will be people who may find it difficult to pay their council tax, the message for the minority of people who can pay but won't is that we will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of the money that is owed," added Cllr Bramer.