BARNSLEY Council will write off more than £1m in ‘bad debt’ due to it becoming ‘uneconomical’ to try and collect it.

The overall overdue debt position at the end of March for Barnsley Council was £19.6m - this comprises of prior years’ debt of £10.1m and new debt of £9.5m.

The council will now seek to write off - and subsequently not collect - more than £1m in historic debt at a cabinet meeting next week.

This figure includes around £500,000 in council tax, £286,000 in business rates and £83,000 in housing benefit.

A report states: “Historic debt is traditionally much more difficult to collect.

“To offer some protection against non-collection, the council sets a prudent provision for bad debt which was allowed for within the 2022/23 budget.”