BARROW Council has been left with an eye-watering bill for unpaid council tax with thousands of households failing to pay up.

Around £3.7 million in unpaid council is owed to the council since the beginning of 2019/20.

In that time around 10,000 households have failed to pay the tax, which is required by law.

The council said its recovery processes were affected by the pandemic.

According to figures obtained under freedom of information laws, some £2,252,429 is outstanding from 2021/22, with 6,703 having not paid what is required.

Some £923,673 is outstanding from nearly 2,000 households from the year before and £597,555 from around 1,500 households the year before that.

Householders can be taken to court if the money owed is not paid and the bailiffs cannot recover enough property to cover it.

Those who do not pay could be sent to prison for up to three months if a court decides there is no good reason for the tax not to be paid.

Leader of Barrow Borough Council Ann Thomson said: "Barrow Borough Council is the billing authority for this area. For every £1 collected, however, just 12 pence belongs to the borough council. 

"Covid-19 restricted the normal recovery processes across 2020 and into 2021, which has temporarily inflated the value of council tax outstanding. 

"The Council pursues all debts owed and normal recovery processes recommenced in May 2021. 

"If there are council tax debts that are ultimately unrecovered and that exceed the bad debt provision established for the purpose, then there will be an impact on council spending."

Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It can be uneconomical to pursue every penny owed, but local authorities must try all options before writing off debt.

"It's not fair on law-abiding taxpayers for others to get away without paying their share.

"Whilst council tax bills are a strain on many households, those not paying, put taxes up for everybody else."