The latest statistics on the collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates in England 2007-08 were released on 18 June 2008.
The latest statistics release includes data from 2003-04 to 2007-08 and updates those statistics previously released on 19 June 2007.
- Local authorities in England collected £20.0 billion in council taxes by the end of March 2008 out of a total of £20.6 billion collectable. This gave a national average in-year collection rate for council tax in England of 97.1 per cent in 2007-08, an increase of 0.2 percentage points on 2006-07.
- Local authorities in England collected £17.7 billion in non-domestic rates by the end of March 2008 out of a total of £18.0 billion collectable. This gave a national average in-year collection rate for non-domestic rates in England of 98.8 per cent in 2007-08, an increase of 0.1 percentage points on 2006-07.
- There has been a continual, steady increase in collection rates in both council tax and non-domestic rates. Over the last four years, the national collection rate for council tax has increased by 0.6 of a percentage point and national non-domestic rates by 0.5 of a percentage point.
- All classes of authority increased their average council tax collection rates in 2007-08 and all classes of authority, except the unitary authorities, increased their average non-domestic rates collection rates in the same period.
- As a result of the improvement in the council tax collection rate nationally in 2007-08 over the previous year, local authorities in England collected £38 million more in council tax than they would have done if the collection rate had remained the same.
The full statistical release and accompanying tables are available at: Collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates in England 2007-08 (external link).