Monday June 29th 2026
East Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Hundreds of unpaid council tax bills have been written off by East Lothian Council as it wiped over £1million off its books over the last year.
A report on bad debt has revealed the council wrote off over £400,000 owed across 369 accounts – over a third of the total write off amount for the year.
And it said a further £404,000 due was also cancelled due to people going bankrupt or their firms going into liquidation.
The annual breakdown of bad debt and credit write offs also included almost £90,000 lost when people died with no estate to recover money owed from while £104,000 owed by people who were declared homeless was also let go.
Unpaid rent accounted for nearly £20,000 of the total for the year with ‘sundries’ making up £178,000.
A report to councillors lodged in the members library said: “The depute chief executive – resources and economy is responsible for the collection of all debt owed to the council.
“A regular assessment of the outstanding debt is made and a list of debt that is not considered collectable is prepared. In making this assessment, account is taken of the council’s approved Bad Debt and Credit Balance Write Off Policy.
“Any bad debts are written off against a bad and doubtful debt provision which is reflected within the annual accounts and is used to recognise the value of debts which are deemed to be irrecoverable. This is based on an estimate of income which is unlikely to be realised based on previous experience.
It added: “Across all areas, £177,962.45 was written off due to individual bankruptcy, £236,314.02 was written off due to company liquidation, £89,188.36 was written off as the debtor was deceased with no estate funds to cover the debt and £196,573.19 was written off due to debt prescription.
“Where a credit balance exists and no other debt is owed to the Council, attempts will be made to contact the customer in order that the credit may be refunded. If the customer cannot be traced, then a recommendation to write on will be made.”
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