ALMOST £500,000 in unpaid taxes has been written off by Worcester City Council in just 12 months, it has emerged.

A new report has revealed how bosses decided to write off £488,000 in unpaid council tax and business rates owed by 258 different people in the 2015/16 financial year.

The Worcester News can reveal how the figure is 30 per cent up on the previous 12-month period, when it totalled £373,000.

It means since 2010 more than £2.7 million in unpaid bills has been written off across Worcester, although it equates to less than two per cent of the total owed.

The figures come despite a serious crackdown on unpaid council tax bills which resulted in 4,000 householders being slapped with court summons for dodging debts.

The Labour leadership says it wants to see the sums going down, and has urged more people to pay on time and seek assistance if they get into trouble.

Councillor Adrian Gregson, the city's leader, said the public would rightly expect the authority to chase debts.

"The emphasis is two-fold, for people who are struggling to pay the sooner they get in touch with the council the easier it is to resolve any issues," he said.

"For people who are holding out or reluctant to pay, the council has a responsibility on behalf of all our citizens to pursue those bills."

The Conservatives were in control of the council in the last financial year, but most of the write-offs are historic debts dating back to much longer time periods which finance staff have found impossible to recover.

Mark Baldwin, the finance service manager, said: "The timing of write-offs is not a smooth process, you will get peaks and troughs."

Bosses say the writing off of debts are a "last resort" and the reasons for it vary, including companies going under and residents dying or vanishing without trace.

They also say around 98 per cent of the money owed by householders and businesses in the 2015/16 financial year was collected as normal.

The council also keeps a database of all historic write-offs and says old debts can be chased up again if any new details come to light.

As well as the city council losing out, the fire service, police and Worcestershire County Council all have to forego funds from each write-off.