More than £8 million in council tax debt has been owed in Southampton at the end of each of the past four years.

Despite enforcement action and late payments, the city council is still without millions of pounds residents had been billed for.

Council leaders said the authority needed to be “flexible” in getting the money owed, with people struggling in the cost of living crisis.

The authority is in the midst of financial difficulties and required exceptional financial support from government to balance this year’s budget.

Figures obtained by the LDRS through Freedom of Information requests showed the annual average for unpaid council tax across Southampton was £8.76 million for 2020/21 to 2023/24.

For both of the past two years the local authority issued more than 20,000 final notices instructing payment after earlier payments were missed.

The council has increasingly instructed bailiffs to enforce liability orders for non-payment of council tax, with 7,862 cases in 2023/24 compared to 2,035 in 2020/21.

While efforts have been made to recover unpaid council tax, at the start of May 2024, the authority was still owed £21.134 million.

Labour’s cabinet member for finance Cllr Simon Letts said: “To run good services for our residents it is essential that we collect as much council tax as possible.

“The council uses all of the powers it has to collect the tax that is owed. However, in the current cost of living crisis it is inevitable that some residents are struggling to meet their obligations and the council needs to be flexible in getting what is owed collected.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Richard Blackman said: “Even with provision built in for non-payment, these are significant sums for the city council to miss out on, and will have had a negative impact on the overall budgetary situation.

“Council tax is not based on ability to pay, and I fear these figures reflect the impact of the cost of living crisis on Southampton residents.

“We need a more progressive form of taxation to support local government.”

Cllr Peter Baillie, Conservative group leader, said: “Overall, for many years Labour have been poor at collecting the council tax, and part of that is the vibe they give out that nothing much will happen if you don’t pay. That has allowed a mentality to build up that it doesn’t matter.

“Labour keep saying that people have no money because of the so-called cost of living crisis. Had Labour collected the council tax last year they wouldn’t have needed a rise [in council tax].”