ALMOST £2m in unpaid debt has been written off by Northumberland County Council in the past year.

The council writes off debts it deems “irrecoverable” every year to ensure resources are deployed correctly in areas money can be reclaimed.

The figure of £1,950,576.88 for 2018-19 is slightly down on the previous year, when it was £2,012,482.94.

However, it means that more than £7m has been written off by the council over the last four years.

A report on the write-offs showed that unpaid debt from business rates made up the largest chunk of debt written off at £790,990.74, while £474,500,89 was written off in council tax and £394,903.58 came from housing rent and other debts.

The remaining money came from benefit overpayments, adult social care, and various smaller areas labelled as “sundry debts”.

The council’s cabinet unanimously agreed to write-off the debt at its meeting on Tuesday, with little discussion involved.

Coun. Nick Oliver, cabinet member for corporate services, said: “Anything that’s written off is a one-off cost to the council and the total amount of write-offs has remained pretty consistent to the previous year. It’s important to note that everything is done to try to get this money back and a lot of this is very old. It’s a last step when it’s clear the money will not be recovered.”