Lewisham Council's tax collection rates have fallen below targeted levels, prompting the council to implement new measures to improve efficiency. The drop in collection rates comes after a period of strong performance, with rates at or above 96% before the pandemic.

During a Public Accounts Select Committee meeting on Wednesday 17 September 2025, it was revealed that council tax collection performance is around 92% in year, rising to 94% over the life of the debt. This falls short of the budgeted target of 95-96%.

The Collection Fund Report stated that closing this gap is a priority, noting the disruption caused following the pandemic in 2020 to 2022 and subsequent cost of living crises that has followed with a period of sustained high inflation further eroding the value of families incomes.

The Revenue Service is taking several actions to address this issue:

  • Finalising recruitment, prioritising current agency staff to ensure a full complement of resources.
  • Benchmarking with high-performing services across London to identify automation opportunities and determine the most appropriate structure for Lewisham. While the report references benchmarking with high-performing London boroughs, it does not name the specific boroughs or detail their strategies.
  • Re-organising the Revenue Service based on benchmarking outcomes and monitoring the impact on performance, customer expectation, and revenue collection. Success will be measured based on performance, customer expectation, and revenue collection after the re-organisation of the Revenue Service. However, the report does not specify a timeline for evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives.
  • Ensuring the best available systems are in place for the Council.

Internal initiatives are also underway to enhance collection performance:

  • Targeting taxpayers with text and e-mail reminders before and after instalment dates.
  • Increasing outbound telephone calls during unsociable hours to increase contact with debtors and generate more payment.
  • Introducing a new portal to simplify council tax payments.
  • Exploring options to automate CTAX work and free up staff for collection-related activities. Specific examples of automation being considered include automating processes for liability orders, write-offs, bankruptcy and insolvency work, and targeting accounts where there has been a break in payment arrangements. The aim is to free up staff to focus on more targeted recovery work. The report also mentions automating processes for moves in and out of the borough, direct debits, and single person discounts.
  • Minimising outstanding work to ensure taxpayers are aware of their payment obligations.

As of 31st July June, £70.2m of council tax due had been collected which is 95% of the amount required to be on track to meet the targeted 96% collection rate.