Minister: Balance sought over rates that pay for services, but aren't punitive

There is a need to strike a balance in setting a rate that will pay for public services, but not be overly punitive, the Stormont Finance Minister has said.

Caoimhe Archibald made the comment as she was asked about a rates debt from last year in Northern Ireland of almost £175 million.

The Stormont Executive is set to discuss this week the regional rate for the next financial year, which along with the district rate set by local councils makes up the total rates bill.

Some £174.3 million in rates had not been collected in Northern Ireland by March 31 2023.

However Ms Archibald said that more than £1.5 billion was collected in rates this financial year, the largest amount collected by Land and Property Services (LPS) within a rating year, and over £140 million more than in the previous year.

During Finance Minister Questions at Stormont on Tuesday, Ms Archibald was asked what actions were being taken to collect the rates debt.

She responded saying that unpaid rates are pursued through billing but also legal processes.

"Rating debt has increased since 2020. There are a number of factors in relation to both Covid pandemic and also the cost-of-living and cost-of-doing-business crisis," she told MLAs.

"LPS proactively addresses rating debt through rates billing, collection and recovery cycle. As at February 4 2024, almost 11,000 rate payers had an agreed payment plan with their rates being paid over a longer period of time, and it's important to reflect that those people are also reflected in that £174 million of debt.

"Legal debt recovery actions are taken by LPS for persistent non payment and when rate payers fail to engage with LPS on their rating debt. Approximately 40% of all rating debt prior to March 31 2023 has been subject to legal proceedings. There were difficulties with legal proceedings during the pandemic.

"LPS has been robustly implementing its debt recovery strategy aimed to reduce rating debt year on year."

As the Executive prepares to agree to set the regional rate, Ms Archibald was asked whether a "punitive increase" would "set back efforts to recoup that money".

"There have been a number of figures that have been quoted in the media, and from my perspective some of those would be incredibly punitive on households and businesses," she said.

"Obviously it will be for the Executive to decide what the rate will actually be set at, and that's a discussion that I will be having with Executive colleagues later this week.

"We do have to get that balance between being able to deliver high quality public services but not putting the burden on hard-working families and businesses that are already struggling with the cost of living and the cost of doing business."