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It comes as residents are hit with a 4.3 % hike in council tax, pushing the annual charge for band D to 拢1,326.22.

But the council says unpaid bills are not written off unless they've exhausted all reasonable means of getting the money back.

In a statement a spokesperson said: 鈥渢here comes a point when it is no longer viable to pursue some council tax debtors, and it is in the interests of the Council and the borough to write the debt off.

The amount lost each year is always incorporated into the budget in advance to lessen the impact the missing money has on local services.鈥�

There are a number of reasons for bills to be written off, including the death of the person who owes the money, or if the person goes bankrupt or moves abroad.

Barking & Dagenham did, however, fare better than many neighbouring boroughs.

Redbridge had the third highest council tax write-off in London, at just over 拢3 million, while both Newham and Havering councils wrote off about 拢1.2 million each.

A spokesperson said: 鈥淏arking and Dagenham wrote off the lowest council tax debts of any of its neighbouring authorities, and aims to keep write-offs to a minimum in future years as well.

The Council has a range of measures in place for catching council debtors and forcing them to pay, and can even track down people who have left the borough and moved to other parts of the country.

This includes confiscating luxury goods, including people's cars; forcing them to pay off their debts when they sell their homes; and making debtors bankrupt.

Nevertheless, the extra money could be spent on providing more council services to local people, and the lesson here must be that it is the duty of every responsible resident to pay their council tax in full.鈥�