FIGURES showing that over 12,000 people in Bolton have been summoned to court over non-payment of council tax have also revealed a stark difference between wards.

The findings, obtained from Bolton Borough Council under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the most deprived wards have seen the most summons, while the fewest have been issued in better off wards.

Overall, Great Lever saw the most summonses with a total of 1,243 over the past 12 months, while Bromley Cross has seen the fewest with 262.

Urban Outreach Bolton CEO Dave Bagley said: “I think the local economic difficulties that will be created by Covid are yet to be fully realised and this is one of them.

“This is clearly a lot of people and a lot of households.”

He added: “The thing we’re fully conscious of is what will happen as we come out of this, how do we recover from something that’s had such an economic hit?”

The findings show that along with Great Lever, Farnworth, Halliwell, Crompton and Breightmet were the top five hardest hit wards.

  • Great Lever with 902 summonses over 2020/21 and 341 so far for 2021/22 - A total of 1243
  • Farnworth with 851 over 2020/21 and 342 for 2021/22 - A total of 1,193
  • Halliwell with 854 over 2020/21 and 322 for 2021/22 - A total of 1,176
  • Crompton with 816 over 2020/21 and 305 for 2021/22 - A total of 1,121
  • Breightmet with 577 over 2020/21 and 296 for 2021/22 - A total of 873
  • Tonge with the Haulgh with 590 over 2020/21 and 206 for 2021/22 - A total of 796
  • Rumworth with 492 over 2020/21 and 164 for 2021/22, - A total of 656
  • Hulton with 435 over 2020/21 and 165 for 2021/22 - A total of 600
  • Kearsley with 424 over 2020/21 and 139 for 2021/22 - A total of 563
  • Harper Green with 380 over 2020/21 and 163 for 2021/22 - A total of 543
  • Astley Bridge with 377 over 2020/21 and 155 for 2021/22 - A total of 532
  • Horwich and Blackrod with 385 over 2020/21 and 127 for 2021/22 - A total of 512
  • Smithhills with 360 over 2020/21 and 117 for 2021/22 - A total of 477
  • Westhoughton North and Chew Moor with 268 over 2020/21 and 87 for 2021/22 - A total of 355
  • Bradshaw with 232 over 2020/21 and 115 for 2021/22 - A total of 347
  • Horwich North East with 252 over 2020/21 and 88 for 2021/22 - A total of 340
  • Little Lever and Darcy Lever with 223 over 2020/21 and 91 for 2021/22 - A total of 314
  • Westhoughton South with 230 over 2020/21 and 77 for 2021/22 - A total of 307
  • Heaton and Lostock with 227 over 2020/21 and 59 for 2021/22 - A total of 286
  • Bromley Cross with 189 over 2020/21 and 73 for 2021/22 - A total of 262

In all this came to a total of 9064 people across Bolton brought to court over non-payment of council tax over the 2020/21 financial year and 3432 for 2021/22.

Anyone struggling with their finances can also seek help from the Citizens Advice Bureau.

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