Cuts to council tax support (CTS) have led to a surge in unpaid bills, new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed.

In a new report, the IFS estimated that around a quarter of the extra council tax now owed by low-income households is not been collected in the year it is due – a figure 10 times higher than the typical rate of non-collection.

Chair of the Local Government Association's resources board, Cllr Richard Watts, said: 'The Spending Review needs to ensure councils have the full amount of funding required to provide council tax support to those who need it. Otherwise, it is almost inevitable that bills will continue to be forced up for those who can least afford to pay.'