More than 4,000 people in Harrow are owed council tax refunds, with the council hoarding cash worth more than £1 million. 

Harrow Council has 4,060 council tax accounts it owes money to, a Freedom of Information request showed.

It is sitting on a total sum of £1,080,215.73, which means each taxpayer could be owed an average of £266.

A spokesman for Harrow Council explained there are a number of reasons for the outstanding payments, including the need to request bank details from residents who do not pay by direct debit. 

He added the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to further delays in issuing refunds.  

The council spokesperson said: “The amount of credits outstanding is not large, as the majority relates to work in progress. 

“For example approximately 30 to 35 per cent of our residents move in and out of properties in the borough annually and this churn means that refunds are due to those who have informed us to stop their occupation and require credits or overpaid monies to be refunded. 

“Due to the pandemic and staff not working within the office, the only way to refund overpaid monies is via BACS, direct to a customer’s bank account, we can no longer do this via cheque. 

“As around 40 per cent of residents do not pay their council tax by direct debit, the authority does not hold bank details for those taxpayers. 

“As such bank details have to be requested and received and this creates a lag between someone moving out and having a credit created on their account and the refund being issued some weeks later which reduces the credit to zero.”

Taxpayers should contact the council to find out if they’re owed money.