A SCOTTISH council has said a "cyberattack" is behind a major drop in the authority's council tax collection rate in 2024/25.
Scotland's provisional council tax collection rates for this financial year were published on Tuesday, showing a range from 89.5% to 98.2% across the 32 local authorities.
The Western Isles' council tax collection rate was an outlier in the data as the only council collecting less than 93%.
The council registered a rate of 89.5%, after previously collecting 96.1% in 2021/22, 96.4% in 2022/23 and 95.6% in 2023/24.
When asked the reason for this drop, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar told The National that a cyberattack in November 2023 destroyed council tax data and IT systems.
The rebuilding of these systems "took several months", which resulted in "bills being issued later than usual".
Local authorities are responsible for billing and collecting council tax, and before the start of each financial year, councils issue council tax bills to householders in each property.
The local authority said that "there is already a marked improvement in collection" now that the system is back to running smoothly again.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Comhairle nan Eilean Siar was the victim of a cyberattack on November 7, 2023, which resulted in the loss of council tax data and IT systems.
"The systems, including council tax account data, required to be rebuilt, which took several months, resulting in bills being issued later than usual, with an obvious impact on collection rates. Limited system functionality at the initial stage following the rebuild meant that routine debt collection processes could not be undertaken
“With the system now largely back to full functionality and the backlog of processing being cleared, debt collection processes have now been reinstated, and there is already a marked improvement in collection.
"It is anticipated that current year collection rates will return levels seen in previous years.”
