BAILIFFS were sent out by the council to claw back a paltry £15.50 business rates debt, The Observer can reveal.

The debt was one of more than 2,000 bailiffs were ordered to collect by town hall bosses last year.

The unpaid cash they were sent to collect totalled more than £2.5m, with the majority made up of unpaid council tax.

The figures can be revealed after a Freedom of Information request from The Observer.

This paper asked for the totals and highest and lowest outstanding payments the council’s appointed bailiffs or debt recovery collectors were called in to enforce.

The lowest amount was £15.50 in unpaid business rates in the 2013/14 financial year.

Slough Borough Council said the debt, collected in October last year, was part of a larger £25,000 debt going back to 2010/11.

A spokesman said it was missed in error from the larger debts sent out to bailiffs for them to collect in July last year. He said it was sent to the bailiffs on its own, to be added to the larger debt.

The highest was a staggering £485,259 business rates debt.

Joseph Holmes, assistant director of finance and audit, said: “If people don’t pay it isn’t fair on all those who do. In the current financial climate, collecting the money we are owed is more vital than ever to ensure we provide the services our residents rely on.” The council sent bailiffs out 4,013 times to collect more than £2m of unpaid council tax. They recovered £873,983.53.

The town hall also ordered bailiffs to recoup 1,396 unpaid parking fines of between £82-112 – totalling £22,683.

Bailiffs were sent out on 424 occasions to collect unpaid business rates – recovering £369,232.89.

It is nearly treble the previous year’s 154 callouts.

A total of £33,423.86 was recovered from 15 callouts for unpaid commercial rents last year.

Sweeping changes to the way bailiffs can enforce debt recovery started on April 6.

Bailiffs are now banned from entering homes at night, using physical force against debtors and taking household essentials, such as washing machines.

The Observer revealed in March last year the council had written off more than £3m of debt it was owed in unpaid business rates and council tax.

It was in the same year it slashed £12m from its budget to meet funding cuts.

It was also revealed last year that Slough is one of the worst-performing authorities in the country for uncollected council tax. Opposition councillors said the Labour administration was giving tax dodgers an easy ride.

Cllr Anderson, at the time, said: “We do not go easy on people who don’t pay council tax. We keep chasing the debt all the way through.”