NEARLY 5,000 court summons have been sent to companies which have not paid their business rates.

But Southend Council, which is in charge of collecting the rates, says taking firms to court is a last resort.

Instead, it says it wants to encourage struggling companies to find out if they are entitled to a rate discount.

Business which have a rateable value of under £10,000 are entitled to the relief, which knocks 50 per cent off the bill.

The information was revealed at a meeting of the Business and Rate-payers Consultative For-um.

Andrew Moring, councillor responsible for corporate support services, said there had been 4,970 summons sent out for the non-payment of rates over the past five years.

He said: “It is not possible to say how many of those businesses would have qualified for business relief.”

He added once contact is made, the council works with the firm to see if debt can be cut.

Mr Moring told the forum an application for a discount must come from the business itself.

The council cannot apply for the cut on a firm’s behalf.

In January, businesses saved £170,000 in rate relief in Southend.

Terry Taber, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “I would hope local authorities look benevolently on any firm which cannot pay the rates and use the courts as the last measure.”

He said matters would be made worse by a proposed five per cent increase in business rates from April.

He said: “It doesn’t seem like a big increase, but for some businesses it would be.”

“We certainly hope it can be adjusted downwards. The increase is above the rate of inflation.”