COMPANY directors who fail to pay off historic debts to Worcester City Council are being targeted in a fresh crackdown on debt.

In an effort to try and reduce the controversial 'writing off' of unpaid debts, bosses are attempting to try and use Government legislation to chase up those who go bust only to then launch new firms.

As your Worcester News has previously reported, more than £1 million of unpaid taxes have been written off since 2011.

The massive sum includes council tax and business rates, including people who disappear without trace, deaths, companies which go under and those who move house without meeting previous obligations.

In recent years, because of the struggling UK economy more and more of the write-offs have related to businesses.

Your Worcester News can reveal how the city council is now examining Government laws to see if company directors who launch new firms can be chased up for old debts relating to defunct businesses.

There is a feeling that many business defaulters who wind up, go on to start up new companies free of thousands of pounds of unpaid bills.

The move was revealed during a meeting of the performance, management and budget scrutiny committee at the Guildhall.

Labour Councillor Richard Boorn, a previous cabinet member for finance until June, said: "When I held this portfolio, we were looking at a legal process to see if this council could pursue that (old debts) money from the directors of companies.

"I want to know if this policy is still being pursued?"

Finance bosses at the council say they are hoping to be able to announce some positive news about it over the coming months.

Corporate resources director Lesley Meagher said: "I hope in quarter two and three (of the current financial year, quarter three runs to December) we can show some positive outcomes from that."

The write-off means all the relevant bodies which benefit from taxes and business rates take a hit on their balance sheets - including the city council, fire and police services, and Worcestershire County Council.

The city council keeps years of old data on previous write-offs in case fresh detail comes to light on any of them.