Debt collectors at Oxford City Council have made such major strides in recouping tax arrears the local authority is now ranked among the best in the country.

The city council used to be synonymous with poor council tax collection, with millions owed.

But new Government figures show the Town Hall has significantly reduced the amount of uncollected money in 2006/07 compared to 2005/06.

In 2005/06 £2.6m was left uncollected, but last year the figure was reduced by £614,000 to just under £2.1m.

The result puts the council in the top four per cent of authorities in England, Scotland and Wales for reducing the amount of money owed to them in arrears.

The improvement in performance has been credited to revenues and benefits managers Paul Warters and Paul Wilding for their "get tough" approach on city debtors, who are chased and threatened with bankruptcy proceedings if they refuse to pay.

To date, bankruptcy proceedings have been taken against 63 people, recouping £282,000.

Labour group leader Bob Price, chairman of the finance scrutiny committee, said: "We worked all year on systems and approaches - and the result is that we came 16th on the list of reductions in council tax arrears for 2006/07 compared to 2005/06.

"This is a big tribute to the team in council tax led by Paul Warters and Paul Wilding."

Based on the figures, Oxford is now the best-performing district in the county.

The Vale of the White Horse District Council is one of the UK's worst performing - ranked 387th out of 408 authorities with an increase of £633,000 tax owed.