NINE-and-a-half million pounds of council tax in Hampshire is going uncollected, a survey by the GMB union has revealed.

The study showed Winchester City Council had reduced the amount of uncollected council tax by £60,000 to £865,000.

But there were more council tax dodgers in Eastleigh with an increase of £53,000 in uncollected revenue, taking its total to £869,000.

New Forest District Council had £1.15m of uncollected tax in 2005/06 - an increase of £47,000 on the year before.

The missing millions could have helped pay the bill for home services to frail elderly and disabled people to keep them independent in their own homes. Hampshire County Council overspent on adult services by £11m last year, and is now proposing to cut back the home help it offers, such as washing and dressing, and increase council tax by 4.9 per cent - more that twice the rate ofinflation.

A Winchester City Council spokesman said the local authority had increased its collection rate to 98.3 per cent.

In 2005/06, 6,000 summons for non-payment of council tax were issued by the council to about 13 per cent of households.

More than two million people across the country are struggling to pay council tax, according to new research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The study, the first to look at reasons for non-payment, says a key issue is that the tax is regressive.

This means those on low wages or pensions pay proportionally more of their income in council tax than those on higher earnings.

Author, Michael Orton, said: "Despite having a job, the struggle to pay council tax is part of the day-to-day difficulty of making ends meet for many people. "Low income creates vulnerability to missing payments."

Bishop's Waltham-based Mike Schofield, a leading member of anti-council tax group IsItFair, said: "The whole system needs total reform and should be based on ability to pay."