Cornwall Council has launched an investigation after discovering some people have received more than council tax bill.

The council has apologised for the confusion and said it has been in contact with its supplier to find out what has happened, and the extent of the problem, with investigations continuing over the weekend.

Cabinet member for communities Geoff Brown said: “May I sincerely apologise for any confusion this may have caused anyone.

"The printing and posting of council tax bills, including bills for business rates, is managed by an external supplier. Cornwall Council does not currently have the capacity or equipment to be able to do this in-house hence using an external company.

"The data we supplied to the company was secure and correct and the supplier has taken full responsibility for the error.

"Please be assured that neither Cornwall Council or therefore the council tax payer, will be charged for any additional postage that has been incurred for duplicate bills sent out in error."

He said the one exception was where businesses were registered as a partnership, as in these circumstances the council was legally required to issue copies to each partner.

"We will continue to liaise with the company over this error but in the meantime please be reassured that residents and businesses are only being billed once so please ignore any duplicate bills received.

"We would also like to thank those people who took the time to contact us to point out the initial error," added Mr Brown.

As part of council tax billing this year, the council is promoting the option to go "paperless" and pay by direct debit on a choice of four dates in the month. It means that residents can view their bill online at any time during the year and will no longer receive a paper bill.

Details of how to register for the scheme are included on the reverse of the paper bill or online at cornwall.gov.uk/gopaperless