If you fall behind with your payments, or you are paying late, we will send you a reminder. This gives you seven days to pay.
If you bring your account up to date, but fall behind again, we will send you a second reminder.
If you bring your account up to date and continue to pay on time we’ll take no further action and you can continue to pay monthly.
If you do not pay within 7 days, you will no longer be allowed to pay by monthly instalments.
We will send you a final notice and you will be required to pay the remainder of your annual Council Tax bill in full within 7 days.
If you have received a reminder or a final notice and cannot pay your Council Tax in full, we may still consider a repayment arrangement. You will need to provide details of your household income and expenditure as part of your offer.
If you don’t pay your Council Tax after receiving a reminder and haven’t agreed or kept to a payment plan, you’ll receive a court summons.
The summons will tell you the time and date of the hearing at the magistrates court and the amount owed. When we issue a Summons, a cost of £81.00 is added.
You must pay the amount shown on your summons, including the court costs, before the hearing date. This will stop the case going to court and avoid extra costs of £43.
The council will give you at least 14 days notice of the court hearing. Receiving a summons means we’ve asked the court for a Liability Order, which gives us legal powers to recover unpaid Council Tax in different ways.
If you have received a summons but you can’t pay in full, we may still agree to a repayment arrangement. You’ll need to provide details of your household income, expenses, and your employment or benefits details as part of your payment offer.
If an arrangement is made (including costs) and payment is maintained no further recovery action will take place.
Request a repayment arrangement
If you have paid, contact the Council Tax office. You can also check your account online.
You do not have to attend the court hearing.
If a repayment arrangement has been agreed for the outstanding balance including costs, there is also no requirement to attend Court on the day of the hearing.
We will always obtain a liability order on the court date unless the debt has been paid in full.
The court must issue a liability order unless:
The following are not valid defences against the granting of a liability order:
If you feel you have a valid defence as to why you aren't liable for the debt, you should contact us before the hearing to explain why.
Explain why you have a valid defence against the summons
If you don't pay the summons amount and costs before the court hearing date, we will ask the magistrate to grant us a liability order which allows us more power to recover Council Tax.
If a liability order is obtained, the court costs will be charged to you. You will be sent a letter advising that you have 14 days to pay this debt including costs.
If you do not pay the debt, we may deduct money from certain benefits or from your wages. We may ask an enforcement agency (previously known as bailiffs) to collect the money from you, which could incur further costs.
If you are working, your employer will be sent an Attachment of Earnings Order asking them to make regular deductions from your wages towards your unpaid Council Tax.
We may be able to apply for deductions from your benefits to pay your Council Tax if you are receiving Jobseekers' Allowance, Income Support or Pension Credit.
This would be a deduction of £3.70 a week from Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment Support Allowance, Pension Credit or £3.95 a week from Universal Credit.
If your debt is passed to enforcement agents, you will need to contact them directly to discuss payment of this debt. You will have to pay extra fees:
They may take some of your belongings and sell them at a public auction to pay off the debt.
If you own your home a charge may be placed on your property so that, when the property is sold, the Council Tax debt, including costs will be paid from the proceeds of the sale. If you have a mortgage, this will be paid first.
If enforcement agents do not manage to get back all the money you owe us, you will have to go to court.
The court will hold a ‘means enquiry’ which looks into your debt and your means, income and expenditure. If the court is satisfied you have deliberately refused to pay, or you have not told us about a change in your circumstances they will issue a warrant.
The court may decide to send you to prison for up to three months. Imprisonment may be postponed on conditions such as arranging to pay off the debt over a period of time.
The court also has the power to remit all or part of the debt. This means you will no longer have to pay the part of the debt that has been remitted.
We can apply to the courts for you to be made bankrupt if your debt exceeds £750.
Find out more about bankruptcy on the Gov.uk website.
No. The council wants full payment now, but we can offer an arrangement based on your finances. If you keep to the arrangement, we will not use deductions or enforcement agents. You may still be asked for financial details.
Any arrangement that goes past the court date will include liability order costs of £43.
We understand debt problems. Contact us as soon as possible so we can help. If you owe other debts to the council, tell us. We may be able to offer one arrangement for all debts under our Fair Debt Policy. This will make it easier for you to keep up payments.
If we agree an arrangement (including costs), no further action will be taken as long as you pay as agreed. If you miss a payment, the arrangement will be cancelled and recovery action will continue.
You can pay by Direct Debit on the 5th, 12th, 20th or 28th of the month.
You can also apply for a repayment arrangement online.
Council Tax is still due based on the original bill. The court cannot deal with your appeal. Paying will not affect your appeal. If your appeal is successful, any overpayment will be refunded or used to reduce future bills.