When there is a change to your Council Tax account, we will send you an updated bill. Always refer to the most recent bill when making payments.
Remember - Council Tax is a Priority Debt
What happens if you don’t pay your Council Tax
1. First Reminder Notice
If you pay your instalment late or miss a payment, we must follow a legal recovery process, so we will send you a First Reminder Notice.
If you pay the First Reminder amount in full within 7 days
Your future instalments remain due and payable as shown on your latest bill.
If you DO NOT pay the First Reminder amount in full within 7 days
Your account will follow the legal recovery process and you will receive a Magistrates Court Summons.
This will also incur additional costs that will be added to your bill.
2. Second Reminder Notice
If you have paid the First Reminder Notice in full but fall behind again later in the same year, you will receive a Second Reminder Notice.
If you pay the Second Reminder Notice amount in full within 7 days
Your future instalments remain due and payable as shown on your latest bill.
If you DO NOT pay the Second Reminder Notice amount in full within 7 days
Your account will follow the legal recovery process, and you will receive a Magistrates Court Summons.
This will also incur additional costs that will be added to your bill
3. Final Notice
If you have paid the Second Reminder Notice in full but fall behind again later in the same year, you will receive a Final Notice.
At this point:
- Your instalments are cancelled
- The full balance for the year becomes payable immediately
If you do not pay the full amount immediately your account will follow the legal recovery process and you will receive a Magistrates Court Summons.
This will also incur additional costs that will be added to your bill.
4. Magistrates Court Summons
A Magistrates Court summons will be issued where you failed to bring your account up to date by making full payment of the amount shown on a previous notice.
£60 costs will have been added to your bill and will be payable by you.
The Magistrates Court Summons will include clear information explaining that:
- You can Pay in Full
- Pay by Special Payment Arrangement
This is your last opportunity to make a payment direct to us.
If the account is not paid in full by the court hearing date shown on the court summons, we will apply for a Liability Order to be granted by the Magistrates.
5. Liability Order
When a Liability Order is granted by the Magistrates an additional £25 costs are added to your Council Tax bill and will be payable by you
Once a Liability Order is granted, we may use the following statutory recovery methods for recovery of the debt:
Enforcement Agents (bailiffs)
Enforcement Agents will place further costs on to your account which you will be liable to pay.
If your case is passed to an Enforcement Agent:
- You must deal with them directly.
- They are trained to look at affordability when considering an offer of payment. We will not interfere in this process.
- An Enforcement Agent will always look to settling the debt by payment, but they could remove goods to the value of the outstanding debt.
Attachment of Earnings
Payments will be taken direct from your wages or salary based on a percentage of your earnings.
Your employer will have no choice in this matter.
Attachment of Benefits
Payments can be taken direct from certain state benefits and paid direct to us to reduce the amount you owe.
Charging Order
This is a court order placed against your property (if owned) following which we can force the sale to settle Council Tax debt.
Bankruptcy/Insolvency
In some case the council may decide to make a person bankrupt in order to raise assets to settle outstanding Council Tax.
Further help
If you are struggling to pay, please contact us as early as possible. We can check whether you are entitled to:
- Council Tax Support, including Working Age Council Tax Reduction
- Discounts
- Exemptions
- Discretionary reductions
The earlier you contact us, the more options we can offer.