Recovery
Council tax is a priority debt. Failure to pay will result in recovery action being taken against you if you are liable or held to be jointly and severally liable with another party.
Every council tax payer is sent a demand notice at the beginning of the financial year (normally somewhere between the middle to last week of March). Each council tax payer with a liability has the right to pay this by monthly instalments. If the instalments are not paid, councils can pursue recovery for the arrears.
To avoid the recovery process (outlined below) your council tax must be paid, in advance, by the 1st of each month. For alternative payment dates, you must pay via direct debit.
If you have problems paying your bill, please contact council tax team on 01277 312500 as soon as possible.
Reminder notice
If you do not pay your bill on time we will send you a council tax reminder notice, including details of the amount you need to pay to bring your instalments up to date.
As long as you bring your account up to date within seven days of the date of the notice and pay future instalments on or before the due date, no further action will be taken against you. To avoid further action, you should set up a direct debit by completing the form below:
Apply to pay council tax by direct debit
If all of your instalments have become due a Final Notice can be issued straight away without the need for a Reminder Notice.
Final notice
If all of your instalments have become due; or if payment is brought up to date after we have sent you a Second and Final Reminder Notice but you miss a further instalment, we will issue you a Final Notice.
The notice will advise you that you have now lost the right to pay the years charge by instalments and full payment of the balance is due.
To avoid further action you must pay the balance for the whole year within seven days. If only a partial payment is received, we will proceed to summons stage.
You can set up a council tax special payment arrangement now by completing the online form below (only to be completed if you have received a Final Notice to pay your council tax):
Apply for a council tax special payment arrangement (Final Notice)
Court summons
If you do not pay the full council tax balance within seven days of receiving one of the above notices, we will issue a court summons for non-payment of council tax, incurring extra costs.
Your attendance at court is not required. You should discuss payment arrangements prior to the court hearing, although to protect the interests of the taxpayer, if full payment is not agreed a liability order will still be sought.
To avoid further action - you must pay the full balance and the summons costs.
You can set up a council tax special payment arrangement now by completing the online form below (only to be completed if you have received a court summons for non-payment of council tax):
Apply for council tax special payment arrangement (Court Summons)
Liability order
If the court decides that you are liable to pay the amount that is shown on the court summons, and you have not paid the full amount outstanding, it will grant a Liability Order. A Liability Order gives the Council enforcement powers to recover the Council tax costs owed by other means including:
- deduction from your earnings
- deduction from your benefits
- referral to an enforcement agent
- committal to prison
- bankruptcy
- criminal proceedings
If the balance and the summons cost remain unpaid on the day of the Liability Order Court Hearing, the Council will apply for additional costs.
To avoid enforcement action - pay the full balance, the summons cost and the liability order cost.
Instalments may be agreed at this stage, subject to agreement with the Council's recovery officers. There is no right to a special arrangement and you remain liable for the full charge for the balance of the year as well as any other arrears and our costs. To avoid these costs and fees again, discuss setting up a direct debit with a recovery officer when you make your payment arrangement.