Council Tax: If you don't pay

If you do not pay your instalments in full and on time, you will be sent a reminder.

If your account has reached this stage and you are having difficulty paying it is important that you contact us. It may be that you should receive a discount or should apply for Council Tax benefit - if you contact us you will be advised accordingly. It may also be possible to make a different payment arrangement.

The terms of a reminder are that you must bring your account up to date within seven days of receiving it. If in a further seven days your account is still in arrears, you lose your right to pay by instalments. This means that the whole balance of your account becomes due immediately. Any further delay in payment will result in a court summons being issued. As soon as the summons is issued, court costs of £90 are added to your account.

If you pay in full, including the costs now, nothing further will happen. The court will be informed that you have paid and the case is automatically stopped. If any debt remains on your account on the hearing day, the case will go ahead. In the vast majority of cases the district judge will issue a Liability Order. This confirms that you have to pay and grants us permission to take formal recovery action. We will also ask for a further amount of court costs, usually £5, to be added to your account.

We are legally obliged to collect all outstanding Council Tax. We have now adopted a rigorous approach to collection and will use all the methods of recovery that are available. We employ a team especially to do this.

We can use any or all (but only one at a time) of the following methods of recovery.

• Attachment of benefit - Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or Income Support
• Attachment of earnings - an Order will be served on your employer to deduct sums from your salary or wages and pay it directly to the council.
• Bailiffs - who will write and call to enforce payment on you. If necessary the bailiff will seize your goods for sale at auction, sufficient to cover your debt. They will also add their own charges to your account.

If these prove unsuccessful, we can apply for you to be declared a bankrupt or committed to prison.

If at any time you wish to settle your arrears you may do so.

You should contact us to advise us what you are doing so that any action we might be taking can be reconsidered.