Your council tax bill tells you how much you have to pay for the year, and the dates you have to pay it.
The vast majority of people pay on time, mostly using a direct debit.
You need to register your council tax account in My Account to set up direct debit online.
Set up direct debit in My Account
If you’re having problems paying, we’d like to help before you face any recovery action. So, please get in touch as soon as you can.
If you haven’t contacted us about a problem paying your bill, and you miss an instalment, we’ll ask you to bring your account up to date.
If you don't pay your instalments by the dates they are due, we will send you a reminder notice, asking for payment in seven days.
If you pay the amount you owe but fall behind with your instalments again we will send a second reminder. This will give you seven days to bring your instalments up to date.
We can only send two reminder notices in any one financial year.
So if you pay late a third time you will be sent a final notice for the full amount for the rest of the year, and you will lose your right to pay in instalments.
If you’ve received a final notice and want to pay (and avoid costs), please use the link below.
Set up a direct debit for next year, see Ways to pay.
If you don’t pay after we’ve sent a final notice, we’ll apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a summons to be issued against you for the full amount of council tax you owe. This costs us £86 which we’ll add to the amount you owe.
The summons tells you the total amount of council tax you owe, the period it refers to, and the costs you have to pay.
If you’ve received a summons and want to pay, please use the link below.
Set up a direct debit for next year, see Ways to pay.
If you’re struggling to pay your council tax or facing financial difficulties, we’d like to help you. Please contact us before the court date. Once a summons has been issued, there are limited options for making payment arrangements.
If you don’t contact us, we’ll ask the court to issue a liability order. This gives us authority to take recovery action. We don’t want to do that, so please get in touch.
A liability order from court allows us to choose any of the following methods to recover the money you owe.
If you’re receiving benefits, we can ask the Department for Work and Pensions to send us part of the money you receive in benefits.
The amount deducted is £3.40 a week for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance.
For contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance, one third of your allowance is deducted.
For income-based Employment and Support Allowance, five per cent of your allowance is duducted.
Deductions continue until the amount on the liability order is fully paid, or until your benefit stops for any reason.
If you’re employed, we can ‘attach to your earnings’. This means that we will ask your employer to take a percentage of your net earnings from your salary and pay it directly to us.
The tables show these percentages, which are set by the government and are not negotiable.
|
Deduction rates |
||
|
Weekly earnings |
Monthly earnings |
Amount taken |
|
Up to £75 |
Up to £300 |
0% |
|
£75 to £135 |
£300 to £550 |
3% |
|
£135 to £185 |
£550 to £740 |
5% |
|
£185 to £225 |
£740 to £900 |
7% |
|
£225 to £335 |
£900 to £1,420 |
12% |
|
£335 to £505 |
£1,420 to £2,020 |
17% |
|
Over £505 |
Over £2,020 |
17% on the first £505 (weekly) or £2,020 (monthly) then 50% on the rest |
Your employer can also deduct an extra £1 each time to cover their administrative costs.
The deductions will continue until the amount on the liability order is paid.
If you change jobs, or stop working, you must tell the council within 14 days.
If you, (or for business rates - your company), owe more than £750, and you have been summonsed, we may start bankruptcy (or for business rates - liquidation) proceedings against you.
First, we will send you a statutory demand which will give you 21 days to pay us the full amount. Please contact us immediately.
If you don’t settle the statutory demand, we’ll present a petition for bankruptcy or liquidation in the High Court.
If we issue a bankruptcy order against you, this will mean:
If you’re made bankrupt, the official receiver will control your spending for three years.
Please do not ignore the statutory demand.
If you don’t pay your council tax, the most serious thing that could happen is that you could go to prison.
If you don’t pay your council tax, we will apply to the magistrates court for a committal summons. This is the first stage towards you possibly going to prison.
If you receive a committal summons, you should contact us immediately and get legal advice or help from a solicitor, your local law centre or Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
If you pay in full, you do not need to go to court.
If you do not pay in full, you must go to the court shown on the summons.
The court will assess your income and spending to decide whether you should go to prison. You must bring evidence of your income and spending to court if possible. If you do not go to the hearing, the court will issue a warrant for your immediate arrest. If you are arrested, you will be taken into custody where you will have to wait for your hearing.
These are very serious matters. Do not ignore the committal summons. Please contact us immediately. If you don’t, you could go to prison for up to three months.
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