Unpaid Council Tax

It is the liable persons’ responsibility to pay their Council Tax bill on time. Council tax payments should be paid promptly on the 1st of each month, unless you pay by Direct Debit where you can set your payment dates to 1st, 5th, 15th or 25th of each month.

At each stage of the recovery process you will be encouraged to contact us if you are unable to make the required payments. Please also see our web page Problems Paying.

Reminders

If you fall behind with your payments or you are paying later than the dates shown on your bill we will send you a reminder, giving you 10 days to bring your account up to date.

If you bring your account up to date and fall behind again we will send you a second reminder. No further reminders are issued if you have already had a second reminder.

If you are unable to bring your account up to date you will lose the right to pay in instalments and the full year’s council tax becomes due.

If payment is still not received, a final notice will be issued.

Final Notice

If you are unable to bring your account up to date you will lose the right to pay in instalments and the full year’s council tax becomes due within 7 days. If you fail to do so, the council may take further action, including applying for a court summons.

It may be possible to make a special payment arrangement for you to clear the account. To discuss this, please contact us on 01306 885001.

Summonses

A summons will be issued if you have not paid in accordance with the notices issued.

The amount to be paid is the total due as shown at the bottom of the summons under ‘Amount to pay’. This amount includes the £57.50 costs incurred when the summons is issued.

If you cannot pay the full amount on the summons you should contact us to discuss a special payment arrangement for you to clear the account

If payment is not received in full before the court hearing, a liability order will be applied for and a further £50 in costs will be added to your outstanding balance.

Liability Order

Obtaining a Liability Order gives the council powers to do one or more of the following:

Attachment of earnings order

This is an order to an employer to make deductions from your earnings. You are legally obliged to tell us the details of your employment.

Failure to comply could result in an additional fine payable by the liable person of up to £500 for non-disclosure and £1,000 for supplying false information.

Once the attachment is served on the employer, deductions must be made and paid. The actual amount deducted varies with your income.

Deductions from Income Support / Job Seekers Allowance

If you qualify for Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance and a balance remains outstanding then this may be collected by way of direct deduction through the Benefits Agency.

Referral to Enforcement Agents

We employ certificated enforcement agents to collect the debt and/or distrain on goods and chattels to be sold at auction to settle the whole or part of the debt.

The instruction of enforcement agents will incur the liable person with significant additional costs the amount of which is specified by statute.

Bankruptcy / liquidation

We could commence these proceedings against you in accordance with the Insolvency Act 1986.

Committal

We may, if it is unable to clear the debt by way of distress, apply for a further summons to be issued for the defaulter to appear before magistrates for an enquiry into his or her means.

Such action could result in a maximum prison sentence of three months.

Disputing liability or costs

If you wish to dispute either the liability for the Council Tax or the amount of the summons, you should immediately contact us.

If the matter is not resolved you should attend the court hearing.

Valid reasons why a liability order should not be granted include:

• there is no valid entry in the banding list for the period of liability
• the tax has not been properly set
• the tax has not been properly demanded
• the amount demanded has been paid
• more than six years have elapsed since the day on which the sum became due, or six years have elapsed since the debt was last acknowledged
• the sum is in respect of a penalty, which is subject to an appeal
• bankruptcy or winding-up proceedings have been commenced

The summons is a legal document requiring you to attend a court hearing.

You have the right to attend the hearing to give evidence as to why an order should not be made, however you should note that the hearing can proceed in your absence.