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England and Wales > Debt Advice > Priority Debts > Council Tax

Council Tax

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Baliffs and the Council Tax (237KB)

The amount of Council Tax you pay is based on two things.

The value of your home. Check with your local council to see which band your home is in, A to H. If you think the valuation is wrong, appeal to the council listing officer.

The number of adults who live in your home and their status. For sole occupants there is a 25% discount.

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Who Pays What?

Only people over 18 are required to pay the bill. If there is more than one person over 18 living in your home, the owner will normally have to pay the bill.

Joint tenants and owners may have to pay even if their names are not on the bill. If you are married or you live with someone as husband and wife both you and your partner can be made to pay.

Sometimes the owner of a house will be responsible for the bill even if they don’t live there. This is in homes of ‘multiple occupation’ (e.g. bed-sits).

If you are not sure who is responsible for the bill phone us for advice.

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Can I Reduce My Bill?

You may get a reduction if someone living in the house has a disability, and your home has had certain adaptations made for that person. You should apply to the council for this.

You may get a discount if:

you are the only adult in the house; or
you share your house with people who are not taken into account, such as:

- a full-time student or student nurse;

- someone with a mental disability who is getting certain disability benefits;

- an apprentice or people on certain youth training schemes.

You may be able to claim Council Tax Benefit if:

you are on a low income with less than £16,000 savings; or
you are on Income Support, Pension Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or other benefits.

You may get help with paying all or some of the bill by claiming Council Tax Benefit. Contact your local council for an application form.

You may be able to claim a rebate called ‘second adult rebate’ if you share your house with someone on a low income, who does not pay rent and is not your husband, wife or partner and you don’t already get a discount for them

If you are in this situation the council should work out if you are better off claiming your own Council Tax Benefit or getting the second adult rebate

If you feel your Council Tax Benefit has been wrongly worked out you can ask the council for a review in writing. If you are not happy with the outcome you can appeal against the decision to an independent tribunal within a month of the review decision, but only if you think a mistake has been made. For further information contact a local welfare rights agency or phone us for advice.

If you feel that your Council Tax bill has been wrongly worked out you can appeal to a local valuation office agency. The address should be on your Council Tax bill.

What Happens If I Don’t Pay Council Tax?

If you find at any time that you can’t pay the full monthly instalment don’t just stop paying!

If your circumstances have changed you may now qualify for Council Tax Benefit, so claim now.
Keep paying what you can afford, no matter how little this is.
Contact the council and try to come to an arrangement. Use your business and household budget to help explain your situation.

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Liability Order

As with business rates, if you don’t keep to any payment arrangement you make with the local authority it will ask the magistrates’ court for a liability order for the full amount they say you owe plus court costs.

This says that you are due to pay your Council Tax and have not paid.

The court must issue the liability order unless:

the local authority has not gone through the proper procedures;
you have paid the amount owed;
the name on the summons is wrong.

If one of these applies to you, tell the local authority immediately and attend any court hearings. You should get 14 days notice of the hearing.

You can ask the court to adjourn (put off) the liability order hearing if:

you have applied for Council Tax Benefit; or
you have appealed to a valuation tribunal because you don’t agree that you are liable or you don’t agree with the amount of the bill.

The court does not have to adjourn the hearing but it may agree to it.

If the Council Tax debt is over six years old and the local authority has not taken you to court for a liability order within six years of you becoming due to pay, they cannot continue to collect the debt. This depends on when the local authority served a demand notice on you. If you think this may apply to you, phone us for advice.

Methods of Enforcement

If you do not make an agreement with your council or don’t keep up the agreed payments, they can use a number of ways to try and make you pay.

The local authority can demand that you and your husband, wife or partner give them details of your financial circumstances. You can be fined for not giving this information.

The local authority can enforce the liability through the same methods as business rates such as distraint and imprisonment.

There are some differences worth noting; if distraint is used for Council Tax arrears, the bailiffs cannot take tools of the trade. However, unlike business rates there are additional methods of enforcement for Council Tax.

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Charging Orders

If the debt is for £1,000 or more then the council can apply to the county court for a charge on your business property or your home.

This means the debt is ‘secured’ on your house or business like a mortgage and so may put your house or business at risk. If the local authority threatens to do this, phone us for advice.

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Attachment of Earnings

If you cease trading and find employment, the council can order your employer to take a fixed amount from your wages to pay your Council Tax arrears.

Deductions are made on a sliding scale depending on how much you earn.

If you can show this is causing you extreme hardship, you may be able to make a different payment arrangement with the council for a lower amount.

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Deductions from Income Support, Pension Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance

If you start claiming any of these benefits, you can ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to take a standard amount each week from your allowance to pay for the Council Tax arrears.

If they agree, they should not take any further action against you while the money is being taken directly from your benefit.

Again, it is very important that you get advice before any hearing and, no matter what is said to you, you should always attend the hearing in person.

Because of the local authority’s powers to make you pay business rates and Council Tax, you must treat these as priority debts. If you can’t pay the full amount:

contact your local authority and make an arrangement to pay;
check the bill has been worked out correctly;
claim Council Tax benefit;
pay what you can afford;
if you have credit debts, use your business and household budget to arrange reduced payments to those creditors. See Offers to secondary creditors for advice on how to do this.

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