Council Tax recovery

• A bill will be issued advising you of how much is due and when to pay.
• A first reminder notice will be issued if you fall behind on your instalment plan.
• You now have 7 days to pay the amount shown on the first reminder notice.
  • If the amount on the reminder notice is paid and the account is brought up to date within 7 days, a second reminder will be issued if a future instalment is late or not paid.
  • If the account is brought up to date after a second reminder notice is issued but a further instalment is late or not paid, a final notice will be issued requiring payment of the financial year's balance in full.
  • If the full financial year's balance is not paid, a summons will be served, incurring court costs.
  • If the total amount due on the summons is not paid before the court hearing date, the Council will apply for a liability order. Once a liability order is issued, further recovery action can be taken.
• If the amount shown on the reminder notice is not paid within 7 days, the right to pay by instalments is lost and the full balance for the financial year becomes due and must be paid within 7 days.
• If the full financial year's balance is not paid, a summons will be served incurring court costs.
• If the total amount due on the summons is not paid before the court hearing date, the Council will apply for a liability order. Once a liability order is issued, further action can be taken to recover the money from you. 

You can also download a flowchart detailing the steps above.

If you don't pay a Council Tax instalment by the date it is due, we will send you a reminder showing the amount you need to pay. If you make your payment within seven days, you can continue paying by instalments. 

If you do not pay the full amount shown on the reminder within seven days and you do not contact us, we will wait another seven days before we ask the Magistrates' Court to send you a summons to attend a court hearing.

Make a payment for Council Tax

If you fall behind for a second time in the financial year, you will be sent a second reminder, if this is not paid within seven days, a final notice will be issued. 

Our records show that you have not paid previous reminders sent during the current financial year. A final notice explains that you have lost the right to pay by instalments, the balance for the financial year is now due to be paid in full.

Make a payment for Council Tax

Depending on your circumstances, we may consider making a special arrangement for repayment of arrears, and you should contact us immediately if you are unable to pay the full amount. Please call us on 01952 383838, or email council.tax@telford.gov.uk.

If you fail to make a payment after the issue of a second reminder or final notice, or if you fail to maintain a payment arrangement, the council will request that the Magistrates' Court issue a summons.

If you don't pay your Council Tax or don't keep to an agreement to pay, we can issue you with a court summons, where there is joint liability for the charge, a summons will be issued to each separate party. This provides details of the Magistrates' Court hearing asking for a liability order. 

A liability order is a court order that gives us certain powers to collect outstanding Council Tax by methods such as:

• an attachment of earnings
• deductions from benefits
• enforcement agents
• bankruptcy and insolvency
• charging orders
• committal to prison

To stop the liability order before the court hearing, you must pay the full balance including the costs, although a final instalment plan (including costs) will be enclosed with your summons. A liability order will still be granted; but no action will be taken if you pay the stated amounts.

The number of instalments will depend on how many months remain in the financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. For example, if your summons is issued in June, your plan will be nine monthly instalments; the number of instalments then reduces each month until January. For February and March, no instalments are given and the full balance plus costs, becomes due.

If you do not pay your instalments, further action will be taken, if you are struggling to pay, please contact us on 01952 383838 to discuss your account.

If you accept that you owe the money there is no need to attend court, the case will be heard in your absence and a liability order will be granted.

If you do not accept that you owe the money and believe you have a valid defence, you must notify the court before the date on the summons, this hearing will be adjourned and you will be given a different date to attend the Magistrates’ Court to hear your defence. The Court can only consider a valid defence if:

1. The amount due has not been demanded in accordance with Regulation 34(6) Council Tax (Administration & Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
2. The total amount due has been paid in full.
3. The application for the Liability Order was made more than six years after the day on which the sum became due.

If you do not have a valid defence, the Magistrates’ Court will grant the liability order.

The court does not hear arguments about whether you can afford to pay. If you would like to discuss an arrangement to pay, please contact 01952 383838.

The Magistrates’ Court has granted a liability order and we have informed your employer to take deductions from your earnings. Once the deductions are set up, they will continue until the order is paid in full, unless you pay the full amount to the Council. If you have more than one liability order, two deductions can run at one time.

The tables below show the amount to be deducted from your earnings:

Deductions from weekly earnings

Deductions from monthly earnings

If you change jobs or stop working, you must tell us as soon as possible.

Once a liability order has been granted by the Magistrates' Court, money can be taken out of your benefits directly to pay council tax arrears; these are sometimes called third party deductions. Benefits that can be used are:

• Universal Credit
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support
• Pension Credit

A fixed amount is deducted from your benefit until the amount owed has been paid off. For Universal Credit, this will be 5% of the standard allowance for a single person aged over 25. For other benefits, £4.55 a week can be deducted.  

The Magistrates’ Court have granted a liability order and we have passed your details to an enforcement agent (bailiff). The enforcement agents will firstly contact you for payment and details of your income, if you do not contact them, further action will be taken incurring additional fees.

Once your debt has been passed to an agent, you must contact them directly to make payment. The Council will not withdraw the case as this is a legal process as laid down in legislation and any request to return a case comes at a cost to the Council. 

Telford & Wrekin Council employs two accredited enforcement/debt collection agents authorised to act on our behalf:

• Visit the Marston Recovery website
  Telephone: 0333 320 1822

• Visit the Newlyn PLC website
  Telephone: 0160 463 3001

The enforcement agents acting on our behalf should act professionally and to a set of standards at all times. Both enforcement agents have a Welfare Team to help you if you are considered as vulnerable.

If an enforcement agent has been instructed by us to collect unpaid Council Tax, you will incur extra charges as detailed in the table below. These charges are set by the government and are not negotiable.

Enforcement agents can take high value luxury items such as a TV or a games console.

An enforcement agent cannot take:

• things you need, such as clothes, cooker or fridge
• items necessary for employment or education with a value of less than £1350
• goods that are rented or on hire purchase
• vehicles used for transporting a disabled person with a valid disabled badge
• someone else’s belongings

Visit the GOV.UK website for more information about enforcement agent powers and removal of goods.

If the enforcement agent does not collect all the money that you owe the Council, we will consider other options to recover the debt which may include bankruptcy, a charging order against your property, or asking the court to assist in the recovery of the debt which may result in sending you to prison for up to three months.

If your Council Tax debt is in excess of £5000 and a liability order has been obtained by the Magistrates' Court, we may start bankruptcy proceedings against you if we have tried unsuccessfully to recover the Council Tax debt.

If we take this action, we will pass your account to our solicitors who will send you a statutory demand. If you receive a statutory demand, you should contact the council immediately. An agreement to settle the debt can still be made before we present a petition to the County Court.

It could mean you are forced to sell your home to pay your debts and your personal bank accounts could be frozen.

Visit GOV.UK for more information about bankruptcy.

If your Council Tax debt is in excess of £1000 and a liability order has been issued by the Magistrates' Court, we can apply for a charging order if you own your property and we have tried unsuccessfully to recover the Council Tax debt.

We will send you a letter that explains the details of the charging order. You should contact the Council immediately as an agreement to settle to the debt can still be made before we apply for the charging order.

If a charging order is granted by the County Court, it will mean that when the property is sold, your Council Tax debt, plus any costs we have incurred must be paid to us before any equity from the property is released to you.

Yes.

If all alternative methods of collection have been unsuccessful and you still owe us money, we can apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a warrant to send you to prison.

You will be summonsed to appear before the Magistrates' Court. At this hearing, the Council will outline the non-payment of Council Tax and we will ask the court to consider your committal to prison for a period of up to three months.

You (or your legal representative) will be asked to explain why you have not paid your Council Tax and your current and previous financial circumstances will be explored. The Magistrate will then make a decision regarding the matter.

The Court may decide to postpone imprisonment on certain conditions, like you agreeing to repay the debt over time. The Court can also cancel all or part of the debt.