Pay your Council Tax

If you are struggling to pay your Council Tax or are behind with your payments, please contact us to discuss it as soon as possible. Or, you can make an arrangement online to pay your outstanding balance by registering to manage your account.

Missing a payment

If you miss a payment we will issue a reminder notice to you and you will have seven days to pay. If you fail to do this, we will ask you to pay the whole amount within a further seven days. If your account remains unpaid, we will issue a summons for you to attend the Magistrates Court and costs of £82.50 will be added to your account.

Council Tax reminders

We can issue a maximum of two reminders a year. If you fall behind with your payment a third time we will issue a final notice. This confirms that you have lost the right to pay by instalments and all of your council tax for the year must be paid within seven days. If you fail to pay within that time, the next step will be the issue of a summons. You will be required to attend the Magistrates Court and costs of £82.50 will be added to your account.

Court summons

If a liability order is granted this allows the council further statutory powers to take the following action against you to recover the council tax you owe:

• Deduct payments from your earnings
• Deduct payments from your Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance and Universal Credit
• Refer the debt to a debt collection agency
• Instruct Enforcement Agents to take goods and possessions from your home. Enforcement Agents can then sell these at auction to raise money to clear your debt.​  If your case is with the Enforcement Agents, please contact them directly
• Take action to make you bankrupt
• Apply for a charging order on your property and request for the court to force you to sell your property to pay the council tax

If we are still unable to collect the council tax using the above options, we can apply to the magistrates' court for a warrant of commitment. This will require you to appear before the court. This enables the court to make an enquiry regarding your means and whether your failure to pay is due to either your wilful refusal or culpable neglect.

You should not ignore a Court Summons and if you have received one, you should email us urgently at recovery@herefordshire.gov.uk or call 01432 260380.