Pay your Council Tax
If you are experiencing financial difficulties you can apply for Council Tax Support.
You can make a payment online or by phone on 0300 456 2671, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We accept most major debit and credit cards.
Direct Debit
The easiest, quickest and safest way to pay is by Direct Debit.
There are a variety of dates and payment periods available.
To set up a direct debit please complete our online application form:
View the Direct Debit guarantee [pdf document].
Standing order and bank transfers
To pay this way you will need your payment reference number from your council tax bill or e-bill notification and the council’s bank details, which are:
- sort code: 30-84-43
- account number: 34640868
Other ways to pay are available on our payments page.
Refund request
If you believe you are entitled to a refund of some Council Tax you can request this using our refund request form below.
What happens if payment is not made on time?
If you are finding it difficult to pay your council tax, don't wait for notices to be sent - contact us as soon as possible and we will try and make alternative arrangements to help you pay off your bill.
Complete an online enquiry form.
More information about debt and saving money
If payment is not made by the due date, we will begin a legal process to recover the money.
The first notice of payment we will send you is a council tax bill.
This will tell you what you owe and how you can pay.
Reminder notice
A reminder notice will be sent if you have not brought your payments up to date.
You must bring your instalments up to date within seven days, including any additional instalments which may now be due.
If your payments are not up to date after seven days, you will lose your rights to pay in instalments for the rest of the year.
If this happens, you will have another seven days to pay the full amount.
After two reminder notices, if payment falls behind again, you will automatically lose the right to pay by instalments without another notice being sent and the full amount will be due.
Final notice
A final notice will be sent if you have;
- lost your right to pay by instalments after being sent a reminder notice (but have not paid the full amount)
- have made a special payment arrangement but your payments are not up to date (reminder letters and notices will not be sent in this instance)
- or you have unpaid arrears from the previous year.
Payment of the full amount has to be made in seven days.
Court summons
A court summons will be sent if you do not pay the full balance after a final notice has been sent to you.
Costs will be added to your account at this stage and included in the summons account.
To avoid a court hearing, the summons amount must be paid in full before the hearing date.
We will not normally make payment arrangements at this stage but it may be possible to do so once there has been a court hearing.
Liability order
A notice of liability order and request for information will be sent to you if you have not paid the summons in full before the court date.
A liability order is made by the court and confirms the amount of debt for which enforcement action may be taken (this will include additional costs).
Once a liability order has been made, the request for information form will ask for details about you, including your employer, earnings, other income and your proposals to pay off the arrears.
You must provide this information within 14 days, unless you make full payment.
Enforcement
The next stage is enforcement. Before we take action we will let you know and tell you how much you owe.
You will be able to stop the enforcement action by making full payment within 14 days.
If you can't pay the full amount, we may be able to agree a payment arrangement (you will need to fill in the request for information form first).
Any of the following can be done by us to recover the debt:
- attachment of earnings order
- deduction from Income Support/Job Seekers Allowance/Pension Credit
- bankruptcy
- charging Order
- bailiff
- committal to Prison
Attachment of earnings order
Once a liability order has been obtained through the Magistrates' Court, we have the power to instruct your employer to make deductions from your earnings.
The deductions are set by legislation and are based on net pay after deductions for income tax, class 1 National Insurance contributions and superannuation contributions.
Weekly earnings
- not exceeding £75 - 0%
- exceeding £75 but not exceeding £135 - 3%
- exceeding £135 but not exceeding £185 - 5%
- exceeding £185 but not exceeding £225 - 7%
- exceeding £225 but not exceeding £355 - 12%
- exceeding £355 but not exceeding £505 - 17%
- exceeding £505 - 17% in respect of the first £505 and 50% in respect of the remainder
Monthly earnings
- not exceeding £300 - 0%
- exceeding £300 but not exceeding £550 - 3%
- exceeding £550 but not exceeding £740 - 5%
- exceeding £740 but not exceeding £900 - 7%
- exceeding £900 but not exceeding £1,420 - 12%
- exceeding £1,420 but not exceeding £2,020 - 17%
- exceeding £2,020 - 17% in respect of the first £2,020 and 50% in respect of the remainder.