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Worried about unpaid council tax debts?

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i The advice on this page applies to people living in England, Wales and Scotland.

Council tax arrears

What if I do not pay my council tax?

Council tax is a priority bill. This means you should never ignore demands for payments. Your local council can take further action to collect the money if you do not pay, like taking money from wages or benefits, or court action.

Quickly find what you are looking for


  1. How do local councils collect unpaid council tax?
  2. What happens if I get a court summons for council tax (England and Wales)?
  3. What happens if I get a court summons for council tax (Scotland)?
  4. Questions people ask us about council tax debt
  5. Get help with council tax debt

How do local councils collect unpaid council tax?

There are a few ways your local council can collect what you owe if you do not pay your council tax.

Households in Northern Ireland pay 'rates' rather than council tax. Read our guide to dealing with rates arrears.

Taking payments from your wages

The council can get in touch with your employer to issue an attachment of earnings. This means your employer must take money directly from your wage and send it to the people you owe, which would be your local council in this case.

The amount that is taken from your wage will be a fixed percentage (%) of what you earn. This means that the amount taken from your wage can change if the amount you earn varies.

Let's say the council takes 10% of your wage using an attachment of earnings:


  • If you earned £100 in the first month, the council would take £10 (10%)
  • If you earned £110 in the second month, the council would take £11 (10%)

They are still taking 10% each time, but the amount taken through the attachment of earnings can go up or down, based on how much you earn.

Taking payments from your benefits

The council can take payments directly from your benefits too, if benefits are your main income.

Universal Credit

A maximum of 5% of your standard allowance can be taken from Universal Credit.

You can work out how much this would be by taking the amount of your Universal Credit standard allowance and dividing it by 20. This will give you 5%.

Your standard allowance will depend on your living situation. Find out more standard allowances on the GOV.UK website.

Other benefits

A maximum of £3.70 a week can be taken from:


  • Income support
  • Income-based jobseeker's allowance
  • Income-related employment and support allowance
  • Pension credit

Issuing a liability order (England and Wales)

A liability order is a payment demand from the Magistrates’ Court. Your local council can apply for a liability order seven days after issuing a final demand to you.

Enforcement agents (bailiffs) can visit your home if you still don’t pay after the order has been issued.

Find out more about liability orders and how to deal with them.

Summary warrant (Scotland)

A summary warrant is a type of court order. Councils tend to use these to collect missed council tax payments.

Find out more about summary warrants.

Other actions councils can take to recover unpaid council tax

There are less common actions your council can take if you do not pay your council tax debts, such as:


  • Using a charging order to secure the debt to your home if you owe more than £1,000
  • Making you bankrupt if you owe more than £5,000 in England and Wales
  • Sending you to prison for up to three months, if you live in England. This is rare, and only used if you refuse to pay

The local authority cannot send you to prison if any other methods can be used.

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Council tax court summons

England and Wales

A liability order gives the council permission to take further action on unpaid council tax. This is how the process works:


  • You get a summons in the post which tells you a date and time for a court hearing. An extra charge will be added to your bill at this point
  • A magistrate issues the liability order at the hearing

You can contact the local authority before the hearing and ask them to let you pay the arrears in instalments. They may or may not agree to this.

In some cases, a liability order may be issued when it is not necessary. You can attend the hearing and tell the magistrate if:


  • You think a mistake has been made, or
  • Your council tax was paid in full before the hearing date

Your local authority can collect unpaid council tax in several ways once a liability order is issued.

Contact us for advice if you get a letter about council tax court action.

Scotland

Your local authority can apply to the sheriff court for a summary warrant. This is part of the diligence process. It works like this:


  • A fee is added to your council tax bill. The fee will be 10% of how much you owe to the council (so if you owe £100, the fee would be £10)
  • You are sent a charge for payment letter. This asks you to pay the amount due within 14 days. You will also get a form which you can fill in for a time to pay order
  • You will need to fill in the form with your offer of payment and send it back to the sheriff's office

We recommend completing a full budget to work out how much you can afford for your offer of payment. Find out how to work out your budget. We can also help you work out your budget with our free online debt advice tool.

No more action will be taken against you if the local authority accepts your offer of payment, and you make the payments you agreed to.

They can take action to collect the debt if you do not. The most common ways are:


  • Taking payments from your wages using an earnings arrestment
  • Taking money from your bank account using a bank arrestment

Sheriff officers can take goods from outside or inside your home. This is a last resort if there are no other ways to collect the arrears.

Contact us for advice if you get a letter about council tax court action.

Questions we are asked about council tax debts

How long can you be chased for a council tax debt?

Most types of debt become 'statute barred' (England and Wales) or 'prescribed' (Scotland) after a period of time.

A statute barred or prescribed debt means the debt can no longer be pursued because too much time has passed since the debt was taken out.


  • In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, debts are statute barred after 6 years
  • In Scotland, debts are prescribed after five years

This does not happen automatically, and council tax debts rarely become statute barred because councils are more likely to start court action.

Your debt will remain active if a liability order or summary warrant is in place.

Find out more about how debts are written off.

Can I go to jail for not paying council tax?

This depends on where you live, and if there is a court order in place for the debt.


  • In England , you could go to prison for up to three months if you do not pay what you have been ordered to pay by the court. This is a last resort and very rare
  • In Scotland and Wales, you cannot be sent to prison for unpaid council tax

Learn about which debts could lead you to being sent to prison.

Get help if you are finding it hard to pay your council tax

Struggling with council tax payments could be a sign you need debt advice.

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