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Council taxRecovering council taxHelen Rodger - March 2011council.tax@kirklees.gov.uk
What if I can't afford to pay my council tax?
You should contact us as soon as possible, please do not ignore your bill. The sooner you contact us the more we will be able to help you.
We could spread your payments, check your council tax charge is correct and, depending on the circumstances, we may be able to make
special arrangements for you.
We will also be able to give you general
debt advice and contact details of organisations who may be able to help you, free of
charge, with your other bills.
Does the council follow a set procedure to recover council tax?We follow a set process to recover council tax, starting with sending you a bill. Please make sure you pay as instructed and make your payments on, or before the due date. Paying within the month they are due will not always avoid recovery action. We will send you a reminder if you are behind with your payments, but if you don't pay as instructed, you could lose the right to pay by instalments and the full amount for the year would be due immediately. If we have to send you a summons to the Magistrates Court, we will add costs for this action to your bill. For more information about these documents see: If you can't make a payment, or need to make an alternative payment arrangement, please contact us immediately. We may be able to prevent any recovery action.I've received a liability order, what do I have to do?
You should contact us immediately to discuss your circumstances and agree a payment arrangement. You should also complete and return the
information requested on the liability order.
If you don't contact us, the liability order gives us powers to collect your debt using
different methods such as:
Why have you added costs to my bill?
We add costs to your bill to cover the extra expenses we have had for applying to the Magistrates' Court to raise a summons
for your outstanding account, and the granting of a Liability Order.
We may also add further costs to your bill if we need to use an alternative method to recover your debt. Why are you deducting money from my wage?
Once we have obtained a Liability Order for your outstanding council tax, we have various methods of recovery available if you don't make a
repayment arrangement with us. One of these methods is to make deductions directly from your earnings, called an Attachment of Earnings
Order.
Once we know your employment details we will send the order to your employer. By law, they must start deducting money from the next available wage and take a percentage of what you earn for each order set up. We don't need to contact you before setting these deductions up but we will send you a copy of the Attachment of Earnings Order for your records. To stop these deductions you must pay the amount due in full. You should also contact us so we can tell your employer to stop making deductions from your wage once your payment is received. If you can't afford the deductions your employer is making you should write to us, giving us details of your household's income and expenditure and we will try to help you. Why are you deducting money from my benefits?
Once we have obtained a Liability Order in the Magistrates Court for your outstanding council tax, we have various methods of recovery
available, if you don't make a repayment arrangement with us. One of these methods is to make deductions directly from your income support
or job seekers allowance.
Once we know your income details we will send the order to the benefits office. By law they must start making deductions from your benefit. We don't need to contact you before setting these deductions up. To stop these deductions you must pay the amount due in full. You should also contact us so we can tell the benefits office to stop making deductions from your benefits once your payment is received. If you can't afford the deductions you should write to us, giving us details of your household's income and expenditure and we will try to help you. Why have you asked bailiffs to visit me?
Once we have obtained a Liability Order in the Magistrates Court for your outstanding council tax, we have various methods of
recovery available, if you don't make a repayment arrangement with us.
One of these methods is to instruct the council’s bailiffs to visit you at home. You can find more information about how the bailiffs work and some answers to frequently asked questions: What happens if I still don't pay my council tax?
We will try to recover the amount you owe using the methods available to us. Once we have exhausted these methods, or we think they will be
unsuccessful we can apply to the Magistrates' Court for you to be committed to prison for a maximum of 90 days.
If we have to do this we will send you a committal summons. |
Get in touch
Address Kirklees Council, Civic Centre 3, Market Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2EY
Online 
Email customer.enquiries@kirklees.gov.uk
Telephone 01484 221000
Alternatively find out how else you can contact the council