Paying your council tax

 You are able to set up a payment arrangement online if you have received a

• Final reminder
• Summons 
• Liability order

In all circumstances your arrangement will be agreed if the balance is paid within the financial year (31 March).

Please note that if you have received a summons or liability order, court costs are automatically added to your outstanding balance and these will be included when you set up a new payment arrangement.

If your request for an arrangement extends beyond the 31 March, your arrangement will be reviewed by a specialist officer who will determine if your circumstances warrant your repayments being extended beyond the 31st March. This usually takes no more than 5 days.

If the officer determines that the arrangement cannot be extended, they will contact you to discuss your options and make alternative arrangements that are more suitable.

If a debt is from a previous year, you can set a payment arrangement to pay this off, however you will have to continue to make the current years payment in addition to the previous year’s repayment.

You cannot make an arrangement if

• Your debt has been passed to an enforcement agent, (bailiff) usually 14 days after the liability order has been granted by the courts. In this instance you will need to deal with the enforcement agent directly. 
• You have failed to keep up your payment arrangement on three previous occasions within a six month period.

When setting up a payment arrangement, remember

• If a payment instalment for the current year is not made exactly as shown on your bill, it will automatically be deducted from the oldest outstanding balance. This will mean that the current year will fall into arrears.
• This applies even if you are 1 pence out. If this does happen we are able to correct it and reallocate the payment so that it is deducted from the current year, but you will need to contact us. 
• If you fail to maintain your payments and default, you are able to set up a new arrangement, however any existing amounts would still be payable within the current year or be reviewed by a specialist officer if your arrangement extends beyond the current year (31 March).
• If you default on three separate arrangements within a six month period, you will not be allowed to create a new payment arrangement and the whole amount would be due.
• You can, in certain circumstances, create two arrangements, one for the current year if you have fallen behind in your payments and a second for a previous year (outstanding debt). However in these circumstances we would recommend that you merge your arrangements into a single payment. This would need to be authorised and set up by a council tax recovery officer.
• If you have asked to pay by Direct Debit, the arrangement manager will automatically set the date to the next scheduled Direct Debit date, ensuring you have been given the statutory 14 days’ notice. This may mean that if you have selected the Direct Debit to be the first of the month and make an arrangement on the 19 May, your next scheduled Direct Debit will not be till the 1 July. You can however make a cash payment in the interim.

Examples of how arrangement manager re-profiles your payments:

Example 2: If you moved into the property mid-way through the year

Example 3: If you moved into the property towards the end of the year and have arrangement agreed by specialist officer:

How to make a payment arrangement

If you wish to make a payment arrangement please sign in to or register for your online account. You can request a payment arrangement by registering for or accessing council tax - my services.