Money expert Martin Lewis has warned that households are being forced to pay an entire year’s Council Tax bill if they miss a single payment by just a few days.
Martin, giving a speech to the Money And Mental Health Institute, blasted ‘hypocrite’ council leaders for sending the bailiffs in on people who cannot pay their council tax bills.
He stressed that public bodies like local councils are ‘the worst’ offenders for the way they treat people struggling to pay their bills and called for changes to the ‘cruel’ practices.
The average Council Tax bill for households in England in 2024-25 is £1,688 per year and in many cases this must be paid in one go if you miss a single payment.
He said: “The majority of council tax collection processes are outdated, outmoded and cruel.
“They are behind the times. There are no commercial financial services firms who would be allowed to act in the way that we allow our councils to act. And it is somewhat paradoxical that this group who do not have customers, they have constituents, are and have been for many years the worst bully boy and girl tactics for collecting debt that banks would blush at.
“The idea that you miss one monthly payment on your council tax and within a week your council, your elected officers, are not there saying ‘how can we help, how can we support you, what do we do about your finances? How do we point you in the right direction? How do we enable you to rehabilitate your financial lives?
“It says, we want the whole year. We want the whole year. That’s the way council tax debt collection practices work.
“And then, within another five weeks of that, the processes work that they can send the bailiffs in.”
Martin said that commercial firms would usually give someone six months before resorting to debt collectors – but for councils this is much sooner.
He continued: “That’s not the right way to treat constituents.
“Councils are struggling, well I don’t believe this is the most efficient way to bring money in either. Because asking someone to pay for a year when they can’t pay for a month, doesn’t mean they’re gonna have the money or deliver the money. And it certainly doesn’t mean they’re gonna have the money or deliver the money next year once you’ve put them into a financial catastrophe.
“We have constantly found that the best way to deal with debts is to give people time to restructure and rehabilitate their own finances so they can get back in a position to pay you. Win for the individual, win for the economy, win for the council because more money will come in.
“The problem is central government regulation allows councils to do this. That needs to change.
“Not all councils behave this way but most do.
“I call on council leaders out there who in my experience when we talk about commercial debt collection practices are out there, loan sharks, shaking their fingers about the terrible world we live in. Well look at your own houses first. You’re hypocritces. You castigate others for behaving this way when your councils are the worst.”
