Your Annual Council Tax is payable in monthly instalments normally between April and January. You can elect to pay you instalments on either the 1st or 15th of the month but payments should be on your Council Tax account by that date.

If you elect to pay by Direct Debit, we will collect the payments for you by the due date at no extra cost to you.

If you pay at a bank of Post Office, you should make your payment at least 6 working days before the due date to ensure that it will be on your account by that date.

If you post your payment, you should post it before the due date so that it will be processed and on your account in time. If using 2nd class mail, you should post it at least 3 working days before the due date.

By law, the Council must send a Reminder if your instalments are not up to date. If you do not bring them up to date within 7 days, you lose the right to pay by instalments and a Final Notice is issued stating that the full balance is now due. The Council does not have to send you a Reminder each time you miss an instalment, as the law only requires us to send a maximum of 2 to any individual in any financial year. So, if you receive two Reminders in the year and after each one you bring your instalments up to date, if you fall behind again you will not be sent a Reminder, you will be sent a Final Notice.

Once you have had a Final Notice, if you do not pay the full amount, you will be sent a Summons and will have to pay court costs as well as your Council Tax.

If you receive a Summons and do not pay in full before the hearing, the Council will apply for a 'liability order'.

A liability order gives the Council the right to have money deducted from people’s wages, Income Support or Job Seeker’s Allowance or to use bailiffs to obtain payment.

Because of the Data Protection Act, we cannot discuss someone else’s bill with you. However, there are a number of reasons why you may have different amounts to pay:

• your property's band may be higher
• they may be receiving a Discount or a Reduction for Disabilities; (See Council Tax Discounts, Reliefs and Exemptions)
• they may be getting Council Tax Benefit or Second Adult Rebate
• they may have moved in part way through the financial year so they are not paying for the full year

The most common reasons why Benefit is stopped are:

• you have stopped getting Income Support and have not filled in a standard claim form for Council Tax Benefit
• you no longer qualify for it because your income or circumstances have changed
• you have not returned a review form which was sent to you; you have moved house and have not filled in a new claim form for your new address