What happens if I don’t pay my Council Tax?

Each year we send you a Council Tax bill which tells you how much you have to pay and the date your payment is due.

In most cases, your Council Tax is payable in monthly instalments on the 1st day of each month unless you pay by direct debit where you are allowed a choice of 4 payment dates in the month.

 

Reply to a court summons

If you have received a court summons and have an issue, complete our summons contact form.

Summons contact form

If you would like to make a payment arrangement, complete our summons arrangement request form.

Summons arrangement request form 

Reply to an arrears notification

If you receive an SMS text message, an email, or a letter about arrears and have an issue with the amount due, complete a reply to an arrears notification form.

We will look into your enquiry and tell the next steps. We will take no further recovery action until we resolve your enquiry.

Advice and support

If you get into payment difficulties and you can’t afford to pay your instalments, contact us immediately to see if we can help you.

We don’t promise to be able to help everyone but the quicker you contact us, the better our chances of being able to help.

You can also seek free independent advice from the following organisations:

  • MoneyHelper debt advice service 
  • Money Advice Service, tel 0300 500 5000
  • Hackney Citizens Advice Bureau (reception), tel 020 8525 6350
  • Toynbee Hall, tel 020 7247 6943
  • National Debtline, tel 0808 808 4000
  • Step Change, tel 0800 138 1111
  • Hackney Credit Union, tel 020 7729 9218
  • Fair Finance, tel 020 8988 0627

You can also view our money matters and advice page for a range of help and advice on issues that might be affecting you.

If you are struggling with the rising cost of living see our Help at hand guide.

Stages

Arrangements

Make an arrangement request

If you’ve received a bill requesting immediate payment in full that you can’t afford, reminder notice or final notice, complete this form:

Make an arrangement request

Summons arrangement request

If you’ve received a court summons and can’t afford to pay in full, complete this form:

Summons arrangement request

Provide financial information

If you’re proposing a long term arrangement, for example, over 12 months, it would help us to agree an affordable amount if you complete our financial information form:

Financial information form

Text messages and emails

To help prevent debt, potential costs and enforcement action we send text messages and emails to remind customers about paying their Council Tax.

To respond to a text message or email you’ve received from us, complete our reply to an arrears notification form.

How our text messages and emails appear

We send emails about your Council Tax from: donotreply@lb.hackney.gov.uk.

When we send you a text message, you’ll see the Hackney Council logo and a blue tick next to it. This means the message is from Hackney Council.

The message will give you options to:

  • make a payment
  • request a payment arrangement
  • get more information

If you choose an option, we’ll ask you for your postcode to confirm that you’re the person responsible for the Council Tax account.

If you’re concerned that a new message you’ve received isn’t genuine, you can contact the Council Tax team.

Page updated on: 22 September 2025