Demand letter from council tax (I think due to CT benefit). How much trouble am I in?

joebloggs69 · 24 April at 5:19PM

I've got home from work today (Friday 24th April) to find a letter from the council, saying that I owe £375 council tax for 2025-26, and that this must be paid by 4pm 27th April, which is Monday. The letter is dated 16th April, but I've only received it today. I think this is due to me being on UC and CT benefit, and getting paid slightly different amounts every month from my job, which seems to trigger a recalculation in my council tax every month. Whatever the cause, I simply don't see how I owe over £300 and I'd like them to explain how they've calculated it.

I've called the number on the letter, but obviously the office is now closed until Monday. I'm going to be at work on Monday and I don't have the kind of job where I can call while at work.

It states on the letter that this full amount MUST be paid by 27th April, and if it's not then I will have "less control" over how I pay the amount of council tax I owe for the upcoming year, which is a not so subtle threat.

I guess what I'm asking is, what options do I have and how much trouble might I get myself in if I miss the deadline?

I simply don't have £375 at the moment, and if I am going to pay it at all then I'd need to negotiate a payment plan. And even so, I really would like someone to explain it to me first as I think it's a mistake.

But...I'm not realistically going to be able to call them by the 4pm Monday deadline. (There is, if course, a 24 hour automated line for payments).

What can I do?

Auti · 24 April at 5:35PM

is there an email address on the letter - if not go online and find one. If it is like my council you need to make an account first but then can email

joebloggs69 · 24 April at 5:37PM

There is no email address on the letter. I have emailed them previously about other council tax balls ups (because they are incompetent), and, without a word of a lie, they replied to me 1 month later. So I don't hold out hope for that.

Auti · 24 April at 5:38PM

also phone at lunchtime? Even if you get switchboard they might take a message - then you tell them about email - make sure you put your council tax reference number etc in email so there is no excuse for them to say they did not get it

joebloggs69 · 24 April at 5:46PM

I don't really get a lunch break. I get 30 minutes, in theory, and but most days I don't get the full 30 minutes. It's going to be really difficult for me to phone and sit in a queue. I think really my only options are pay it somehow (I'd have to borrow the money), or risk missing the deadline.

Brie · 24 April at 5:47PM

check online to see if there is a msg service to the council. even if you can just say what you have said here (politely edited of course) to say just received, can't pay with no notice, please send calculations. Or use the email address that you've used previously.

if they are like our council what they will do is add this amount to this year's tax bill and change the amount they expect you to pay monthly so maybe an extra £40? a month for the balance of the tax year. While this is trundling on you can chase them up for the calculations and hopefully get a correction in your favour which then will result in a recalculation down. And if your council is like ours they will probably pogo this up and down reporting to you with overlapping letters but hopefully will get it right in the end.

Net take away is that there's not much you can do right now and that you shouldn't let it ruin your weekend.

joebloggs69 · 24 April at 5:56PM

Well thank you, I guess that's what I'm asking. In the past with anything like this (my mum had an issue years ago) you could quite easily phone them and arrange to pay in installments. Now they have made everything so difficult and automated.

If I had a bit more time, this would have been what I tried to do as a first option, but my concern is that they won't receive any contact from me in time before the deadline.

Brie · 24 April at 6:07PM

Yeah - it's the automation that bites in my opinion. I was working with someone a couple of years back that was struggling with CT debt and the council seemed to recalculate something every couple of days which would auto generate yet another 5 page threatening letter with more/less/different payments, sometimes 3 or 4 with the same date on them. She came to see me about it and brought about 50 letters that had been sent in less than a month and it was impossible to untangle everything that was in them. I was able to talk to someone at the council in the end who sent out a simplified explanation so she could understand what was happening and had a definitive answer about how much was owed.

joebloggs69 · 24 April at 8:12PM

I really glad you said that Brie, because that's exactly what's been happening to me. I get an incomprehensible 5 page "recalculation" letter every month, followed by another one shortly after that seems to contradict it. I pay by direct debit, and they seem to always end up deciding that in fact I owe exactly what I've been paying every month. So God knows how they've come up with this. It's not as if I earn vastly different amounts each month, it's usually a difference of £50-100