If your customer is in arrears with their council tax it is vitally important that they act quickly to resolve the position. Advise them of the following or complete a Budget Plan application and let us talk to them:

Step 1 - Your customer must establish how much they can afford to pay in addition to their normal council tax payments in order to repay the arrears. We can help them draw up a detailed income and expenditure form which will include repayments to outstanding credit cards and loans.

Step 2 - Assuming there is money left over from Step 1, they must next contact their local authority and make an offer. It is vital to make it clear that the amount they are offering will stop any further arrears and court costs occurring. They must continue making the payments to the authority even if their local authority will not negotiate with them.

What they must do if their offer of repayment is refused:

Contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau for help and assistance.

They may find that their local authority insists that arrears are paid before they resume normal payments. If it refuses to accept payments towards the current year until the arrears are paid, they should seriously consider making a complaint and ask their local councillor to help in this process.

If this proves unsatisfactory, contact the Local Government Ombudsman on 020 79153210, and make their case that not allowing you to make payments for the current year means further arrears will accumulate and therefore further court costs that could have been avoided will be incurred.