Crisis of council tax arrears: 'I couldn't pay £100 bill, then bailiffs wanted £6,000'

Weighed down by £6.6bn of unpaid charges, local authorities have turned to debt agencies — with some shocking results

- Xavier Greenwood

Mike was in hospital when he received a council tax bill for £101.71. It was March 2021 and he had just been in a serious motorcycle accident. He had a collapsed lung, broken ribs, crushed wrist, ruptured spleen and an open fracture in his elbow.

He could not afford the bill while he was on sick pay, then missed a reminder letter. By June, North East Lincolnshire council had come up with a plan. This involved two reduced payments followed by the rest of the year’s bill in advance.

Mike was not able to pay and soon had bailiffs at the door. “The realisation slowly comes upon you,” he said. “If this is the council, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

His experience is far from unique. English local authorities made 1.7m bailiff referrals for council tax debt in 2024-25, a 30% increase in two years. The total amount of outstanding arrears is £6.6bn, up from £6bn last year and nearly double what it was before the pandemic.