Councils ordered to alter ‘vicious’ tax debt assortment practices after Martin Lewis marketing campaign

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Your assist makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Native authorities have been compelled to drop “aggressive” council tax debt assortment practices in a transfer which can grant households extra time to pay again lacking instalments.

Below present guidelines, councils can demand cost for a whole yr after simply two weeks if an individual misses only one month-to-month cost. Adjustments introduced by the federal government will now see households given 63 days to settle up, with admin prices capped at £100.

The modification will take impact from subsequent yr, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Native Authorities (MHCLG) confirmed. It comes after a marketing campaign by cash professional Martin Lewis, who termed the present system “vicious” and “so aggressive it’d make banks blush”.

Council tax billing will even be modified from 10 months to 12 months by default, the federal government has mentioned, in a bid to assist households by spreading the fee over an extended interval.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/03/26/22/40/Martin-Lewis-urges-workers-to-claim-uniform-tax-back-before-deadline.jpeg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/03/26/22/40/Martin-Lewis-urges-workers-to-claim-uniform-tax-back-before-deadline.jpeg?quality=75&width=320&crop=3%3A2%2Csmart&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/03/26/22/40/Martin-Lewis-urges-workers-to-claim-uniform-tax-back-before-deadline.jpeg?quality=75&width=640&crop=3%3A2%2Csmart&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE"/> (ITV) Housing and native authorities secretary Steve Reed mentioned: “Too many households are dealing with aggressive enforcement motion, with folks left fearful of bailiffs knocking on the door as a result of one month’s council tax invoice was missed.

“We'll cease this and make the system fairer by supporting households who fall behind. I wish to thank Martin Lewis and his charity for his or her tireless campaigning, shining a light-weight on this significant subject affecting thousands and thousands of individuals.”

Reacting to the announcement, Mr Lewis mentioned he was “genuinely moved”, including council tax debt assortment is “essentially the most vicious and damaging type of authorized debt assortment on the market – inflicting counterproductive distress for thousands and thousands”. The cash guru campaigned to alter the measure with the Cash and Psychological Well being Coverage Institute charity, which he based and chairs.

He added: “How individuals who can’t discover a month’s cash are anticipated to discover a yr’s, I don’t know. But if they'll’t pay, inside simply three extra weeks, they're typically taken to court docket, have ‘admin prices’ added, and shortly see bailiffs despatched in. No industrial agency can be allowed to do something shut - constituents are handled worse than clients.”

The MHCLG famous that the present guidelines had grow to be “outdated”, having not been modified since 1993.

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The division additionally introduced a change to the ‘extreme psychological impairment’ council tax low cost, which provides a minimal of 25 per cent off a family’s invoice. There might be a common software type amongst councils to make this simpler to assert from April 2027, and the identify might be modified to the ‘vital cognitive impairment’ low cost in a bid to fight stigma.

The Native Authorities Affiliation has been contacted for remark.

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