Council considers call to pause council tax non-payment court cases during Christmas time

Bruce Sinclair – Local democracy reporter

A local authority has considered a call for council tax non-payment court cases to be paused during Christmas time.

A Notice of Motion by Independent group leader Cllr Huw Murphy, before the February meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet asked: “That PCC do not issue any summonses for appearance at magistrates court for non-payment of council tax during the month of December.”

It added: “At a Corporate O&S meeting on November 14 [2024] it was disclosed that since April 2024 PCC have sent out 14,000 reminder letters with regards to council tax (late payment) and issued 4,000 summonses for non-payment of council tax, which clearly evidences the financial pressure many Pembrokeshire residents currently face.

“December is for many families a festive month and although the debt does not go away the avoidance of any prosecutions during the month of December in the lead up to the festive holiday will indicate some empathy by PCC towards its residents under most financial pressure.”

Timescales

A report for Cabinet members said the court issues the council with four weekly hearing dates approximately six months in advance, and Revenue Services does not hold council tax liability order court hearings in December as the pre-allocated dates would mean the hearing could fall close to Christmas Day.

It added that, to meet regulatory timescales, summonses are issued in late November and early December to ensure all documents are correctly served ready for a court hearing in January.

Members were recommended to retain the current practice to issue summonses in November/early December for the court hearing in January.

The report said, as of October 1 of last year, the council had council tax arrears of £7.512m, an improvement from the £8.384m at March 31, with a risk that not issuing any December summonses “would lead to a delay in the recovery of council tax arrears and a subsequent increase in council tax arrears”.

Support

At the February Cabinet meeting, members heard Cllr Murphy was happy to either accept the recommendation or withdraw his motion having received the additional information.

Members agreed to support the recommendation.

Cllr Murphy is no stranger to festive cheer calls; in 2023 he asked for the council to overturn a “mean-spirited” decision to end the free collection of trees in Pembrokeshire after Christmas.

That 2023 ‘Christmas tree call-in’ motion, supported by councillors Vanessa Thomas, Anji Tinley, Alan Dennison, Elwyn Morse, Michael James and Iwan Ward, was defeated by nine votes to four.