Council tax debt persists as the single biggest debt clients bring to the CAB Service. Citizens Advice Scotland commissioned research to uncover the drivers that are creating this type of debt and has published a full report on the findings.
The research found it was mainly due to a combination of four factors:
- low income
- meeting essential daily living costs
- lack of awareness of harsh debt collection practices
- missed repayment opportunities by local authorities
The research highlighted that people are falling into council tax debt due to low incomes, and also from understandably prioritising essential daily living costs such as food, heating, and housing as they don’t see immediate tangible consequences of not paying their council tax - the bins still get emptied and street lights stay on – in the way that they do if food cannot be bought or energy bills are left unpaid.
Also people aren’t aware of the harsher debt collection consequences of being in council tax arrears compared to other types of debt such as loans or credit cards. Councils can subject people to a speedy process of bank and wages arrestments - which can include benefits – as a means of recovering council tax arrears, while the research also found that local authorities are overlooking potential opportunities to enable repayments to be made.
Together these are a potent combination of factors that goes some way to explaining why people fall behind in council tax payments and into debt.
This has been a serious problem for too long now, and it risks exploding as the impact of the cost of living crisis is felt. We need to see the problem of council tax debt treated as a priority by policy makers and we need to help those struggling to make payments. Understanding and addressing the findings of this research will go some way to lessening the impact of council tax arrears on peoples’ lives.
