HER MAJESTY’S COURT SERVICE and UNPAID FINES.

• About HMCS.
• What are Magistrate Court Fines?
• Which Bailiff companies can enforce the warrants?

ABOUT THE WARRANT.

• The importance of seeing a copy of the warrant.

UNPAID FINES: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

• How can I check if the fees charged are correct?
• What happens in vulnerable situations?
• I can’t afford to pay my Magistrates Court fine.
• Can I be sent to prison for not paying my council tax?
• Can the bailiff force entry into my home?
• How do I complain about the Bailiffs?

ALL ABOUT CLAMPING ORDERS.

• Can my car be clamped and removed?
• What is a Clamping Order?
• Sale of the clamped vehicle.
• Does the bailiff need an SIA licence to clamp my car?
  

Can I be sent to prison for not paying my council tax?

In very rare cases your local Council may apply to the Magistrates' Court for a warrant committing you to prison in the event of non payment of Council Tax. The Council will only ever take this step when all other efforts to recover your arrears have failed.

Before issuing a Warrant of Commitment, the court must hold a 'means enquiry' hearing and you must be present. You will be required to complete a very simple Income & Expenditure form so that the magistrates will be able to determine whether or not, you could afford to pay back the debt by weekly or monthly payments. In order to avoid being taken back to court, any payment arrangements must be maintained.

A Warrant of Commitment will only be issued if the court is satisfied that the failure to pay is the result of wilful refusal or culpable neglect. This would not be the case if you cannot afford the debt.

If there is a possibility that you could be facing a custodial sentence for non payment of Council Tax, you will find in the Legal Cases section of our Downloads area that we have provided details of a recent case heard in the European Court of Human Rights. This involved of group of individuals who had each received a custodial sentence for non payment of their Council Tax. The court found in favour of 26 of the individuals in that Article 5 of the Human Rights Act had been breached. The Court found that their detention was unlawful in that the Magistrates did not have jurisdiction to make the orders of committal due to:

• “A failure properly to inquire into the applicants’ means”.
• “A failure to have proper regard to the alternatives to imprisonment”.
• “Committing the applicant to prison in his or her absence, without satisfying themselves that the applicant had received proper notice of the hearing”.

In the event that you genuinely cannot afford to pay your council tax, the court also has the power to remit (write off) all, or part of the debt where no warrant is issued or term of imprisonment has been fixed.

For more information on Council Tax, please visit our Main Page.