Call to cancel threat of prison for council tax non-payment

Some local authorities refer to the threat of prison in their first letter to people who have missed a council tax payment, a debt charity has said. Ahead of council tax rises for millions of people this April, StepChange has called for an end to imprisonment and "unsympathetic or oversimplified messaging" over non-payment. Only four people have gone to prison for failing to pay council tax since 2020, it said, so highlighting the sanction was counterproductive when writing to those who had not been able to pay. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils, said authorities "strive to recover unpaid tax as sympathetically as possible" but it was their duty to collect it. In the coming days, all councils in England and Wales will have confirmed the level of bills for the year from April. Council tax in Scotland and rates in Northern Ireland operate separately. The new report by StepChange, which gathered freedom of information responses from councils, found that messaging and policy over non-payment varied considerably. The charity said it was vital for local authorities to collect council tax to help pay for local services. However, threats following non-paymen