Paying your Council Tax

You can pay your Council Tax by instalments or all at once:

• ten monthly instalments, for 1st April to 1st January, payable on the 1st of the month.
  (If you move house part way through the year or need a new bill for any other reason the number of instalments may be less than ten.)
• weekly payments (Maximum of 43 instalments from April)
• annual or half-yearly

You will need your Council Tax reference number before you can pay. You can pay in one of the following ways:

Pay online

To pay online you will need your:

• Council tax reference number (9 digits long)
• Debit card (sorry we do not accept credit cards).

Go to Council tax payment

Pay by Direct Debit or Standing Order

See setting up a Direct Debit or Standing Order payment.

Pay by telephone

To pay by telephone you can either:

• Telephone: 01768 867324 or 865733 automated service available 24 hours, 7 days a week.
• Telephone: 01768 817817 during office hours to speak to a member of staff.

Pay at the Post Office

Payments can be made by cash, cheque or debit card at any Post Office. Please note cheques should be made payable to Post Office Ltd.  All payment documents such as bills, reminders etc now have a barcode on them and this is all you need to make a payment at the Post Office.  If you have a payment card you can continue to use this, but please stop using it if you move to a new address. 

At a Payzone Point

You can also pay at Payzone Bill Payment outlets. You will need a bill or other document with a barcode on it to make the payment.

What happens if I don't pay?

We expect you to organise your finances so that instalments are paid by the due dates and will not normally make alternative arrangements, for more information see difficulties in making payments.

If you do not pay an instalment within 14 days of the due date a reminder notice will be issued. Only two such notices can be issued in any one financial year, so if an instalment is missed for a third time you will be sent a 'final notice' for the full remaining amount due for the year. Further non-payment will result in the issue of a summons with additional costs of at least £63. For more information see Council Tax recovery and enforcement.

For further information about making payments:

• Contact: the Local Taxation Team
• Address: Revenues and Benefits Section, Town Hall, Penrith CA11 7QF
• Telephone: 01768 212216 / 212242 / 212232
• Email: counciltax@eden.gov.uk
• Fax: 01768 890470