Ways that we contact you

We are using a messaging service to contact our customers.

If you fall behind with your Council Tax payments we may contact you by one or more of the following ways, depending on the details we hold for you on our records:

  • SMS Text
  • Email
  • Automated telephone message

We will do this before taking further recovery action (see our Debt management policy) to collect any overdue payments and to help prevent customers from paying additional costs.

Whilst this service is offered to prevent customers from falling further behind with their payments, it should not be relied upon as a prompt to pay.

It is your responsibility to pay the instalments shown on your Council Tax bill and failure to do so may result in recovery action being taken.

I’ve received a message for Council Tax, how do I know if this is genuine?

Shown below are examples of the messages that we may send.

SMS Text

The SMS message will be addressed personally to you.

To access the full message, you must click on the verification link to confirm it is you.

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Screenshot showing how SMS will appear for residents

 

Once you are verified, you will be shown this page which will give you the information of what you need to pay to bring your account up to date and how you can do this.

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Screenshot showing how SMS will appear for residents

 

Email

The email will be addressed personally to you.

To access the full message, you must click on the verification link to confirm it is you.

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Screenshot showing how email will appear for residents

 

Once you are verified, you will be shown this page which will give you the information of what you need to pay to bring your account up to date and how you can do this.

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Screenshot showing how SMS will appear for residents

 

Automated Telephone Message

This pre-recorded message will first ensure that the correct person has been contacted.

Once this is verified, it will tell you what your outstanding balance is and provide you with options on how to pay, such as connecting you to the automated payment line and providing you with the weblinks to pay online and set up an arrangement. All of which can be found on our main Council Tax page

 

If you have concerns about whether the message is genuine:

Please contact us at: ctax@lbbd.gov.uk

It would help if you could provide a copy of the message that you are concerned about.

 

View your Council Tax account

If you want to view your Council Tax account and check your balance, you can do so online by registering for My B&D.