A BAN on bailiffs from council tax debt collection was demanded today after figures showed the number of people behind on their payments has soared by 1.2 million in a year.

Debt Justice campaign group’s research found that 4.4m in Britain have missed at least one council tax payment in the last 12 months.

Nearly a third of households in council tax arrears live below the poverty line and 78 per cent are in the bottom half of income distribution, the study based on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey found.

Debt Justice executive director Heidi Chow said: ”Council tax debt is spiralling rapidly as household budgets are stretched to breaking point. 

”Instead of offering support, councils are sending in bailiffs — an outdated tactic based on intimidation that only deepens hardship.

”The government needs to change legislation to ban bailiffs from council tax debt collection.”

The research found that local authorities sent bailiffs to collect outstanding council tax debt more than 1.3m times in 2022/23.

Debt Justice estimates that the use of bailiffs costs the taxpayer and the wider economy at least £91m a year because of additional pressure on health services, lost employment and housing support.

Jo, from the Greater Manchester Ban the Bailiffs Group, recalled her experience of being in arrears, saying: ”I had a three-year old child at the time. I felt bullied, I felt disbelieved, and I felt desperate.

”It was the beginning of our descent into abject poverty, really. They charge ridiculous fees, they charge interest, so the person that they’re collecting from is then in debt again to the bailiff.”