Unpaid council tax on the Isle of Wight has reached £27million, according to newly released figures, as the amount owed nationwide continues to climb into the billions.
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), highlighted by debt advice charity National Debtline, show total council tax arrears on the Isle of Wight now stand at £27million.
Across England and Wales, council tax arrears have reached £7.4 billion, up from £6.6 billion in 2024/25.
The figures have been published alongside Freedom of Information data compiled by National Debtline as part of its annual ‘Stop the Knock’ campaign, examining councils’ use of bailiffs to recover unpaid bills.
Isle of Wight Council passed 3,306 council tax debts to bailiffs during 2025/26 – a reduction of 14% compared with the previous financial year.
Nationally, 1.72 million council tax arrears cases were passed to bailiffs by councils during 2025/26, broadly unchanged from the 1.74 million recorded in 2024/25.
Of the councils examined, 153 or 48% increased their use of bailiffs for council tax debts.
National Debtline says the figures demonstrate the continued reliance on enforcement action at a time when households remain under financial pressure.
The charity’s research also found that just 26 of 317 local authorities exempted residents receiving Council Tax Support from bailiff action last year, down from 35 in 2024/25.
Isle of Wight Council does not provide such an exemption for Council Tax Support recipients, according to National Debtline.
The charity is calling for this to change, arguing that those receiving Council Tax Support are likely to be among the most financially vulnerable residents and may be unable to repay outstanding bills quickly and in full.
Edward Ware, spokesperson for National Debtline, has said:
“We understand that councils are under increasing financial budget constraints, and council tax is vital to funding the local services we all rely on, but collecting this money cannot come at the expense of its most financially vulnerable residents.
“We are pleased to see that Isle of Wight Council has reduced its bailiff use recently, but we would urge councillors to review whether there is more the council could do to support residents who are struggling to pay.
“With council tax now one of the most common debts we see, we need councils to adopt fairer approaches to collection, not harsher enforcement. Exempting residents who receive Council Tax Support from bailiff action is a key way in which councils can help – and we would urge Isle of Wight Council to put this in place urgently.”
Changes to the way council tax debts are collected are expected to come into force in 2027 following a Government consultation.
Under the proposed reforms, councils will have to wait 63 days, rather than 2 weeks, before demanding a full year’s council tax following a missed instalment, with the changes expected to include more affordable repayment arrangements, a £100 cap on court-related fees and a move towards 12 monthly payments by default rather than the current 10.
National Debtline has welcomed the reforms but says further changes are needed, including statutory steps that councils would have to follow before referring debts to bailiffs.
INCOMPETENT IW COUNCIL should never have let the
arrears get to £27 million in the first place
Should have evicted NON payers and moved in migrants
who the Government would have funded the council tax
INSTEAD US COUNCIL TAX PAYERS PAY THE EXTRA EACH YEAR
Blame Jonny Foreigner than the dishonest people who haven’t paid. With the number of migrants on the island, every single one must have not paid and why are migrants being charged 1000 times more than non migrants. No wonder they can’t afford the council tax.
This is not incompetance, or stupidity, it is criminal dereliction of the councils duty, how much interest are we paying on our debts which could easily have been hugely reduced if the one admin assistant that actually came into the office did their job.
Public sector is run poorly and too many employees
are shirking from home.
This is a very unfair comment. An admin assistant in the council simply does what he or she is told to do. If there is a problem over effective collection, at least have the decency to point the finger at the people responsible not the poor soul at the bottom of the food-chain who is the easiest target yet has the least influence. The Reform Councillors were all gung-ho about routing out waste so why not ask them what they are doing to ensure compliance?
The moment they claim nental illness the council can’t touch them
Things need to change, we can’t keep bailing out
the lazy brigade.
What do you expect with councils wasting money hand over fist
Year on year the council declare a short fall in the budget. And every year these clowns fail to collect money owing.
Do your job and stop ripping off those who pay.
9400+ households get 75% off, 3300 households get bailiffs….make that make sense
How about our country stops robbing us??
The government and council’s are legalized criminals
Taking from the hard working to feed overseas charitys and people that pop over and never leave
And of cause there own pockets
please learn the difference between a plural and the possessive
thank you daisy, your post,really takes the comments section up a notch
A lot of the unpaid and missed instalments will be to do with the delay in receiving the council tax due to a person on benefits for whatever reason. It becomes a ‘debt’ from day one and so can be included in the arrears figures, but the payment of it can happens weeks, sometimes months later.
Maybe that process needs fixing first, and maybe the 63 day timeframe for bailiffs can also be used on the collating of the total ‘debt’ figures to ensure accuracy.
As Marcus said, none of it is in the control or the householder.
Bring back Poll Tax MUCH FAIRER FOR EVERYONE
Why should an household of 3 pay the same if not more
than an household of 6+
They create more rubbish etc etc
They also have more vehicles clogging up Roads and Streets
and pay NO extra for doing so.
HENCE ISLANDWIDE PARKING CHARGES FOR ALL VEHICLES
Politicians are so out of touch reality!
Tells a story Council Tax is just to expensive and honest people just can’t afford it anymore
I could have a field day if I put my grammar and spelling head hat on here. Very sad.
You have to ask why each and every year since moses was alive the council tax goes up each year by 5 per cent, well actually 4.99 so it doesnt get a nasty phone call from whitehall.,so average council wage increases are 2 per cent , so where is all the extra money going, extra allowances for the councillors,even higher salaries for executives who couldnt get a job in the private sector on half the salary, better facilities, no sign of that, individual taxis for children who supposedly cannot attend school without their own perosnal limousine . It matters little, what is a fact is that the IOW council does not understand economy or efficiency .