GMB's published regional data record 992,536 council tax court actions in England in 2024/25, although the union's figures contain an unresolved discrepancy that prevents a clean national total.
GMB sent Freedom of Information requests to councils across Great Britain responsible for collecting council tax. Almost 200 replied within the statutory deadline. Its published table records entries in a "Court 24/25" column for each region. Summing the nine English regional entries gives 992,536. Councils that did not respond are absent from the exercise altogether.
There is also a discrepancy in GMB's own national figures.
The text accompanying its investigation says 1,430,726 people were summoned to court across Great Britain. The regional table on the same page totals 1,505,126 court entries, a difference of 74,400. GMB variously describes the figures as people, summonses and court cases.
Neither of those totals reconciles cleanly with the regional breakdown either. Adding the English, Scottish and Welsh regional entries together gives 1,272,272, some 232,854 short of the table's own printed total of 1,505,126. GMB has not published an explanation for the gap.
The defensible finding is therefore not a single precise national total. It is that responding councils reported court enforcement on a scale running into nearly a million cases in England alone, with the true national total unavailable from the published exercise.
The same responses recorded 4,593,838 council tax accounts in arrears, more than 3.2 million accounts subject to debt management proceedings and just over £4.6 billion outstanding across Great Britain.
England is now changing the rules governing how quickly a missed council tax payment can escalate.
Ministers have already decided that households should have substantially longer before they lose the right to continue paying by instalments. Under reforms announced in April, that period will extend to at least 63 days after the first missed payment. Councils will also have to follow statutory steps before formal enforcement, and the costs they can add for seeking a liability order will be capped at £100.
Those protections will not begin until April 2027.
The current regulations give councils considerably more scope to move quickly.
They do not prescribe a minimum period between an instalment being missed and a reminder being sent. The government's latest consultation says practices therefore vary between councils. If the arrears remain unpaid, the existing system can ultimately make the remaining annual balance payable before a council seeks a liability order from the magistrates' court.
The replacement is much more prescriptive.
Under proposals published on 1 July, a final notice could not be issued earlier than 41 days after the missed instalment, or until at least 14 days after the most recent reminder. The household would then have 21 days to pay the amount demanded. If it remained unpaid, the rest of the year's bill could become due on day 63.
The government also wants reminder notices to direct households towards debt advice, payment plans, discounts and other support rather than immediately emphasising the most severe enforcement powers.
Ministers have not concluded that councils should stop pursuing unpaid council tax.
Council tax is a major source of local government income, and the government says councils must retain the ability to enforce debts against people who can pay but deliberately do not. Councils have warned that slowing the process could affect collection rates within the year and cash flow. The government is seeking evidence on those costs before the new rules are finalised.
The average Band D council tax bill in England is £2,392 in 2026/27, up £111, or 4.9 per cent, in a year. Of 384 authorities subject to referendum principles, 274 used the maximum increase available without a referendum and another 50 came close.
There is already a direct precedent for the rule of 63 days.
Wales introduced essentially the same minimum period on 1 April 2026. Welsh councils must now give households at least 63 days from a missed payment before applying for a liability order on the unpaid annual balance, with a reminder and final notice required first.
England's own government response explicitly says its reform is aligned with the change in Wales.
It is too early to say what the Welsh change has done to collection rates or court action. The official Welsh collection statistics covering April 2026 to March 2027 are not due until June 2027.
That leaves an unusual position in England.
The government has already decided that households need more time before council tax arrears can escalate towards court enforcement. It has settled on a minimum of 63 days, a model already operating in Wales, and is now consulting on the detailed notices councils must issue.
For the rest of the current financial year, English councils will continue using the existing statutory timetable.