The title sums it up in a nutshell.

I pay monthly by standing order and have done so since moving into this house a year ago.

I have received, over the last few months, two text messages and two letters asserting that my account is in arrears and that if I don't respond I will become liable for the whole years bill etc etc. My account is not in arrears. I have bank statements which show the sums being transferred to the council in question every month.

I have emailed the head of revenue and benefits to tell him to check whatever error is causing this on his system and to point out how unacceptable it is to send people threatening letters in error.

I attached copies of my bank statement showing the payments by way of proof. I can well imagine there are some people who would be intimidated or caused undue stress by the type of things they've sent. I copied in my councillor, who acknowledged the message. No response yet from the recipient.

Today I have received a court summons for 23rd of May on account of my non-payment.

Obviously I am not overly concerned, as I know I have paid and can prove I have paid. What I would like to know is how best to act now? I have let the councillor know what has happened and sought further advice from him

. I am not against attending the court date if there is anything to be gained by that for me. The outcome I am seeking is an acknowledgment of the errors on the part of the council and a stop being put to the harassment via text message and letter which has now been going on for some months.

Does anyone have some advice for how best to proceed?

Certainly you should send off an SAR in order to find out what has happened. We have been advising people in most instances to wait until 25 May – but I think you should probably send your one off now.

I should write to the council formally referring to the summons, repeating exactly what the situation is with the evidence that you have and tell them that you now want a formal complaint to begin to the Local Authority Ombudsman. Follow this up hard and make sure you get a response. Although you won't have your final response before the court date, it will be helpful to show the court that it is subject to a formal challenge internally and that you are disappointed that the council have acted in such a reckless and precipitative way and that they are clearly abusing the system and causing expense and inconvenience to you as well as distress – and expense and inconvenience to the court.

When you go to court, I can imagine that the council may well try to withdraw the case. If I were you I would try to insist that it continues and you asked the court to award you costs. Even a symbolic £5 against the council is very significant.

Additionally, I would inform the council that you are beginning a complaint to the ICO for the inaccurate processing of your data. If you are sure of your ground then you should begin the complaint to the ICO now. If you are unsure then you should wait until the result of the SAR and then begin the complaint.

You can begin the complaint to the ICO by telephone and then follow up by email. I suggest that you do that and get at least an acknowledgement from the ICO. Include that in the complaint to the Local Authority Ombudsman and also provided to the court as well.

On what day of the month are you paying? Do you have an agreement with the Council to pay on this particular date?

The key question to this is

- What date have you been paying and how does this compare to the amount and date specified on the demand notice ?

The easiest way is to simply ask the council when the payment has been received - there should be no need to do a SAR to get that information unless the council refuse to provide it.

In order for a summons to have been there must have been at least one reminder notice issued. Each council will operate slightly differently in respect to dates of when reminder notices are sent but the statutory basis for the reminder is to give 7 days to pay the missing instalment followed by a further 7 days to pay the full balance (if the instalment is not paid).

If the reminder is not complied with a court summons would be the next step. In some cases a final notice may be issued, this gives only 7 days to pay in full or a summons would be issued.

From over a decade of working in council tax the two most common issues which cause a summons to be issued when payments are being made is either

a) the payment is not reaching the council by the due date or

b) the payment is being made on the wrong reference number.

One common belief has always been that as long as it's paid by the end of the month then it's fine, it's not and many who do this wonder why a summons arrives.

In respect of the summons providing the council can demonstrate that payment was not received as shown on the demand notice and the reminder was not paid as required then the court cannot refuse to grant the liability order

- they don't have the power to take in to account any reasoning as to why payment was late, if that is the case.

The court's power is simply to compare what was paid against the notices that were sent (and that the notices were issued correctly) when considering the liability order. The best the court can do is to ask the council if they wish to have the application withdrawn if everything has been done correctly.

Extracted from the letter to the person named on the notices sent to me:

"You sent the new bill for 2018-19 dated 20th March 2018 with the first payment due on 6th April 2018. The bill acknowledged that the amount outstanding from last year's bill is £3.11.

You received a payment of £134 from me on 3rd April, three days early. This covered the outstanding sum above and the first payment.

On the date of your letter, April 17th, I had paid approximately 8% of my yearly bill. 11 days of the council tax year had passed, in percentage terms that is approximately 3% of the year."

The summons arrived yesterday 5th May. I have (on the 3rd May) paid this month's instalment.

To my knowledge, there is no processing time. My bank uses the 'faster payments' system, which to my understanding means they are received that day.

Faster payments doesn't always go through the same day. I had one the other day (first time ever) that took until the next day to clear - the faster payment system apparently has a caveat that payments usually clear quickly but may take longer.

The % paid is immaterial to council tax collection - the only point that is relevant to legislation is what was paid and when.

How much was the instalment shown for 6th April on the demand notice ?

One other point that catches people is that some councils change the reference number each year. Have you by any chance paid using a previous reference number ?

Well if they have changed the reference number and not made that clear, then there could be an error!

However, I have been paying council tax in this area since 2005 and the only times I've changed any reference numbers is when I've moved house.

If they have decided to change the reference numbers for a reason pertinent only to them, they should really have made that clear.

I will find the bill for the 2018-19 year and see if this is hidden anywhere, because it certainly wasn't anywhere obvious.

If that was the case, why would the council not have refunded the money which they would, I assume, consider paid to them in error?

The first payment for the year was due on April 6th and I paid it on April 3rd. I paid the sum for the first calendar month of 2018-19 and the outstanding £3. The first reminder was sent on April 17th.

My explication of percentages paid was merely an underlining of the point for the person who sent the letter asserting that my account was in arrears that my account has at no point been in arrears.

The reference number should be shown at the top of the demand notice- some change them yearly, some don't.

Having used the most common council tax system for a decade there are certainly 'issues' it has which can sometimes cause these sorts of problems.

How much was the amount that was due for the 18/19 instalment on 6 April 18 ? Did you by any chance pay both amounts as one combined payment ?

£131 was the amount due for April 6th, £3 outstanding, I paid £134. They were listed on the same bill. What good reason would I have for paying two separate payments of £3 and £131?

If what you say is true, it is not OK that councils continue to use systems that are not fit for purpose.

£131 was the amount due for April 6th, £3 outstanding, I paid £134. They were listed on the same bill. What good reason would I have for paying two separate payments of £3 and £131?

What good reason would I have for paying two separate payments of £3 and £131?

You'd be surprised how many people would do it that way.

One - if it was paid together and the previous balance was cleared fine then you know they received the £131 OK as well.

Two - Without going in to the technical details, if they used the Northgate system then it has, in certain cases, got a problem with payments and splitting then between years automatically (sometimes it doesn't do do correctly in a small number of cases).

The first reminder was sent on April 17th.

As of that reminder how much did it say you needed to pay within the 7 days ?