North East councillors taken to court over unpaid council tax

At least eight court summons have been issued to elected North East councillors for non-payment of council tax in the past three years. Information uncovered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has revealed that sitting councillors in both Newcastle and County Durham have been taken to court for not paying their council tax bills since 2022. Both Gateshead and Northumberland councils also had to send out non-payment reminder letters to councillors, though none of those cases led to a court summons.

However, each of those four councils has refused to name the individuals involved – despite past cases making clear that there is a public interest in doing so. Sunderland City Council, meanwhile, has confirmed only that fewer than five of its councillors have been pursued for council tax arrears in the years 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25 – but refused to disclose the actual number, their identities, or how much they owed. The LDRS has now challenged those decisions by requesting internal reviews of the freedom of information (FOI) request replies sent by those five councils.

Both North Tyneside and South Tyneside councils are yet to respond to the FOI request, more than two weeks after the 20 working day legal deadline to reply passed. Councillors in those seven authorities across Tyne and Wear, Durham, and Northumberland are paid basic allowance rates of between £8,620 and £17,919 per year. They are responsible for setting council tax rates, which have risen by the maximum 4.

99% in most areas this year, and are barred from voting on matters concerning council tax if they are in arrears of at least two months. Newcastle City Council issued a councillor with court summons in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, for unpaid amounts up to £1,150. In 2024/24, the council issued two councillors with summons – for unpaid sums to the value of £437 and £617 respectively.

Two county councillors in Durham who owed £471 and £433 were issued with summons in 2024/25, while a further four were sent reminder letters in that year for amounts between £15 and £631. The council said that all of those arrears were cleared by February 12 this year. Durham County Council previously issued one summons in 2023/24 over a £449 non-payment and also issued another councillor with a final notice warning letter relating to a £1,471 debt.

It also issued one councillor with a summons in 2022/23 relating to unpaid bills from past years totalling £6,250, as well as reminder letters to three other councillors owing between £19.59 and £136. In its response to the LDRS, Durham County Council argued that naming the councillors concerned would violate their privacy and “would not significantly enhance public knowledge”.

That is despite a legal ruling from the Upper Tribunal in 2016 that there is a “compelling legitimate interest in the public knowing whether a particular councillor has failed to pay the council tax, at least in circumstances where they have remained in default for over two months”. That judgement, which ruled against Bolton Council in its attempt to disclose a councillor’s identity, said that there may be “exceptional” personal circumstances in which they should be protected from public exposure – but that the public interest outweighs this in most cases. Judge Kate Markus wrote at the time: “The public interest in knowing the information is central to the proper functioning and transparency of the democratic process.

The identification of a defaulting councillor involves an intrusion into his private life, as summarised above, but it is an intrusion that a councillor must be taken to have accepted when taking office.” The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) also ruled in favour of the Liverpool Echo last yea r in a fight to reveal the identities of two city councillors who received court summons for non-payment of council tax. Both Northumberland County Council and Gateshead Council confirmed they had issued no court summons to their councillors in arrears for each of the past three financial years.

Four Northumberland councillors were sent reminder letters in that time, plus a further four in Gateshead. Sunderland City Council declined to provide any of the requested information, other than confirming fewer than five councillors had been in arrears. It argued that councillors “should in principle expect to be able to enjoy the same rights to private, home and family life as members of the general public”.

Victoria Murray, Durham County Council’s head of transactional and customer services, said: “Council Tax is used to pay for essential services across the county so we take prompt action where it is not paid, with all steps in strict accordance with the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992. Before we reach the point of needing to take any action, we encourage anyone who is struggling to pay their council tax to contact us as soon as they can so we can explore whether they qualify for additional support through the various programmes we have in place, including the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme. “The regulations prescribe the recovery process for anyone who does not pay their council tax and this includes the issuing of reminder letters, withdrawal of the right to pay in instalments, and the issuing of a summons.

Any figures, or comparisons with other authorities in terms of the number of reminder letters or summons issued over a three year period, need to be considered in the context of us being the biggest council in the region. We have by far the highest number of councillors – 126 up until next month’s elections.” Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone.

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.

If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice . CLICK HERE TO JOIN.