New BBC data shows Dorset’s council tax bailiff cases soaring – but the bigger story is rising debt, tighter recovery, and families caught in between
sharpest rise in England for households referred to bailiffs over unpaid council tax – an eye-watering increase of 5,119%,
according to new BBC data. Freedom of Information figures released to the BBC, and now shared with The BV, show that in 2021/22 just 37 Dorset households were referred to enforcement agents. By 2024/25 that number had climbed to 1,931.Mathematically, that is indeed a 5,119% rise – but it tells only part of the story.
Dorset Council says 2021/22 was an exceptional year: during the pandemic, court sittings were suspended and recovery activity scaled back, while the new unitary council was still in the process of merging its tax systems.
‘Like other councils, we limited our recovery actions during Covid,’ a spokesperson said. ‘Therefore, the 2021/22 starting data the BBC used is not truly representative.’
The real picture
When collections resumed, the council began to work through the arrears that had built up. Dorset referred 612 households in 2022/23, 1,473 in 2023/24, and 1,931 so far this year. That’s roughly a threefold rise since recovery restarted – far short of the 5,000% headline, but bailiff referrals have roughly tripled since recovery restarted – in real terms, meaning three times as many Dorset residents are now facing bailiff action as just two years ago.
Debt advisers say that the scale of the increase still raises alarm. Even allowing for pandemic backlogs, the figures suggest that more households are struggling to keep up with rising living costs while councils are moving faster to recover unpaid tax. Each referral represents a family at risk of mounting fees and potential loss of possessions – and, in some cases, their homes.
The council says its enforcement and reporting processes have remained broadly consistent since 2022, though new national guidance is expected following a government consultation on modernising council tax collection. Dorset has contributed to that consultation, which aims to ‘streamline collection, reduce administrative costs and improve the experience for customers’.
Don’t ignore the bill
Debt-advice charities say the national picture remains worrying. The StepChange charity and Money Wellness both told the BBC that councils’ reliance on bailiffs often makes debt problems worse. A £75 letter fee, £235 for a visit and further costs for any sale can quickly inflate a small arrear into a crisis.
Citizens Advice, meanwhile, continues to stress that council tax and HMRC debts should be treated as top priority for anyone struggling financially, as both bodies are among the quickest to escalate recovery through court orders or enforcement agents. Dorset Council echoed that message: ‘Anyone struggling to pay their council tax should contact us or Citizens Advice to find a manageable solution,’ it says, pointing to the guidance on its website here: dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/problems-paying-council-tax.
The issue is part of a wider national trend: nationwide, councils referred 1.4 million accounts to bailiffs last year – up 46% in four years – even as the average recovery per case has fallen slightly. That suggests enforcement is becoming less effective, but more common.
For Dorset, the headline-grabbing percentage hides a simpler truth: after two years of Covid disruption and reporting delays, enforcement has returned to more normal levels. But behind the numbers lies a harder truth: more households are sliding into arrears, and the debate over whether bailiffs remain the right tool for the job is far from over.
