MORE than 19,000 people have been sent to court in the last five years for failing to pay their council tax.
According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, changes to the benefits system and the fall-out of the 2008 financial crises created the "perfect storm" which hammered homeowners and families – and it's set to get worse.
Elaine Parr, manager of the charity's Redhill office, said: "We look at this as a debt issue and it's a pretty serious debt issue because people can land, in extreme circumstances, in jail.
"The problem is, usually if people are behind with one thing they're behind with something else. They've only got to be sick for a few days or just have their overtime cut and that's it."
As well as the initial recession of 2008 and subsequent return to recession at the end of last year, the newly-named council tax support – which requires recipients to pay ten per cent of their contributions – and the new cap on benefits is only going to exacerbate the experience of residents going forward, according to the CAB.
"As a charity, we're just fire-fighting," Ms Parr said. "We're keeping things on an even keel but demand is going up and up.
"There isn't enough support we can give. We'd very much like to do more."
Figures released to the Mirror following a Freedom of Information request show that of the 19,000 people in the Reigate and Banstead borough issued with a court summons since 2008, more than 14,000 were issued with a liability order for unpaid tax.
It comes just one month after Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's executive was forced to write off £27,398.42 of debt, including £11,905.72 in unpaid and unrecoverable council tax.
The authority is currently reviewing its benefits system to help reduce fraudulent claims, which worsen the situation.
Councillor Julian Ellacott, the council's executive member for housing and welfare, said: "We are currently reviewing single-person council tax discounts as part of a Surrey-wide initiative to ensure that only those eligible to claim it are doing so.
"Discounts reduce the revenue we can collect, raising council tax bills for everyone else, so we need to ensure that only those people due a discount get one."
Ian Martin, senior revenues officer at the council, said there were a number of reasons why people did not pay their council tax, and that the authority tried to work with them to avoid court action.
But he added: "For those people who are taken to court and where a liability order is made, there are various enforcement options set down in legislation we can choose from to recoup money owed, including attachment to earnings, deductions from benefit, a charging order or bailiffs, but we cannot use bailiffs until we've been to court."
