An East London resident has hit out at his council for causing him “undue stress” after they sent him a court summons over his council tax despite not missing a payment.
Hackney Council cancelled the court order sent to Earl Dawkins in July, but argued that it came because he should have been making his payments at the start of every month. However, he says he has been paying on this date “for many years” with no issues.
In a letter seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the council told Mr Dawkins it had cancelled the summons and ensuing recovery charges created this new arrangement “as a gesture of goodwill”.
Mr Dawkins, 58, who is registered disabled, told the LDRS: “They’re saying it like I should be grateful, but I’ve been asking for these dates for years. Now they’ve shown me it’s not a problem after all.”
Mr Dawkins regularly paid his bill on the 23rd of each month because that was when he received his Universal Credit – something he said he explained to the council in the past.
“I always pay them as soon as I get paid. Being on limited benefits, I am always very strict to avoid additional late fees as I cannot afford anything extra,” he said.
Adding to his confusion was the timing of the court order. Mr Dawkins’ summons arrived on July 7 after he noticed his June tax payment was not showing up on the council’s portal – despite it leaving his bank account. Prior to this, he said, his transfer receipts normally showed up on the system a day later.
Hackney Council said the summons was automatically triggered in line with tax law because all residents who do not pay through direct debits are required to pay their bills on the 1st of each month. It has since set up a new schedule for him to pay on the 23rd for the rest of the tax year, with the option of setting up a direct debit which would allow him to choose from four payment date options.
Speaking to the LDRS, a Town Hall spokesperson said: “We regret any distress caused to Mr Dawkins over an automatically generated summons for late council tax payments. Reminders of late council tax payments were issued in April, May and June.”
But Mr Dawkins said he was confused as to why this was all happening now.
“Why is it only now that they have asked me to set up a direct debit so I can submit on the 28th? It’s just so frustrating.”
Surge in court orders following cyber attack
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request made to Hackney Council in July revealed that the number of court summons issued to residents over council tax nearly doubled in a year, rising from 14,475 in 2023/24 to 28,360 in 2024/25. Since April this year, 5,769 similar court orders have been handed down from Thames Magistrates’ Court.
The council said the surge was due to a backlog created between 2020 and 2023 following a cyber attack on its systems, alongside the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Work to get our systems back up and running has been a challenge and it has taken time to implement retrospective recovery action for those years,” the Town Hall’s spokesperson said.
In June, the LDRS reported that Hackney Council had allocated another resident’s payments to the wrong tax year following the cyber attack but had only admitted to this after a two-year back-and-forth. Ms Danielle Collavino said she was threatened with legal action after disputing her outstanding bills because they appeared to show debts she had already paid. She told the LDRS that she was “stonewalled” by the council when she offered bank statements as proof of payment.
At the time, a spokesperson for the council said it appreciated the “stress and confusion caused by the way Ms Collavino’s payments were allocated and the need for her to provide proof”. The Town Hall maintained that she still owed them the full amount and, despite her claims, there was “no evidence” its tax records were inaccurate.
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