Council Tax

Council Tax is the tax you pay on your domestic property to help finance the local services provided by:

• Crawley Borough Council
• West Sussex County Council
• Sussex Police Authority

Crawley Borough Council collects the Council Tax on behalf of all three bodies. We keep 13 per cent to spend on Borough Council services. Sussex Police spend 9 per cent and West Sussex County Council takes 78%.

Click on the image above or this link to download a copy of this year’s Council Tax leaflet. The increase in Crawley’s portion of the Council Tax this year is 0.97%, the lowest rise in Sussex.

Council Tax for 2010/11

The amount you pay depends on which property band your property falls into and also the number of adults living in the property.

Discounts and reductions are available for people living on their own, for people with disabilities, for students and others.

The table below shows the tax for each organisation for all properties in Crawley from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011:

Your Council Tax demand shows the band that applies to your property.

Information about the Council Tax

Council Tax Bands

The amount you pay depends on which property band your home falls into. Every house, bungalow, flat and maisonette has been allocated to one of eight bands by the Valuation Office Agency. These valuation bands are based on the property’s market value set at 1 April 1991.

The Valuation Bands are as follows:-

To find out which band a property falls into visit: www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax

Alternatively, you can visit the Contact Centre in the Town Hall to view the register.

How to Pay

The bottom of your Council Tax demand shows the instalments due and your method of payment. Please note that all payments should be made by the due date of 1st of the month.

You can pay by Direct Debit, cash, cheque or debit/credit card via the internet or telephone. Click on the link below to sign up for a direct debit online:

• Direct Debit Application

For direct debit, choose a payment date of the 1st, 15th or 25th of the month.

See the Payments page for more on the options available to you.

How can you help us to prevent fraud?

Crawley Council's successful anti-fraud team now has a 24 hour free phone number so that residents can report benefit fraud. The free phone number is 0800 634 0180 or click to complete a Fraud Report form in total confidence.

Data Protection

Any information we hold about you in the Council Tax records will be used for the billing, collection and recovery of Council Tax and to enable the Council to carry out and perform its statutory duties. The Council is under a duty to protect funds it administers. In order to do this it may also share the information with other bodies responsible for auditing or administrating public funds for the prevention and detection of crime.

Links

• Fair Debt Collection Charter
• Valuation Office Agency