Terms and conditions

About us

Council Tax Helpline (counciltaxhelpline.co.uk) is a trading style of Simply Quote Comparison Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 15008284. Registered office: Sentinel House, Ancells Business Park, Harvest Crescent, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UZ.

The Council Tax Helpline service is provided on our behalf by Complete 2 Financial Solutions Ltd, company number 15167030.

In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Simply Quote Comparison Ltd, trading as Council Tax Helpline. “You” means anyone using this website or our service.

By using this website or our service, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use them.

Regulation

Because our service relates to council tax and local authority debt rather than regulated consumer credit, it falls outside the scope of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation.

Some debt solutions we may tell you about, such as some debt management plans and insolvency options, are provided by other firms, under their own terms and regulatory arrangements. They will explain those to you before you agree to anything.

What the service is

Council Tax Helpline helps people in England, Wales and Scotland who are behind with council tax, or who are facing enforcement agents or sheriff officers, to understand their position and find a suitable way forward.

When you contact us, an adviser from Complete 2 Financial Solutions Ltd will look at your situation with you. Depending on what you need, and only with your agreement, that can include:

• Explaining where you stand and what can happen next
• Checking whether your bill and any enforcement fees are correct
• Working out what you can afford
• Putting a special payment arrangement to your council on your behalf
• Introducing you to a provider of another solution, such as a debt management plan or a formal insolvency option

We will not agree anything on your behalf without your permission. We do not act as the agent of any third-party provider.

What it costs

There is no charge for using our service, and no obligation to go ahead with anything we discuss.

If you choose a solution that has a cost, the provider will tell you what it costs, in writing, before you agree to it.

Your responsibilities

• Please give us information that is accurate and complete, as far as you know. The help we can give depends on it.
• Tell us if your circumstances change.
• Keep paying your current council tax and other essential bills, unless we have agreed something different with you and your council.
• Keep to any arrangement you agree. We cannot stop your council or anyone else taking action if an arrangement is broken.

What we cannot promise

We will do our best for you, but decisions about your council tax account are made by your council, and decisions about a debt solution are made by the provider and your creditors. We cannot guarantee that an offer will be accepted, that enforcement will stop, or that any fees will be removed.

Information on this website

The guides on this website are general information, written to help people understand council tax, enforcement and debt. They are not advice about your own circumstances.

We work hard to keep them accurate and up to date, and each guide shows when it was last reviewed. But the law, fees and limits change, and councils apply the rules differently. Please do not rely on the website alone before making a decision. Speak to us, or to another source of free debt advice.

Links to other websites

Where we link to other websites, such as GOV.UK or a council’s own website, we do so because we think they will help. We are not responsible for their content.

Our responsibility to you

We accept no responsibility for the products, services or conduct of any third-party provider, including your council, enforcement agents, sheriff officers, and providers of debt solutions.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot be excluded or limited by law. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Using this website

You may use this website for your own personal use. Please do not:

• Copy or republish its content for commercial purposes without our permission
• Try to interfere with how it works, or gain unauthorised access to it
• Submit information about another person without their permission

The content and design of this website belong to us, or to the people who have allowed us to use their material.

Your personal information

How we collect and use your personal information is explained in our privacy policy.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with our service, please tell us. Our complaints procedure explains how.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version on this page is the one that applies, and the date it was last reviewed is shown at the bottom.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, nothing in these terms affects the consumer protections you have under the law where you live, and you can bring proceedings in your local courts.

Contact

Call us free on 0800 494 7285, Monday to Thursday, 10am to 5pm, or write to us at the address above.