Portsmouth Council Tax Bailiffs: The Two Firms, and What Happens Next

What happens if you don't pay Portsmouth council tax

Portsmouth follows the same national route as every council: a reminder notice, then a court summons if the reminder is missed, then a liability order from the magistrates if the summons goes unanswered. Portsmouth's own pages state it will always try to agree an affordable payment arrangement first, and that once a liability order exists it can ask the Department for Work and Pensions to deduct a fixed amount from certain benefits, or arrange deductions from wages, as alternatives to enforcement. The fee stages and entry rules that apply once a case reaches an enforcement agent are set out in our council tax bailiffs guide, not repeated here.

The two firms Portsmouth names itself

Portsmouth's own website states directly that it currently instructs two enforcement agencies to recover unpaid council tax: Dukes Bailiffs Limited and Marston Holdings, and it publishes a phone number and email address for each. That is worth flagging clearly, because some published third-party evidence points elsewhere, to Bristow and Sutor, based on a contract-award announcement. Portsmouth's own current page is the more direct and more recent source for who is actually instructed today, so this page follows that. See our profiles for Dukes Bailiffs and Marston for what either firm can and cannot do once it has a case, and check the name on your own letter, since Portsmouth uses both.

Alternatives Portsmouth states before enforcement

Portsmouth's own pages describe two routes it can use once a liability order exists that do not involve an enforcement agent at all: asking the DWP to deduct a fixed weekly amount from qualifying benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance or Pension Credit, or an attachment of earnings if you are employed. Neither is guaranteed, but both are worth raising with Portsmouth's own team before a case is referred to Dukes Bailiffs or Marston.

How to pay Portsmouth directly

Portsmouth's own Council Tax Support scheme can reduce what you owe if you are on a low income, and its exceptional hardship policy exists for cases the standard scheme does not fully cover. If your case has already reached one of the two named firms, a plan agreed with Portsmouth's own team does not automatically cancel one being pursued by the agent, so tell both.

Complaints about Portsmouth, and help if you're struggling

Portsmouth introduced a revised Compliments and Complaints Procedure that applies to complaints made from 1 November 2024 onwards, covering how the council itself handled your case. A complaint about either firm's own conduct, rather than Portsmouth's recovery decision, can go to the Enforcement Conduct Board instead, which oversees the private enforcement industry.

If you are querying a Council Tax Support decision specifically, Portsmouth's own process asks you to contact the council first to explain the problem before any appeal, rather than escalating straight to a formal complaint.