Unpaid council tax, commitment to prison.

Committing a defaulter to prison is the point of last resort for councils, and in nearly all cases, magistrates do not grant a committal on reading an application by the council, they only make a suspended committal by taking a promise from the defaulter to pay.

Defaulters who are homeless exploit this rule to get fast-tracked into free social housing, because HM Prison Service becomes responsible for re-housing prisoners leaving prison.

The threat of prison is to coerce payment from the defaulter, rather than sending someone to prison and costing the prison service expense of providing free meals, education and accommodation, together with the cost of re-settling the prison on release.

If the council believes the defaulter is culpably and wilfully refusing to pay, instead of being unable to pay, then it can apply to the court for a committal order.^[1]

^{[1] Regulation 47 of the The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992}