At least 34,000 people were taken to court over unpaid Council Tax debt in Wales last year, an investigation has found.

A ‘freedom of information’ request was sent by GMB Trade Union to all local authorities in the country with responsibility for collecting council tax.

Of those who responded, 34,437 people had been summoned to court in the financial year 2024/25.

For Pembrokeshire this related to 6,839 people given a court summons; and 5,018 for Carmarthenshire.

Only Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales had a higher amount of people hit with a court summons at 8,525.

The findings will be discussed as part of a Local Government special report, delivered to GMB’s annual congress.

Other results from the investigation include:

  • 31,452 accounts are in council tax arrears
  • 14,792 accounts have had debt management proceedings launched against them
  • More than £110 million is owed to Wales councils in unpaid council tax

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “These horrifying figures show our council tax system is completely broken

“Not only is the banding system woefully out of date, but forcing cash-strapped councils to pursue 30,000 people through the courts just to make ends meet can’t be the right way to do business.

“Austerity left deep scars on all our public services, which will last a generation or more.

“Meanwhile the lack of authority funding often means low pay for the people we rely on to look after our loved ones, to take our rubbish, to keep our towns and cities running.

“To fix all this, we need more guaranteed central government funding, progress on council tax reform so the richest pay their share and changes to Business Rates so that authorities get more regenerate our high streets,” she added.