I was in arrers of £624. with the local council tax payments. I recieived a letter for a court sommons, when i called the council i was advised that this was not neccessary to appear as this was the proccess for the council to obtain the power to recover the debt. They advised that this could not be make by the council themselves as it was to close to the end of the financial year. Since i have discovered if i had appeared i could have made a payment plan and put our casen to the court. I then recievied a demand for the full amount by the end of the this financial year, ie Saturday the 31/03/07. I have written to the council and explaned we only have one income and 3 young children but we have offered to pay £60.00 a month for the next 10 months and have already paid £24.00 as proof of future payments. i then recivied a furth letter saying that this was not acceptiable and full payment need to be paid by the 31/03/07 or the debt would be passed over to the bailiffs to come and collect the vaule in my home possestions. the council have said if this had been any other time of the year a planment plan would could be set up. but i feel we are now being penalised as we have never had any warning letter that we had fallen behind with payments. What do i do please help?