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Residents vented their frustrations on social media and said “tonnes” of people were affected.

Commenting on a post about the unexpected cost, one Sheffielder said: “It’s the principle of it. We are being squeezed to death financially.”

Cost of living: council tax rebate not coming until at least May, says Sheffield...

Taxpayers were alarmed when told they had to pay to receive their tax bill after a postage blunder by Sheffield Council.

Another person said: “I wouldn’t have paid it. I’d have told them to send it back to the bloody council. Bloody cheek of it. As if we don’t have to pay enough.”

Tim Hardie, head of revenues and benefits at the council, confirmed there had been a mistake.

He said: “A small number of large print council tax bills were sent out without the correct postage being franked on the envelopes.

“We offer our sincere apologies to customers who have been affected by this. We are taking steps to reissue the bills with the correct postage on them.”

Mr Hardie said any taxpayers who were asked to go to a Post Office sorting office to collect their large print bill should ignore this and wait for the reissued bill to arrive in the post.

For those who have already been and collected the bill he asked that they contact the council via email at [email protected] or call 0114 2736667.

He added: “We will also be ringing affected customers which we hold contact numbers for to provide advice on what to do next.”

When will the council tax rebate come?

The council said residents can expect to see a £150 council tax rebate from May.

In response to rocketing costs of food, fuel and other essentials, the government promised the council tax rebate to households in bands A – D among other measures.

Taxpayers across the country were told the payments would be made this month but Sheffield Council confirmed that it “hopes to start” making payments from May.

The council said this delay is because the government advised ensuring direct debit payments have cleared before issuing the money.

Direct debit users will see the payment come through automatically and those who pay in other ways will be contacted by the council to arrange a method for receiving the money.

Taxpayers forced to pay for Sheffield Council post blunder