Council Tax and business rates phone lines

The telephone service for Council Tax and business rates will be unavailable on Tuesday 3 December. You can still contact us online to tell us of any changes in circumstances, make a payment arrangement or make a payment. Our telephone service will resume on Wednesday 4 December

News about the council

If we are making an announcement this generally takes the form of an article on the Derby Newsroom that is sent around local and regional media, specialist publications and national media where appropriate and our messages are sent out through the our social media channels.

However, articles must follow a strict protocol and must stay within the law governing media and local government. They must not be interpreted to be affecting public support for a political party. This is particularly important in the period leading up to an election, known as purdah.

There are guidelines in the Code of Recommended Practice on local authority publicity which highlights the factors to be taken into consideration at all times by the media team when making decisions about publicity.

We will normally quote the relevant Council Cabinet Member in an article and their comments must relate to the subject of the release. Similar guidelines apply to the chairs of our Scrutiny Boards.

All articles must be strictly factual and should not include anything that could be construed as politically motivated or biased. Council Officers are not allowed to enter into a political debate with a journalist and many are politically restricted. Articles will not contain any political opinion; for this a journalist must speak with the politicians directly.