Help with Council Tax benefit

MrsBartolozzi

I was on JSA (IB) from April until October this year. During this time my son turned 18 in June. He was still at school and I was entitled to CB for him until 5th September and he went to university on the 11th September.
Now, when he turned 18 in June CTB contacted me to say I was to lose my 25% single adult allowance as he was now an adult. I told them, and sent a CB letter saying he was still at school and CB was being claimed for him, and later when they asked for it I sent a letter from CB saying when it would end (5th Sept) and details of his acceptance letter for uni. In June they reinstated my CTB and I was only paying the water and sewerage charges as before (I'm in Scotland).
Today I received a huge pile of re-calculation letters and it would seem that even though I informed them that DS was at school they've assessed me as if he were another adult and I was receiving benefit for this extra too!!
Now they are asking for this extra back, even though I didn't ask for this benefit and they shouldn't have given me it in the first place.

Firstly, I am I right in thinking that an 18 year old at school and receiving CB is not counted as an adult for CT? I'm sure I read this on here at the time they wrote to me in June.
Secondly, what do I do about this £6.odd a week they shouldn't have paid in benefit that they want me to pay back? If I'd been paying the CT myself and not getting benefit I'd have overpaid them and they'd be giving it back to me as their calculation is wrong.

Please help!

Thanks.


PS I'm off to work soon, but if you need more info I will post it this evening.

MrsManda

I got a bit confused reading your post but I think your general question was should you get a single person's discount on your Council Tax Bill if only you and your son live in your house.

The answer to this is yes, according to Council Tax in Scotland: A Guide

18 AND 19 YEAR OLDS

Some 18 and 19 year olds will not be counted towards the council tax bill. To be in this group you will be:

• an 18 year old in respect of whom child benefit is still payable; or
• an 18 or 19 year old who leaves school (or finishes any other qualifying course of education) between 1 May and 31 October you will not be counted until 1 November of the year in question.

CIS

Firstly, I am I right in thinking that an 18 year old at school and receiving CB is not counted as an adult for CT? I'm sure I read this on here at the time they wrote to me in June.

A person under 20 for whom child benefit is paid is disregarded for council tax purposes.

MrsBartolozzi

Thanks for your replies.
Yes I thought that my son would be disregarded and as I was not required to increase my CT payments after he turned 18 I thought everything was ok.
Trouble is (according to the letter that came today) for some reason, my CT bill seems to have increased after his birthday, and my benefit increased accordingly, so I still paid the same. Now I have been reassessed, and they have decided that as he was still getting CB my CT bill (and benefit) should have not gone up and so I have been overpaid CT benefit, and they are demanding the difference back.
I don't see why I should pay for this. I told them he was still at school and getting CB etc and it was their decision to increase my bill (and benefit), certainly I gave them no information that should have led them to make this assumption.
Can anyone give me pointers on how to contradict or appeal what they are asking me to pay? I was going to go in and speak to them tomorrow but I wasn't sure how to go about it as the reassessment letters look really complicated and I have several things to say and to ask and the whole thing really shook me today.

CIS

I don't see why I should pay for this.

You received it and therefore it will be re-claimed by the council. You would have recived council tax demand notices and council tax benefit notifications showing the details they had used.

MrsBartolozzi

But I didn't actually receive the money - they just reduced my bill accordingly.
If I do now have to pay for this overpayment that they made to themselves, surely I can then claim back the money that they paid on my behalf but wasn't needed to be paid in the first place??
eg bill was supposed to be £15 per week (single adult disc included) (this is what I paid before son was 18 and is what they "reassessed" me as this week)
They paid: my benefit straight to themselves, £20 a week.
They want me to pay back the extra £5 BUT the bill should have only been £15 per week (which they agree with)so the council have received £5 per week too much on my behalf. Surely they should only have received £15 a week regardless of whether I paid cash or it was a benefit?

Oldernotwiser

If I've understood the question correctly, it sounds to me as if you need to get the money that's been overpaid back from the council and then use it to repay your overpaid CTB. Obviously it would be much simpler if they cut out the middleman, ie. you.

CIS

But I didn't actually receive the money - they just reduced my bill accordingly.

You dont receive the cash but a cash equivalent is paid to the council tax account.

eg bill was supposed to be £15 per week (single adult disc included) (this is what I paid before son was 18 and is what they "reassessed" me as this week)
They paid: my benefit straight to themselves, £20 a week.
They want me to pay back the extra £5 BUT the bill should have only been £15 per week (which they agree with)so the council have received £5 per week too much on my behalf. Surely they should only have received £15 a week regardless of whether I paid cash or it was a benefit?

If the overpaid CTB is only down to the discount then you wont have to physically pay back any CTB. If you've paid money then it depends how much you have paid.

Without exact figures I cant give you better examples but heres a few examples.

e.g

Charge without discount £20.00
less
Discount £ 0.00
less
CTB £20.00

Total due £ 0.00


Charge with discount £20.00
less
Discount £ 5.00
less
CTB £15.00

Total due £ 0.00

You cant receive more CTB than the actual liability so they will withdraw the £5.00 CTB that been overpaid.

Net result - you get the discount and the overpaid CTB is recovered but you haven't had to pay anything.



Charge without discount £20.00
less
Discount £ 0.00
less
CTB £15.00
Paid £ 5.00

Total due £ 0.00


Charge with discount £20.00
less
Discount £ 5.00
less
CTB £15.00
Paid £ 5.00

Total due £5.00 credit

You cant receive more CTB than the actual liability so they will then withdraw the £5.00 CTB that been overpaid.

Net result - you get the discount and the overpaid CTB is recovered but you have paid £5.00 that you didn't need to and this is now in credit to you of £5.00.

MrsBartolozzi

Thanks ONW. Is this something they do though? It just seems to me to be all a bit long winded and tbh the letter really scared me when it came through today, it seemed to be needlessly confusing, perhaps just to get the unwary or less savvy to just pay up.

MrsBartolozzi

CIS wrote: »

If the overpaid CTB is only down to the discount then you wont have to physically pay back any CTB.

You'd think.
But I have a bill for the extra £5 (as in my example, it's actually £6 odd, but no matter) a week from June til now. They want some £233 from me.
Maybe they will somehow reconcile it from my account as you say, but they certainly haven't made it clear in their letter!

Thanks for your input guys, I'm feeling a bit better about this now, it caught me at a bad time this morning and I was panicking about how to pay and really couldn't face going to see them. I feel better able to go sort it out tomorrow. Well, this and the fact that they haven't correctly worked out my new CTB with my new job (20 hours at nmw does not = £300 per week!!) it just seemed too much to deal with at once.
I'll let you know how I get on.

Oldernotwiser

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

Thanks ONW. Is this something they do though? It just seems to me to be all a bit long winded and tbh the letter really scared me when it came through today, it seemed to be needlessly confusing, perhaps just to get the unwary or less savvy to just pay up.

Sorry, I'm better on the theory than the practice!