Custodial sentaence council tax

Wandering

I appeared in court today with a very good friend of mine who has been out of work for over 4 years over non payment of council tax.

After him gving his financial statments - basically saying that he had no income, (He hasnt claimed befits etc) they found him guilty of wilful neglect and sentanced to immidiate coustody for 90 days. The reason for the judgement was that they "didn't belive him".

I vouched for him that friends and family were contributing to food etc. But its seems wrong that he got 90 days.

Admittadly he is guilty of not applying for council tax benefits but surly that should not be a reason for a custodial period?

Any help and advice on the way forward would be great.

2009timeforchange

Unfortuntly it does sound like he didnt do anything to help himself. Why didnt he apply for the benefits?

Veexx

He should have applied for the relevant benefits.

I am sorry about your friend but it does look like he didn't help himself enough.

Wandering

by him not applying does that make him willfully neglectful thougt. I thought willfull neglect was you have the money but refuse to pay

dmg24

Wandering wrote: »

by him not applying does that make him willfully neglectful thougt. I thought willfull neglect was you have the money but refuse to pay

Yes, it does. He had the means to mitigate his liability, but he did not do so. Why did he not apply?

dmg24

goffo wrote: »

It seems now that wilful neglect can mean that if people don't claim every penny in benefit that they are entitled to!

Wow!!! a big stick to hit us with if we don't make a claim. Whatever next!

I was given to understand that when you claim a means tested benefit, they automatically notify the Council.
I fell into that trap, claimed ESA (IB) yet didn't receive any CTB. So after 6 months I queried it with the Council. I had to make a separate claim. Wouldn't back date it so now have 6 months arrears that they are collecting from my benefit.

I won't make that mistake again, I have learned that you must claim anything and everything and not trust any advice given to you by the DWP!

Yep, we all know about when you thought you could play the system and lost Andy!

There is no obligation on anyone to claim benefits. There is an obligation to pay your Council Tax liability.

Roy_G_Biv

I think the legislation says "The Council Tax Payer" must "Discharge the Liability". That can be done by paying it, or claiming a benefit.

Magistrates do make enquiries whether the liable person can read and write, and if they can then its culpable neglect. Committal to prison is a way of life for some people. Prison >> release >> rehoused >> doss >> non payment >> prison >> rince lather repeat.

CIS

After him gving his financial statments - basically saying that he had no income, (He hasnt claimed befits etc) they found him guilty of wilful neglect and sentanced to immidiate coustody for 90 days. The reason for the judgement was that they "didn't belive him".

I vouched for him that friends and family were contributing to food etc. But its seems wrong that he got 90 days.

Admittadly he is guilty of not applying for council tax benefits but surly that should not be a reason for a custodial period?

The two reasons he would be jailed are for 'wilful refusal' or 'culpable neglect'. Not claiming benefit would not be either of these therefore it will have come down to whether the judge believed he was able to pay and didn't.

There was a case where a judge found that failing to find work was neglect by not earning money when he was able to but this was overturned and not claiming benefit would fall under this so I would doubt the committal was made on this basis.

The 90 days is the maximum that can be given - does he have a large amount of arrears ?. To get to the stage of committal he would have been given plenty of opportunities to claim benefit or at least make a

Jowo_2

Wandering wrote: »

..
Admittadly he is guilty of not applying for council tax benefits but surly that should not be a reason for a custodial period?

Did he owe 4 years worth or less than that? Why did he not apply for benefits? Did he not contest the liability order? Does he own his own property? Was there a previous court case where the court order was suspended? If its any consolation, I get the impression that the CT often gets written off after the sentence.

The site here provides an overview of the process and organisations that can. It makes clear that a prison sentence is a last resort.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10013198

Here are some examples of what constitutes the neglect or refusal.

Wilful Refusal - For example, debtor made a conscious decision not to pay the outstanding tax and refused to make any effort to clear the outstanding balance.

Culpable Neglect - For example, failed to pay as required and did have means to pay but perhaps felt Council Tax was a lower priority.

Here is a website that shows some cases and the legal side of this type of judgement.

http://www.acsnavigator.co.uk/acsctax/Typical_Proceedings_for_Committal.htm

jonnyboy82

im on troll alert here:rotfl:

CIS

Did he not contest the liability order? Does he own his own property? Was there a previous court case where the court order was suspended? If its any consolation, I get the impression that the CT often gets written off after the sentence.

He had no way of contesting the liability order - he is the liable person and a balance was due (unless he could prove he was billed incorrectly etc) therefore the magistrate had no powers not to grant the order.

The council tax , once it has been subject to a custodial sentence, cannot be recovered using the recovery options which are avilable to the council. They could collect by agreement with the payer but couldn't further enforce this so if the person cannot pay after committal the council usually write it off rather than having bad debt on the books that they cannot collect on.