over paid council tax benefit help

kentjojo29

Hello,

I'm posting this for my dad really, he had a letter a few weeks back saying that the local council had paid him too much council tax benefit (around £390) so he took it down to the council offices, who told him to pay what he could afford. He is currently on JSA for a single person which I believe is £65 p/w paid fortnightly. He was paying them £10 a fortnight, as this is all he can afford. He had a another letter a week or so ago with a court summons and a special payments form. He phoned the number on the letter and was greeted to a very rude person on the phone who said to fill out the special payment request form. He offered to pay £15 fortnightly, more than the original £10 he was paying. Tuesday last week he paid £15 off the amount owing. Today he received a letter stating the council where demanding the full amount paid by the end of the tax year plus an extra £60 for court fee's ect. it also stated in the letter he needs to pay £128 by the 28th of February. Which is Monday. As I stated at the beginning he only gets JSA payments and I cant afford to pay it as I too am on JSA after my job ending in December.

What I'm after is a little bit of advice as to what he can do. any advice would be welcomed.

Thank You.

CIS

When a court summons is issued and the liability order granted the council are able to then issue a regulation 36 notice - commonly called a 'request for information form' - which would ask for details such as his employer or any state benefits he is receipt of .

The time line suggests this is what he has received. Can you confirm is this is what he received and I should be able to assist further.

kentjojo29

He had received a form for Special Payment Arrangements which he filled in and took to the council by hand, that asked whether he was on benefits or working, but that's the only form he has had from them. This being the one he received a letter about today, stating they rejected his £15 per fortnight repayment and he was to pay the amount owed by the end of the tax year.

(the form didn't ask how much money he was getting though)

CIS

Ok - got you now.

He needs to contact them to negotiate a payment and again advise them he is on JSA.

The general policy we work on in my authority is that, unless here is an specific reason why not, then if someone offers more than we would get by taking it direct from their JSA (at £3.30 p/w) then we would accept any offer higher than this.

Most council's work the same but the recovery method and timelines they will accept on any arrangement are at the councils discretion (a range of available recovery methods are set in law but the length of time they allow for re-payment is not)

kentjojo29

Thanks for your advice.

I will let him know what you have said.