Seven Trent Water, ESA Deductions

Nottingham89

Hello, this will have to be a quick question, I will explain more later.

I am on ESA at the moment, after deductions of a social fund loan I am left with £96 to live on every two weeks. I have gotten in to arrears with them and they have decided to start taking £7+ out of my benefits a week to clear this, I specifically told them not too both the DWP and Seven Trent as I am applying with the trust fund.

I called the DWP up this morning and they are saying that Seven Trent can legally take money out of my benefits without me agreeing to it, can they do this ?

PNPSUKNET

yes its called forced fuel direct, all utilitys can do it some although dont know about this option as it safeguards your supply

Gothicfairy

Severn Trent can take money from your benefit, it is allowed and they don't need your permission..Sorry

As you owe the money the only way forward is to continue with the deductions and apply for the trust fund, if the trust fund is granted you will get it from the date of applying and you will more then likely end up owing something anyway so this way it gets the bill amount down too.

This might seem unfair ( and I really don't mean it ) but you have £48 a week to live on and I am guessing you get housing / council tax paid for etc so you might well be in a better situation then some here.
I am about to start a new pound a day challenge as I get no benefits / government help at all and have to live on the left overs from my husbands wages( we are being repossessed so that gives you some idea of how badly we are managing on his wages...lol)
I really do wish you all the best and hope you can get it sorted out but there is nothing you can do for now about them taking money.