Council tax confusion - help please

amorge

Hi all,
I hope this is on the correct board....

In Feb this year my husband left. I contact the Council tax & applied for CT benefit. I took in all the proof they needed, a letter from ex saying what date he left, 3 payslips and a new award notice from tax credits.

I received a new CT bill a couple of weeks later saying that I only have to pay £15 a month...since then I have informed them of any changes to my circumstances, these were annual wage increase of £200 and the fact my 16yr old left school but now attends full time college.

In June I received an amended CT bill saying I'd had an overpayment of benefit and now need to pay £78 a mth. I appealed and was rejected, they have confirmed that I gave them all the correct information at the relevant times.

Yesterday I receive a letter saying still had an overpayment (even though paying £78 a mth) and now need to pay £104 until March 2012!!!

I'm fuming, they have really screwed me around, not to mention totally mucked up my budgeting!

Does anyone have any ideas on who I can talk to next? i'm at a total loss on what to do

dancingfairy

Gosh I don't know - it sounds realy complicated. I guess you need to go through all their calculations at each step to find out where the problems is and why.
From what I can make out from when your husband left you should have had single person discount? as you daughter was under 16? The fact she has turned 16 and still in full time education means that she should be exempt (not sure if you need proof of her being in full time education) so you still should be a single person for council tax purposes.
I'm not sure how the benefit works out though - how could they get it so wrong? You really need to go into the council tax offices and get them to sit down and go through it all with them - talk to someone senior if needs be.
Another route to explore is your local councillor - get in touch with them and get them to go through all your paperwork and get them to get in touch with the council to sort it out. First I'd check the figures are correct and then if they are I'd argue for a longer repayment period if needs be given the situation. The problem you will have is they will be reluctant to let it drag into next council tax year in case it messes that one up and puts you under further pressure
Do try your local councillor though as they have a lot of power with the council.
You can of course consider writing a complaint to the council tax department to try andget the situation resolved in a sensible way.
df

CIS

From what I can make out from when your husband left you should have had single person discount? as you daughter was under 16? The fact she has turned 16 and still in full time education means that she should be exempt (not sure if you need proof of her being in full time education) so you still should be a single person for council tax purpose

Under 18's are disregarded for council tax purposes irrespective of their status.

You can of course consider writing a complaint to the council tax department to try andget the situation resolved in a sensible way.

It's not a council tax issue , its an issue with the council tax benefit. Council Tax benefit adjustments are automatically posted to council tax accounts and an adjusted bill would then be automatically issued.

In June I received an amended CT bill saying I'd had an overpayment of benefit and now need to pay £78 a mth. I appealed and was rejected, they have confirmed that I gave them all the correct information at the relevant times.

Did you tell them in April when your tax credits went up ?.

Yesterday I receive a letter saying still had an overpayment (even though paying £78 a mth) and now need to pay £104 until March 2012!!!

Compare the number of instalments shown on each council tax demand.

Every time any any adjustment is made the council instalments are adjusted - this can cause you to lose an instalment if you were within 14 days of the next instalment date due, usually the 1st of each month. (they have to go 14 days minimum notice of an instalment date) and thus your monthly payments go up.

amorge

Thanks for the comments above
Yes I did tell them when about the tax credits, they actually wrote and asked to see the new award notice which I promptly gave to them. In September alone I have had about 4 different bills from them, all with different amounts!

pollym64

It sounds like your amended ctax bill is more to do with benefit changes rather than discounts for council tax. Your daughter would not be included in any calculations being under 18 once she does turn 18 as long as she is a full time student studying over 12 hours per week or if over 20 studying 21 hours per week she would still be disregarded. I would contact the housing benefit department as it appears their recalculations have increased your bills. They should be able to advise where the change of circumstances has come from. Also council tax is calculated on a daily basis so if your assessment has changed then from the date it was backdated to the council tax would be increased from that period and your instalments would be increased to include the underpayment. From the next financial year your instalments should go back to normal as the overpayment would effectively be paid back by then. Hope this helps.

Fudgefund

If the overpayment is the result of a Council Tax Benefit overpayment and you genuinely don't know what could have caused it, I would recommend going to a local benefits clinic (sometimes held in libraries), or your Council's drop in centre (assuming they have one), failing that, ring them and ask them to go through it with you until you understand.

Unfortunately, if their figures are correct the overpayment will need to be paid back. Involving a local Councillor is unlikely to help unless you can prove the overpayment is the Council's fault. If you really can't afford the schedule they've set you, ring their recovery section and try and negotiate a lower repayment that you can manage.

amorge

Thank you, I am going into the council offices tomorrow morning to try and sort it out. i just don't understand why it's increased by such a large amount. The council have admitted to me that it's an error on there side but that doesn't really help me.