Attachment of Earnings!

Treeen

Hi

I hope I'm posting this in the right place.

Our local authorites has just placed an attachment of earnings on my partners wages for the council tax.

We paid our first 2 monthly payments online with our debit card but thought it would be easier to set up a Direct Debit. They sent us the forms.. we filled in and signed it.. and sent it back.

We've heard nothing from them since sending that back in August. As the money would be coming out of my partners account.. I didn't notice that it hadn't been going out. He doesn't have paper statements and rarely checks his account online as we stick to quite a strict budget (we have to).

Then last week we recieved the Attachment of Earnings paperwork.. Well his employers got theirs first.. ours came yesterday.

They are taking 17% of his earnings.. which is approx £80 a week. We cannot afford for that to happen.. as said.. we stick to a tight budget as we have a lot of outgoings.

How are they allowed to just do that without getting intouch with us first to give us a chance to put it right or to catch up on what was owing? Or even to ask where the DD forms were. We'd have known then that it wasn't being paid. Do they not have to take into account our outgoings?

This is putting a huge strain on us and we really can't see how we're going to manage

Treen

Tixy

Hi

An attachment of earnings is based on your income - and is a flat non negotiable percentage. Council tax has to be a priority, you'll need to look where else you can reduce outgoings so you can afford this.

What years council tax is this in relation to? When you say you paid the first 2 payments online when was that? how long has it not been paid for?

If the ctax hasn't been going out of his bank account but you had budgeted for it to then does that mean you have a much higher balance in that account than you thought?

pelirocco

Doesnt it have to go to court before attachment of earnings?

Treeen

Thanks for the reply Tixy..

It's this years Council Tax.. up until April 2012.. plus one month owing from last years.
I paid 2 months worth in June.. then the rest was going to be spread over the months leading up to April and paid by DD.
Yes there is more money in the bank.. which meant if they had gotten intouch with us.. we would have paid the outstanding amount then carried on with monthly payments.. they didn't give us that option. My partner doesn't earn a flat amount each week so our income isn't always the same and obviously with christmas there has been a lot more going out. We always get a receipt with the account balance on it if we withdraw money so we thought we could afford what we've spent so far.

Yes will will have to find a way of reducing our outgoings, but it's more the way they went about it that stressing us both out. Also embarrassment to my partner with his employers.

Pelirocco.. I thought that too.. but it seems there is a different rule for the council. They got a liabilty order which meant they could go straight ahead with the attachment.

Treen.

pelirocco

Treeen wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Tixy..

It's this years Council Tax.. up until April 2012.. plus one month owing from last years.
I paid 2 months worth in June.. then the rest was going to be spread over the months leading up to April and paid by DD.
Yes there is more money in the bank.. which meant if they had gotten intouch with us.. we would have paid the outstanding amount then carried on with monthly payments.. they didn't give us that option. My partner doesn't earn a flat amount each week so our income isn't always the same and obviously with christmas there has been a lot more going out. We always get a receipt with the account balance on it if we withdraw money so we thought we could afford what we've spent so far.

Yes will will have to find a way of reducing our outgoings, but it's more the way they went about it that stressing us both out. Also embarrassment to my partner with his employers.

Pelirocco.. I thought that too.. but it seems there is a different rule for the council. They got a liabilty order which meant they could go straight ahead with the attachment.

Treen.

Didnt they send you notice that it was going to court?

Tixy

They have been to court to get a liability order, and they will have sent you a letter warning of this - perhaps it was before you started your payments in June?

Do you know the date of the liability orders? do you know if they have one or 2 orders against you? If only one for the last payment of last year then that should be all they can collect by AoE.

Red_dog_Sam

As already indicated above, the Council does need a liability order before it can impose an attachment of earnings. But, although you say you've heard nothing about this from the Council, a number of things do have to happen first. Firstly, the Council send a summons. Then , after the court date they will send a notice of liability order. At this point you (or your partner) will have been obliged to provide employer details - how else can the Council contact the employer after all?
Each of these stages would have given you an opportunity to query the missing Direct Debit instruction.
As it stands, you should still check with the council about the DD mandate. If they hold it but failed to action it you may have a case for getting the attachment cancelled, the summons costs withdrawn and a new instalment scheme set up. You probably want to make sure you have your DD in place for next year to avoid this situation as well.
But to be honest, it's unlikely that the correspondence you should've had has all got lost in the post so the Council will have taken the necessary steps and will be acting within their rights.
As already posted, the amount is a fixed % based on net earnings plus a small administrative charge the employer can add so you can't choose how much will be taken. It is still preferable to bailiffs or committal action though.

Treeen

Thank you all for your replies...

We knew the month owing from last year went to court. My partner was out of work at the time (of it going to court not from when it was owed) .. We then got a letter from the Bailiffs, we knew if we sat tight it would be handed back to the council, which it was and as my partner was working then, it was added on what we owe for this year.. which was to be spread by DD installments.

We have had no letter saying we were being summoned for this years amount. Had I recieved anything like that I would have known the the money wasn't being taken out of the bank each month and would have paid it up.

Yes there are 2 orders agasinst us. I can't tell you the dates because my partner has taken the paperwork with him today as he's planning on calling them

I did check with them about the DD mandate but was told they never recieved it. (why couldn't they have contacted us then?)

Also.. how can they get a liability order for the whole year (up until April 2012) when we don't actually owe that yet. We might move out next week!

I guess we're stuck with it and will have to find a way to manage.

Treen

Red_dog_Sam

The way Council Tax rules work mean that by missing instalments you lose the right to pay in instalments and the whole year's charge becomes immediatley due - that's why the liability order covers the period up to 31/03/12. If your circumstances did change and you actually did move for example, the charge would be recalculated and had you already paid the full year, you'd get a refund. The Council may have used employer details previously supplied but the summons and notice of liability order still make 2 letters they must have issued prior to the attachment - they would be able to tell you when each was sent and supply copies even if you aren't convinced they did. Unfortunately, not noticing that the DD you thought you had wasn't being claimed has cost you here, and I think that as you say, you're stuck with this until it's paid off now.

Treeen

Thank you for explaining it Red_Dog_Sam .. Makes sense now.
Also.. after reading the paperwork again tonight.. the second liability order was made in June for this years amount. So yeah, it would have been around the time I made the payments and requested they set up the DD.. so again... it makes more sense now.

Still wish they'd contacted us before going down this route though.

Thanks again.

Treen

Treeen

Just to add.. I had no real idea what a liability order was.. I thought it was just a reminder. doh!!