council tax benefit

sweet_tooth · 19 March 2013 at 12:55PM

does this mean when i start work i will only get a single person discount on my bill? because if your income was low you would be entitiled to some help when it was council tax benefit

jules6810 · 19 March 2013 at 1:51PM

well it seems this is right for me, I now have to find another £30 a month, I am seriously considering leaving my job and selling my car, my budget is tight already to find an extra £30 is going to be virtually impossible :-(

Hippymam · 19 March 2013 at 2:11PM

We received ours this morning. We are now expected to find an additional £100 A MONTH. The proposals put forward on our council's website stated people would lost approximately £2 a week, so about £10 a month, which is clearly not the case as we are losing 10 times that amount

Really don't know how we will afford it. Our council tax is high, but we can't afford to move and even if we moved to a smaller house the council tax would still be high (my friend lives in a cheaper band and her council tax is still £1,200 a year. At the moment we are seriously struggling as my husband was made redundant and had to take the only job available, part time on just over minimum wage. We are both looking for work, but there is nothing available. As things are at the moment, we can't afford to buy heating oil so we are wearing lots of layers, hot water bottles, blankets etc in an attempt to keep warm. We have a 17 month old son and the only room we can afford to heat is his bedroom. Paying an additional £100 a month council tax will mean we won't be able to eat either.

miamoo · 19 March 2013 at 3:28PM

Hippymam wrote: »

We received ours this morning. We are now expected to find an additional £100 A MONTH. The proposals put forward on our council's website stated people would lost approximately £2 a week, so about £10 a month, which is clearly not the case as we are losing 10 times that amount

Really don't know how we will afford it. Our council tax is high, but we can't afford to move and even if we moved to a smaller house the council tax would still be high (my friend lives in a cheaper band and her council tax is still £1,200 a year. At the moment we are seriously struggling as my husband was made redundant and had to take the only job available, part time on just over minimum wage. We are both looking for work, but there is nothing available. As things are at the moment, we can't afford to buy heating oil so we are wearing lots of layers, hot water bottles, blankets etc in an attempt to keep warm. We have a 17 month old son and the only room we can afford to heat is his bedroom. Paying an additional £100 a month council tax will mean we won't be able to eat either.

Do you have to pay your full council tax, or is £100 a month just a percentage?

Hippymam · 19 March 2013 at 4:45PM

Miamoo, we are having to pay 77% of our council tax bill from April, compared with 20% now. Our income has not changed in any way so the additional amount we have to find is a huge difference (both in monetary terms and as a % of our income)

DannyboyMidlands · 19 March 2013 at 4:57PM

This is a disgrace. Councils must cut spending to such a level that people can afford to pay.

I fail to see how it costs over a grand per month per household to collect the bins every other week.

bloolagoon · 19 March 2013 at 5:00PM

Hippymam wrote: »

We received ours this morning. We are now expected to find an additional £100 A MONTH. The proposals put forward on our council's website stated people would lost approximately £2 a week, so about £10 a month, which is clearly not the case as we are losing 10 times that amount

Really don't know how we will afford it. Our council tax is high, but we can't afford to move and even if we moved to a smaller house the council tax would still be high (my friend lives in a cheaper band and her council tax is still £1,200 a year. At the moment we are seriously struggling as my husband was made redundant and had to take the only job available, part time on just over minimum wage. We are both looking for work, but there is nothing available. As things are at the moment, we can't afford to buy heating oil so we are wearing lots of layers, hot water bottles, blankets etc in an attempt to keep warm. We have a 17 month old son and the only room we can afford to heat is his bedroom. Paying an additional £100 a month council tax will mean we won't be able to eat either.

I feel for you, it appears some councils have penalised low income earners to protect those who rely solely on benefits. That is a lot of money to find.

LunaLady · 19 March 2013 at 5:02PM

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

This is a disgrace. Councils must cut spending to such a level that people can afford to pay.

I fail to see how it costs over a grand per month per household to collect the bins every other week.

Do you think thats all councils do? :undecided