MSE News: Charity warns of 'bailiff boom' after council tax benefit cuts

Former_MSE_Helen

"Citizens Advice says the number worried about paying council tax has 'rocketed' since Government reforms were introduced..."

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Charity warns of 'bailiff boom' after council tax benefit cuts



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Wywth

As one door closes another opens ...

A "bailiff boom" should provide more gainfull employment opportunities to those affected by benefit cuts

Igotothefootofourstairs

Roll on... it's only a matter of time before one of these thugs is brutally murdered collecting a debt.

soolin

Igotothefootofourstairs wrote: »

Roll on... it's only a matter of time before one of these thugs is brutally murdered collecting a debt.

What a shocking thought. However, it seems rather unpleasant to suggest that those people unlucky enough to have fallen into debt are also killers and thugs!

Is this the new backlash, all people unable to manage their finances are now criminals and evil and likely to commit murder? Isee them more as people who need debt help and not as monsters.

CIS

it's only a matter of time before one of these thugs is brutally murdered collecting a debt.

I've dealt with a few phone calls over the years about bailiffs being attacked or threatened and their not pleasant calls.

Igotothefootofourstairs

They're most unpleasant thugs and it does appear the press suppresses the stories. Although I do recall the case of Albert Dryden a few years back.

It's bit like traffic wardens... a lot are beaten up quite badly but it stays out of the papers and news reports. I wonder why this is?

soolin

Igotothefootofourstairs wrote: »

They're most unpleasant thugs and it does appear the press suppresses the stories. Although I do recall the case of Albert Dryden a few years back.

It's bit like traffic wardens... a lot are beaten up quite badly but it stays out of the papers and news reports. I wonder why this is?

Generally people being beaten up is not mainstream news- but I still hope the nasty little thugs doing it get caught and put away. I would also like them named and shamed in the press so that people know these nasty little people should be avoided when they are released as they are not people to associate with

Why should anyone work in fear, what next- beat up a nurse for refusing you drugs, or how about the bloke in the post office who wants some iD before he cashes your cheque?

I fear the fact you have posted this and do not appear to condemn violence shows what a truly terrible state we are in at the moment.

I despair and just hope that your view on the sort of person who gets into debt is wrong. Maybe my world is simplistic, but I still do not believe that someone in debt is by their very nature a thug.

stoneman

Igotothefootofourstairs wrote: »

Roll on... it's only a matter of time before one of these thugs is brutally murdered collecting a debt.

Bailiffs appointed by councils and the courts are accredited and do not go around acting like "thugs". More some of the people they are collecting from are the ones to watch out for.

*Rant on*
People should be more mindful of their finances.
Paying for the services you receive should be ahead of the Sky, internet, mobile phone, fags and booze and drugs. If you are indeed in need of financial help then you will be helped.

I for a period of time had to attend the job centre to sign for JSA. The same people that are there to help you are the ones that have to sit behind reinforced screens and have security stationed in the building for fear that someone won't like his/her routine being disrupted when they are asked to randomly come in to attend on a day or time that they are used to, because in some cases it would interfere with their secret work.

I was once on Working Tax Credit and asked the council about Council Tax benefit. I can tell you that Nottingham City Council have teams of people looking into the secret finances that people have. Being self-employed I was made to produce the last 6 months bank statements for both me and my wife and any other accounts or share accounts we had. I was asked to account for each deposit that was made into it.

One adviser told me that every day they catch people that are claiming or trying to claim that have been caught out secretly working, or making more than they claim. The councils are just being extra careful now, helping to save OUR MONEY.
*Rant over*

CIS

Although I do recall the case of Albert Dryden a few years back.

A thoroughly unpleasant man who actively threatened local people (with guns) for years before he finally killed the council officer (and wounded the police officer and reporter) and was jailed.

redmalc

There would be no need for Bailiffs if people got their priorities right,that is in most cases,Sky Tv,Booze,fags and the latest mobile phones are not essentials,well they were not in my mothers days when things were difficult,to many do gooders and companies making it easy for people to get things they cannot afford,get real

CIS

I've got to say though , that in my local authority, there will be very few, if any, of the cases affected by the benefit change going to a bailiff - the ones sent to the bailiff will only be those with large, long term arrears.

Many local authorities will not use a bailiff as a matter of course anyway against people with less than a £100.00 or so outstanding so that in itself rules out he vast majority of cases affected.