Paying 20% Council Tax despite being on disability benefits

DisabledMother4

Hi,
I am a severely disabled mother with 2 children at home and I was told that the ESA amount is equivalent to the old Income Support that I was claiming. Recently they sent me a benefit letter saying my ESA was going up by 70p to around £146.00 a week and that was the amount that the government says I need to live on then I received a Council Tax bill saying I had to pay 20% of the bill regardless of being on benefits.
Is this right? Can the government give me a letter saying this is what you need to live on in 2013 and no C.Tax to pay but the following year 2014 your benefit goes up by 70p a week & you have to pay £12.50 a week Council Tax?
Can someone offer me some advice on what to do, as I already have a gas bill debt of £440, an electricity bill debt of £49, a water bill debt of £83 and £2000 of other debts, so affording the council tax will mean I can't pay my other bills?

Many thanks in advance

Indie_Kid

The rules have changed for council tax now. In most areas, everyone of working age has to contribute towards their council tax. Have you talked to your council about this?

Regarding gas and electricity - have you checked your supplier's website to see if you may be entitled to a discount due to disability?

pmlindyloo

DisabledMother4 wrote: »

Hi,
I am a severely disabled mother with 2 children at home and I was told that the ESA amount is equivalent to the old Income Support that I was claiming. Recently they sent me a benefit letter saying my ESA was going up by 70p to around £146.00 a week and that was the amount that the government says I need to live on then I received a Council Tax bill saying I had to pay 20% of the bill regardless of being on benefits.
Is this right? Can the government give me a letter saying this is what you need to live on in 2013 and no C.Tax to pay but the following year 2014 your benefit goes up by 70p a week & you have to pay £12.50 a week Council Tax?
Can someone offer me some advice on what to do, as I already have a gas bill debt of £440, an electricity bill debt of £49, a water bill debt of £83 and £2000 of other debts, so affording the council tax will mean I can't pay my other bills?

Many thanks in advance

As already said council now fix their own rates of how much people have to pay.

Are you receiving all the benefits that you are entitled to? DLA for example?

As regards your debts there is a lot of help for people who have debts with utility companies so your first port of call should be CAB (or similar) so that they can check your benefit entitlements and help you with your debts.

Indie_Kid

Have you checked whether you're entitled to any council tax discount? You can get a 25% discount if you live alone and there's also a discount if your house has been adapted.

specialboy

You are fairly lucky really, some people have to pay out of their JSA of only £71. Echo the poster who mentioned the 25% single persons discount and the discount for adapted properties.

Boomfloom

When it comes to energy debts, many companies have energy trusts (eg http://www.edfenergytrust.org.uk). They could help you out.

Soon, you will be able to apply for the warm home discount scheme. Not all suppliers offer it and there are strict eligibility criteria but it's well worth a check: https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/eligibility. It's £135 a year that goes directly to your energy account.

As others have said, make sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to: http://www.entitledto.co.uk.

The benefit changes are ridiculous and contradictory, indeed. So is the warm home discount for that matter - it basically mitigates last year's price rises. And the past two benefit increases have been laughable.

rogerblack

specialboy wrote: »

You are fairly lucky really, some people have to pay out of their JSA of only £71. Echo the poster who mentioned the 25% single persons discount and the discount for adapted properties.

It's not very hard to get to a point that you're having to spend more due to your disability than the difference between JSA and ESA.
Simple inexpensive things that aren't a problem for someone on JSA can be insurmountable obstacles.

tomtontom

rogerblack wrote: »

It's not very hard to get to a point that you're having to spend more due to your disability than the difference between JSA and ESA.
Simple inexpensive things that aren't a problem for someone on JSA can be insurmountable obstacles.

The OP will also have full CTC and CB, so nearly four times that of a single JSA claimant. Plus let's not forget that those on JSA may also have disability related costs, but due to not meeting certain criteria will qualify for no additional payments.

It sounds like the OP has budgeting problems, and so should post on the Debt free Wannabe board.

Indie_Kid

tomtontom wrote: »

The OP will also have full CTC and CB, so nearly four times that of a single JSA claimant. Plus let's not forget that those on JSA may also have disability related costs, but due to not meeting certain criteria will qualify for no additional payments.

It sounds like the OP has budgeting problems, and so should post on the Debt free Wannabe board.

But CTC and CB are for the children. Not money intended for the OP to spend on themselves. JSA is intended to be short term. Those on ESA tend to have long term medical conditions, which means they can't work.

kingfisherblue

I thought that the new rules (ie, that everyone pays something towards council tax) came in last April? I'm a carer for my disabled son, claiming income support, and I have had to pay since April 2013. I believe that this is because there central government no longer paid as much to local councils, but I am happy to be corrected if wrong.

Indie_Kid

kingfisherblue wrote: »

I thought that the new rules (ie, that everyone pays something towards council tax) came in last April? I'm a carer for my disabled son, claiming income support, and I have had to pay since April 2013. I believe that this is because there central government no longer paid as much to local councils, but I am happy to be corrected if wrong.

This is correct. But it only applies to people of working age.