Debt Problems/ Enforcement officer - ESA question.

JenP85

Hey!
I've been advised to come on here and ask if anybody else had, had similar problems.
My best friend has found herself in a spot of bother and I really want to help her out of it. I'm sorry for the long drawn out post I just want people to know the full situation.
She suffers from severe depression, anxiety disorder and agoraphobia due to a reason i'd rather not go into on here, sorry and has done for around 3 years. While she is not as bad as once was, she still find it impossible to leave the house or communicate, at all, with anybody that is outside of the house (Phone and even E-mail). It was so bad she was unable to visit her father who was dying and it broke her heart she was also unable to attend the funeral.

She currently claims Contribution-based ESA but, due to her being unable to leave the house or communicate on the phone it's being looked at swapping me to Income based ESA.

Now, i am not going to make excuses for her she does bury her head in the sand when it comes to big proble,s and I think most of us would agree we do to so please don't judge her. From losing her nursing job to claiming ESA there was a gap where she was unable to claim any benefits what so ever due to her not being able to attend assessments, even with a doctors note saying she was unable to attend. During this period she was unable to pay rent and left her old council house owing £1100 in rent. She moved into my spare room and shares the house with myself and daughter.

Anyway, over the past few months she's been receiving letters (I didn't know at the time) from the council (Equita LTD) and hiding it from everybody stupidly (or not so) hoping they'd go away. Sadly this morning she received a letter from an enforcement officer saying they'd come around to the house in the next 7 days to remove property to help pay her debt.
I walked in from work with her sat on the sofa, sobbing her heart out and literally pulling her hair out and in the middle of a panic attack. I've only ever seen her have a handful of these and mostly when it's related to leaving the house or making phone calls. She explained what was going on and i called up the enforcement officer. While he was very helpful he was unable to talk to me at all about the case and could only talk to her. I explained the situation and he kept repeating he couldn't really talk to me without her giving permission. As you may be able to tell above from her situation she wasn't in any fit state to talk on the phone.

I am now at a loss on what to do for her. She is honestly one of the most caring people I have ever met and doesn't deserve to be like this. She was a fully trained nurse which fit her cheerful disposition down to a T. She wants to pay back any money she owns but she's rather stuck on where to go next and so am I.

I've looked around online and found some great hints (Your rights etc) but none of them cover her current problem.
Has ANYBODY been in this type of situation? From what i've read and understand if somebody is claiming benefits and have a mental health problem then they shouldn't be sending out these letters and they should be seen as a 'vulnerably;e' person. I've also seen that rather than sending out enforcement officers they should be removing a minimal charge (£4?) from each week of the persons ESA claim. Is this correct??

ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you very much - Jen.

P.s I also called a free debt help line who pretty much said the same thing "We're unable to deal with you, only your friend" Etc.

StopIt

The only way you can help is with express permission to do so. This is crucial because without that, you cannot legally do a thing.


After that, you need to get the council to take back the debt, and yes, state that as they're on ESA and in a vulnerable state, that they should apply for a deduction from their ESA payment, so long as the person agrees to this.


If she is on ESA and has severe mental issues, can she not get help from a mental heath case worker after referral from a GP? They CAN deal with these things as part of their role.

JenP85

Hello, i'm so sorry for the late reply. I couldn't rememeber my log in details until now. That'll teach me not to write down the password.
First off thank you very much for your reply.

I've now got a letter, signed by my friend which states she gives me full permission to deal with the council and Equita on her behalf. However, Equita have said that once they receive the letter it may take 5-7 days for them to process which of course will be too late. The person I spoke to on the phone also said they may still want to deal with her directly. It doesn't really help that I have high functioning asperger's syndrome which makes phone calls extremely difficult for myself and so they manage to run rings around me when I call.
I have even attempted to call the enforcement Officer directly via his mobile phone number that was on the letter to no avail. Each time I call, no matter at what time during the office hours it goes straight to voice mail. After leaving five i've decided to give up on that route.


On Friday afternoon I spent 2 hours calling different departments of the Birmingham City council and every single department kept passing me from pillar to post. I've now e-mailed them explaining the situation hoping they can give me a direct number.

I then went to the Citizens advice bureau who was somewhat helpful he didn't quite understand how bad my friend actually is and kept saying "Well, SHE needs to do something, not you.". Even explaining that last year she was on the suicide watch list, has half a head of hair (As she pulls it out uncontrollably during panic attacks and episodes) his replies were the same.

I am currently in contact with Stepchange who are being extremely helpful but are currently processing the scanned letter saying my friend gives me full permission to deal with this on her behalf.

She currently doesn't have a health worker and we have phoned the doctors on Friday morning to get her a phone appointment (as she can't leave the house, especially now) to see if he could write a letter. The receptionist told us that 1: There are no appointments until Monday but we would have to phone on the morning and get one but it's not guaranteed we'd get one and may have to try again on Tuesday morning and 2: The waiting list for a health case worker is 2-4 weeks.

Just out of interest. If somebody doesn't have a fixed address, no car, house etc and they're only claiming ESA can the enforcement officers still demand a huge lump sum (50%) + large Weekly payments? If so I am worried because she currently has £200 savings (Which she was saving for private telephone therapy) and after bills (Giving the place shes staying money for electric, water etc) and food approximately £50-£60

ANY help that can be given would be extremely appreciated by myself and my friend. Thank you.

sourcrates

JenP85 wrote: »

Just out of interest. If somebody doesn't have a fixed address, no car, house etc and they're only claiming ESA can the enforcement officers still demand a huge lump sum (50%) + large Weekly payments?

Just because these guys make demands, it does not mean you have to listen to them.

You can stop bailiffs immediately, in there tracks, simply by not opening the door to them, it really is that simple, if they have not been asked in before, they cannot force entry, just keep the doors locked, and refuse to deal with them, inform them by way of a notice either pinned to the door, or posted through the letterbox, that you will deal with them in writing only, and not at the door.

They can threaten all-sorts, but cant do a thing, there and then, unless you open the door, so keeping them out will buy you the time you need.

fatbelly

Equita are mostly useless but not entirely so.

Email them some medical evidence of your friend's condition

info@equita.co.uk

There's a similar thread about problems with Equita here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5607978



and ask them to return the matter to the council