Weird terminology on JSA review form

tahrey

sammyjammy wrote: »

Afraid of Kittens is I think referring to your comment that your funds have depleted from the figure they are quoting. If you have never updated them on your capital funds then they will not know they have depleted, hence the letter.

That seems rather obvious though. Like, that's the main reason you'd send such a letter. Whilst it might actually be the case I can't help feeling there's some other meaning there. But, eh, nevermind.

tahrey

Bloody hell, that reduction regulations document (the PDF behind the first link) is a piece of work, isn't it? Even disregarding the hopeless formatting, it's never going to win the GEM Plain English award. 200+ pages of impenetrable legalese with no more than the sketchiest attempt at organising it into some kind of logical structure. I've skimmed through the whole thing and got little more than glazed eyes for the trouble... possibly the most useful thing is a suggestion that there might be an online application form. It doesn't even clearly suggest whether the allowed income is weekly, fortnightly or monthly... (I expect the former, but...)

The other page is somewhat clearer, though I'm still a little confused. Is that (additional?) allowance just for clearing unpaid tax arrears, or further reducing future payments if they're not completely wiped out? I expect refunds for past payments are unlikely...?

tahrey

...and now I go back to the Council website and try picking through the pages for reduction application forms, and I can't see anything for someone on JSA. Just a load of things for disability, war widows etc...

hang on...
*phone call comes in*
* happens to be someone who I've talked about this with before, mention where I'm at, they point to the live chat (which I'm reticent to waste time on because the operators of such things rarely know !!!! from elbow), but also to a bunch of less well highlighted and obvious plain text links that were off the bottom of my screen, in addition to the big obvious buttons up top*

...Council tax support, rather than reduction, is that more where I should look? The wording of the main page concerning it is tricky, seeming to suggest that it still only covers those other groups, but the two-page "Information Sheet" PDF lets slip that they are actually the "protected groups" that automatically get 100% off, and people who fall outside of them can still apply...? Maybe limited to 80%? That's still a good £72.80 a month so I certainly wouldn't moan much about the remaining £18.20 (though, of course, still see if it could be topped up ).

There's a potential I may end up assessed as technically disabled (long story) and thus qualifying for ESA and the full reduction, but that's something I never previously looked into as I figured I wasn't in a group falling under those regs / class of benefit (I do get help through a DEA at the job centre, but they've mainly been useful for cutting through red tape and making it easier to get on training schemes so far). Plus of course the current administration are notoriously disability, and particularly disabled-people-in-receipt-of-benefits unfriendly, so it looked rather like any attempt to seek it would be a dead end even so. It's only come up because my actual signing-on officer dropped it into conversation apropos of nothing when I was in there a few days ago organising travel permits. No idea actually what it would be, if it would mean extra cash in pocket, or qualification for any particular additional things, or indeed when I would get to know the outcome, so I'm not going to rely on it happening for the time being.

calcotti

Looking at the Birmingham City Council website I can understand your confusion. The regulations document refers to Council Tax Reduction (which is the national term for this benefit) but the application pages refer to Council Tax Support. They are the same thing.

You need to apply on this page https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20017/benefits_and_support/305/who_can_get_council_tax_support/1

It is a means tested benefit, anyone on a low income can qualify.
The specific cases mentioned on the page are particular claimant types who may get all of their Council tax covered by the CTR scheme. Everybody else will be required under Birmingham's rules to pay a minimum of 20% towards their Council Tax themselves. there is a summary sheet here https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/file/959/council_tax_support_information_sheet

tahrey

Thanks. In the meantime I actually found both of those, and have put an application in (sort of half-blind and not fully understanding what I was doing, just answering the questions in front of me), but those are still good points and links that need to be kept and highlighted for others

tahrey

Update: Got a letter through from the Council. Bit hard to make sense of, or determine exactly what it means for my future payments, but they have knocked a further £450 off my bill for the rest of the year (on top of about £300 single occupancy discount) which together with what's already been paid puts me slightly into credit with them. So September's bill has totally disappeared, and the others to come will at least be significantly reduced if not also missing (...they don't seem to have actually refunded me, but as the credit is twenty-something vs a monthly bill of £91, I'm not super bothered in the short term).

Top stuff, chaps. Many thanks

(as for the JSA, I sent it off just in time, got a letter a little over a week later saying they hadn't received my reply, sent a fresh photocopy of everything I'd kept... haven't heard anything since. So, who knows. Will have to give them a call tomorrow to see if they've at least received the new one...)