Council Tax energy rebate

mcmad1958

Hello,

Can someone please let me know whether the local authority can credit the £150 rebate with your Council Tax account without giving you a choice. They say it is because of Arrears on my account which i am appealing against.
Thank you

Archie_Duke

Can they credit to your Council Tax account without giving you a choice? Yes.

The only route for you to receive the government’s £150 energy rebate is via your council tax account.

pochase

What are you appealing against? The council tax arrears or that the £150 is being used to cover the arrears?

MWT

mcmad1958 said:

Hello,

Can someone please let me know whether the local authority can credit the £150 rebate with your Council Tax account without giving you a choice. They say it is because of Arrears on my account which i am appealing against.
Thank you

The answer is bit complicated.

If the Council already has your bank details they should have paid the rebate direct to your bank.

If they do not hold your details and you have not provided the details to them by a date which they are free to determine for themselves, they can apply the rebate against arrears.

Do you usually pay by DD?

mcmad1958

No i do not pay by direct debit.  I applied for the rebate and received my confirmation email that the grant has bee approved and that i should receive the grant within 3 weeks. Then i received another email stating that my council tax has been credted. We are still disputing these arrears.

Thsnks

MattMattMattUK

mcmad1958 said:

No i do not pay by direct debit.  I applied for the rebate and received my confirmation email that the grant has bee approved and that i should receive the grant within 3 weeks. Then i received another email stating that my council tax has been credted. We are still disputing these arrears.

Thsnks

On what basis are you disputing the arrears? Surely it should be clear what your council tax liability was and how much you had paid?

Mstty

I think in the case of arrears where there is no direct debit setup the council are within their rights to apply the £150 to the account and in this case that reduces the arrears due.

MWT

mcmad1958 said:

No i do not pay by direct debit.  I applied for the rebate and received my confirmation email that the grant has bee approved and that i should receive the grant within 3 weeks

Did your application include your bank details?

Mstty said:

I think in the case of arrears where there is no direct debit setup the council are within their rights to apply the £150 to the account and in this case that reduces the arrears due.

It is certainly a messy implementation, but as far as I can tell the intention was that the money should reach the claimants bank account irrespective of any arrears, but if the Council do not have bank details and can't get them within a reasonable time then they can apply the rebate to the council tax account and use it to offset arrears.