Help! UC Stopped, Council Now Want The Whole Years Council Tax

Genex

My universal credits just got stopped/closed and now the council have sent me a bill for a years council tax from April 22, they have divided it up to the remaining months at £350 per month. How? Why? I expected to have to start paying monthly but why do I have to pay for the past 7 months when I wasn't eligible to pay and why have they hit me with such a big bill? Surely this can't be right?

I can't afford food let alone heating, my mortgage has gone up this month, where do they expect me to find an extra £350 a month!?!? when I can't even afford to eat?

I have no idea what to do

Muttleythefrog

For people to advise I think you need to detail what happened with the U/C claim... when have you claimed from... why has it been stopped etc

Genex

I've claimed all year, I work freelance and report my income each month, this month they said I earnt "too much", I earnt £800 and put my yearly from April to £8k so I assume this is some kind of cap? They closed my UC with the reason "you earnt too much". 

I can understand having to pay more council tax now it's stopped. But to bill me for the whole time I was on UC AND expect it all by March is just ridiculous

huckster

If you attended a Job Centre Gateway Intervention appointment to verify your self-employment under UC, then the UC claim should not have been closed.  Suggest making a reclaim straightaway (using make a claim option on your account) and send a journal message to challenge the closing of the claim.

In regard to Council Tax, you should contact the Council and complete a new Council Tax reduction form, providing a full run down of your earnings.  Register a formal dispute with the Council and advise them the amounts they are asking for, would cause you severe hardship.

calcotti

Genex said:"… I earnt £800 and put my yearly from April to £8k so I assume this is some kind of cap? They closed my UC with the reason "you earnt too much". 

There is no cap. UC is calculated monthly. I don’t understand what you mean by ‘put my yearly from April to £8k’.

The CT demand for the full year may of course simply be an error. The starting pint is to raise it with them. You would expect to owe the remaining 6 months of the year (assuming you have been paying the amounts previously requested).

Spoonie_Turtle

Are you able to post a screenshot of your last statement (with any identifiable details redacted, of course)?

Even if you'd rather not, it's best to have a copy of it for your records - if a mistake was made, it will be overwritten when they do a recalculation to correct it.  [It may also disappear if you reclaim, I'm not entirely sure on that, or if that's only after 6 months.]

tifo

This happens. When  we showed employment last year our council tax went up from £77 a month with support to £215 a month without support. Been paying it like this for more than a year. Problem is they (UC, council, dwp etc) don't look at cost of living, everything has gone up this year, inc mortgages, and some people's wages have but benefits haven't increased.

NedS

tifo said:

This happens. When  we showed employment last year our council tax went up from £77 a month with support to £215 a month without support. Been paying it like this for more than a year. Problem is they (UC, council, dwp etc) don't look at cost of living, everything has gone up this year, inc mortgages, and some people's wages have but benefits haven't increased.

That is not true - benefits increased by 3.1% in April 2022 in line with inflation.

Muttleythefrog

NedS said:

tifo said:

This happens. When  we showed employment last year our council tax went up from £77 a month with support to £215 a month without support. Been paying it like this for more than a year. Problem is they (UC, council, dwp etc) don't look at cost of living, everything has gone up this year, inc mortgages, and some people's wages have but benefits haven't increased.

That is not true - benefits increased by 3.1% in April 2022 in line with inflation.

yes with several months delay by which time inflation was about 9% so in reality benefits were cut.. yet again... as even my Tory MP raises.

NedS

Muttleythefrog said:

NedS said:

tifo said:

This happens. When  we showed employment last year our council tax went up from £77 a month with support to £215 a month without support. Been paying it like this for more than a year. Problem is they (UC, council, dwp etc) don't look at cost of living, everything has gone up this year, inc mortgages, and some people's wages have but benefits haven't increased.

That is not true - benefits increased by 3.1% in April 2022 in line with inflation.

yes with several months delay by which time inflation was about 9% so in reality benefits were cut.. yet again... as even my Tory MP raises.

That is just the way the system works as there is a 6 month lag between Sept inflation reading and an increase the following April - it's the same for many pensions and CS/public sector pay rises (including MPs pay rises).

Muttleythefrog

NedS said:

Muttleythefrog said:

NedS said:

tifo said:

This happens. When  we showed employment last year our council tax went up from £77 a month with support to £215 a month without support. Been paying it like this for more than a year. Problem is they (UC, council, dwp etc) don't look at cost of living, everything has gone up this year, inc mortgages, and some people's wages have but benefits haven't increased.

That is not true - benefits increased by 3.1% in April 2022 in line with inflation.

yes with several months delay by which time inflation was about 9% so in reality benefits were cut.. yet again... as even my Tory MP raises.

That is just the way the system works as there is a 6 month lag between Sept inflation reading and an increase the following April - it's the same for many pensions and CS/public sector pay rises (including MPs pay rises).

That's how they set it out to work yes....a very poor system.... but it's still a real terms cut.