I'm on ESA benefit, what is a reasonable offer to pay off these council tax arrears?

Marcia_1

I've just been informed I have £309 council tax outstanding, which is from last year together with this years. I didn't know until the other day. I thought my council were taking payments directly from my benefits because they were doing for a long time. For some reason they stopped doing that probably because my bill was paid off. But then they didn't start the payments again. As a result, I just found out I have £622 in total outstanding including amounts from previous years. The summons I received only refers to the £309, it doesn't mention the £622. I only just learned that it's £622 in total from setting up an online account with the council. I'm in receipt of ESA (Support Group) benefit. I can't work due to disability. It was decided in 2004 that I was unable to work. It's an incurable condition that isn't going to change. I receive £245 per fortnight ESA, so £122.50 per week. I don't have any other source of income. What is a reasonable amount for me to offer to pay off the arrears? When they were taking money directly from my benefit before it was £15 per month. When I tried setting up an offer on their website just now, it automatically fills in 30% before you get to the part about benefits and income. So I stopped doing it. Thank you.

itsthelittlethings

You’d be better off asking this question on the benefits board. I’m afraid I don’t know how to request a move.

Are you getting help with your council tax?

p00hsticks

itsthelittlethings said:

You’d be better off asking this question on the benefits board. I’m afraid I don’t know how to request a move.

I've requested the move - for future reference, you do it as follows;

• Click on the red flagged 'report' option at the bottom of the post
• Select 'report' rather than 'spam',
• Choose radio button 'request post to be moved, merged or split' (the last option) on the reason list
• Put a note in to say where you think the post should be moved to
• Send the report. 

Note that you'll get an automatically generated e-mail acknowledgement to  the report request which you can ignore.

MSE_ForumTeam5

Moved as suggested 

HillStreetBlues

Marcia_1 said:

I've just been informed I have £309 council tax outstanding, which is from last year together with this years. I didn't know until the other day. I thought my council were taking payments directly from my benefits because they were doing for a long time. For some reason they stopped doing that probably because my bill was paid off. But then they didn't start the payments again. As a result, I just found out I have £622 in total outstanding including amounts from previous years. The summons I received only refers to the £309, it doesn't mention the £622. I only just learned that it's £622 in total from setting up an online account with the council. I'm in receipt of ESA (Support Group) benefit. I can't work due to disability. It was decided in 2004 that I was unable to work. It's an incurable condition that isn't going to change. I receive £245 per fortnight ESA, so £122.50 per week. I don't have any other source of income. What is a reasonable amount for me to offer to pay off the arrears? When they were taking money directly from my benefit before it was £15 per month. When I tried setting up an offer on their website just now, it automatically fills in 30% before you get to the part about benefits and income. So I stopped doing it. Thank you.

How much do you have to pay towards your current CT per week?  How much can you realistically afford? 

Have you tried a benefit check to see if you're entitled to anything more? Have you checked PIP?

fatbelly

If you really can't afford this try a s13a

https://debtcamel.co.uk/section-13a-council-tax-write-off/

Alice_Holt

Are you in receipt of Council Tax reduction?

Are you receiving PIP ?
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/
As you have a chronic disability you may well qualify.

Is the ESA income-related?    I'm assuming it is.

£15 pm seems reasonable.  
I'd contact your council with this proposal, and an income / expenditure statement supporting this number.
If the website isn't working for you, then do this by letter. Keep a copy, document all contact with the council, and I'd suggest copying in your local ward councillor. (To guard against admin errors / foul ups by the LA).
I'd do this asap, as you don't want the council charging you additional costs such as bailiff fees, etc. 

If you need help with this process try your local advice charity.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-urgent-debts/dealing-with-council-tax-arrears/

Edit:    A PIP award may give you 100% CT reduction.

Marcia_1

thank you everyone! in answer to the above, i do get CT benefit and single person benefit which brings each bill down from like £1400 to just over £100. i don't object to paying the £8pm. if i'd known, i would have been paying it. i thought it was still getting paid straight from the DWP because it was for a long time. i'll look into the PIP application process. yes, my ESA is income related. before my disability was diagnosed, i used to do the income / expenditure things for the debt recovery part of a high street bank, so i'm very familiar with those. i apologise for putting this in the wrong part of the forum. i didn't know which one it should go in. when i started making the post, it kind of suggested this one & didn't give me a choice. but i'm sure there was a way to override it. i didn't know what it was. (my 2nd ever post). again, thank you. very grateful to y'all. 

Alice_Holt

Marcia_1 said:

thank you everyone! in answer to the above, i do get CT benefit and single person benefit which brings each bill down from like £1400 to just over £100. i don't object to paying the £8pm. if i'd known, i would have been paying it. i thought it was still getting paid straight from the DWP because it was for a long time. i'll look into the PIP application process. yes, my ESA is income related. before my disability was diagnosed, i used to do the income / expenditure things for the debt recovery part of a high street bank, so i'm very familiar with those. i apologise for putting this in the wrong part of the forum. i didn't know which one it should go in. when i started making the post, it kind of suggested this one & didn't give me a choice. but i'm sure there was a way to override it. i didn't know what it was. (my 2nd ever post). again, thank you. very grateful to y'all. 

         Given your situation there is another advantage of a PIP application. If successful it could give you an extra disability premium on your ESA, this is c.£70 for the SDP:
 https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/disability-premiums-in-benefits

     UC doesn't have any such premiums, but if you are receiving this when you have to migrate to UC from ESA (managed migration) you will get some transitional protection for this extra amount. 

    I'd suggest you seek the help of your local advice charity to assess if you could be eligible for PIP, and if so - to help you complete the PIP2 form.  It's a points based scoring system (a bit like ESA) with a medical assessment.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/help-with-your-claim/fill-in-form-pip/


https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/help-with-your-claim/how-decisions-are-made/

https://www.advicenow.org.uk/know-hows/filling-pip-form-video-guide?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA5L2tBhBTEiwAdSxJX9VzF6IjQ4oeRzZjGqLUsMDc7a_b3hG_-1HLAVvwj0dASrsTEn4rkBoCrocQAvD_BwE