Help need advice

vm1468

 I have just been hit with a repayment of outstanding council tax (£3.5K) from around 20 years ago from my employer! Only worked for them the last 7 years and this is it just coming out now despite pre employment checks being carried out when I was starting and nothing flagged then.  I can set up a payment plan via my salary - they won’t accept anything else but that ties me with the LA for at least 6 years - I am bottom of the LA food chain when it comes to wages and to be honest I’ve been job searching for the last few months so definitely do not want to be stuck.  If I was to leave they’d deduct my last salary payment to cover what was outstanding and I definitely could not afford receiving a wage for one month.

Ideally I’d like this debt to be paid ASAP but my only way of paying it now is via credit card/money transfer - I am already struggling with debt and it’s looking more and more likely I will be sending accounts to default in the next couple of months.  If I paid this debt off with a credit card would I get in trouble if it was them to default soon after? 

fatbelly

That does not sound like a great strategy tbh

If I understand correctly, a Local Authority is seeking to recover a 3.5k council Tax debt by attachment of earnings

This is taken at a percentage rate that is set by law, and varies according to what you earn in any given month, as follows, by weekly or monthly deduction

https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20001/council_tax_and_benefits/684/attachment_of_earnings_orders_aoes

Bear in mind that AI gives incorrect info on this, at least it did for me just now

It sounds like you are in serious debt and need an overall strategy. I would trust National Debtline, possibly CAB, possibly Stepchange, to give impartial and free advice on this.

And/or you could give us a Statement of Affairs and see what we think

https://lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

itsthelittlethings

You do need to take council tax debt serious - I believe it is a priority debt and the consequences of non-payment can be serious.

itsthelittlethings

Could you do an SOA for all debt so people can better advise?

If you are paying other debt - stop and start paying this debt. Nothing can happen if you default on other debt whereas you can go to prison for non-payment of council
tax.

fatbelly

It's counted as priority debt because in England you can be jailed for nonpayment. This is not the case in Scotland, Wales or (I think) Northern Ireland

Having said that, few people are ever jailed as they fail to meet the test of wilful refusal and culpable neglect

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/43/section/82

There is also the widespread use of non-court bailiffs to consider

On the face of it, moving such debt to nonpriority credit card debt might seem sensible but if you are already in a lot of debt, well, rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic comes to mind

elsien

Do you acknowledge that you do owe the money, or is it in dispute? 

Have you checked whether it is now statute barred?
I am unclear why you think that coming to a payment arrangement ties you to the local authority because they can apply for an attachment of earnings order  wherever you work.

ManyWays

Did the council obtain a Liability Order? If they did then this debt can never become statute barred.
If they didnt, then time has run out and this debt is statute barred, the fact that you work for them is irrelevant.
if you don't know, ask them to produce evidence of the Liability Order.

Assuming they did obtain a liability order. Do you agree you did owe the debt? Do you remember anything about this?

Are you buying or renting? How large are your other debts? Really you want a debt solution that covers all of them. Thats why seeing a Statement of Affairs will really help, see https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php

I agree with @elsien that there is nothing to stop you moving to a different employer. 

If I paid this debt off with a credit card would I get in trouble if it was them to default soon after? 
Legally that is fraud, taking out a debt with no intention of repaying it. Fraud prosecutions are vanishingly rare though.

fatbelly

Councils always get Liability Orders promptly. The is a six-year period in the Local Government Finance Act, analogous to the Limitation Act, but I have never seen it come into play

GlennTheBaker

vm1468 said:

 I have just been hit with a repayment of outstanding council tax (£3.5K) from around 20 years ago from my employer! Only worked for them the last 7 years and this is it just coming out now despite pre employment checks being carried out when I was starting and nothing flagged then.  I can set up a payment plan via my salary - they won’t accept anything else but that ties me with the LA for at least 6 years - I am bottom of the LA food chain when it comes to wages and to be honest I’ve been job searching for the last few months so definitely do not want to be stuck.  If I was to leave they’d deduct my last salary payment to cover what was outstanding and I definitely could not afford receiving a wage for one month.

Ideally I’d like this debt to be paid ASAP but my only way of paying it now is via credit card/money transfer - I am already struggling with debt and it’s looking more and more likely I will be sending accounts to default in the next couple of months.  If I paid this debt off with a credit card would I get in trouble if it was them to default soon after? 

Has the council ordered your employer to deduct money from your salary to be paid directly to the council? Have you and/or your employer seen evidence of a valid court order authorising such deductions?