Hi all
I hope you can help! Been trying to deal with this for a while but not got very far.
My other half and I have recently been summonsed to Leicester magistrates Court for non-payment. We have been emailing the council and they have been replying, but rather robotically. We were receiving full council tax benefit under self employment as my other half is self employed but is disabled due to his Army service and his work suffers. So much so that he rarely breaks even and mostly loses investment money. He continues because its better than giving in to his disabilty and doing nothing, and better than signing onto soul destroying job centre plus for unemployment - in any case his disability makes him unable to keep some appointments, for part of his disability problems he has been described as having a low immune system so he is constantly unwell. I was made redundant and since having 2 children found it hard to get another job and so stay at home with the kids and so Im not registered as anything!
He was asked to fill in self employment form by the council which he did and gave in to their offices. In return he was sent a Bill informing him that we had been awarded full CT benefit (it was the same the previous year and our circumstances had not changed for the better, in fact cashflow got worse). However, we recently recieved a Summons for non payment. On emailing the Council we have been told that a few weeks after our full CTB Bill they had sent another Bill which informed us that we had to pay around 65 – 70 percent of the Bill. I have not seen this Bill nor any other follow up demands they now say they sent. the last we knew of was the Bill detailing full CTB.
I had been hoping that they would see sense and reinstate the Bill we did get, but they simply say that we need to pay the ‘outstanding’ amount. they cannot even tell me why we seem to have been awarded a partial discount as only 65-70 percent is being demanded.
We go to court in a next week and my husbands health isnt great so I am concerned about him being able to go to defend us (as I say his erratic illness makes it hard to keep any appointments and sometimes he can fall asleep for many hours at a time and cannot be roused - several times in excess of 24 hours). I am suffering with my pregnancy and have already been to Hospital twice with hyperemesis (dehydration and vomiting) and i am spending most of my time at the moment gagging and trying to sip water. We do not have any disposable to pay anything to them, as we have already been awarded full ctb, in theory we should not owe anything anyway. Also, despite us telling the Council several times in the past that my surname is now my husbands name, they have used my maiden name on the summons. (someone has mentioned to me that the summons is not issued by the court, instead is printed off by the Council and is therefore invaild - is that right?) They have also used my maiden name on the most recent Bill and on the new Bill for next year. (which is a full bill and on the back says that reduction support should now be applied for but in the meantime we have to pay as billed, which could push us into very severe financial troubles.)
I hope you can help
Thanks for reading
I hope you can help! Been trying to deal with this for a while but not got very far.
My other half and I have recently been summonsed to Leicester magistrates Court for non-payment. We have been emailing the council and they have been replying, but rather robotically. We were receiving full council tax benefit under self employment as my other half is self employed but is disabled due to his Army service and his work suffers. So much so that he rarely breaks even and mostly loses investment money. He continues because its better than giving in to his disabilty and doing nothing, and better than signing onto soul destroying job centre plus for unemployment - in any case his disability makes him unable to keep some appointments, for part of his disability problems he has been described as having a low immune system so he is constantly unwell. I was made redundant and since having 2 children found it hard to get another job and so stay at home with the kids and so Im not registered as anything!
He was asked to fill in self employment form by the council which he did and gave in to their offices. In return he was sent a Bill informing him that we had been awarded full CT benefit (it was the same the previous year and our circumstances had not changed for the better, in fact cashflow got worse). However, we recently recieved a Summons for non payment. On emailing the Council we have been told that a few weeks after our full CTB Bill they had sent another Bill which informed us that we had to pay around 65 – 70 percent of the Bill. I have not seen this Bill nor any other follow up demands they now say they sent. the last we knew of was the Bill detailing full CTB.
I had been hoping that they would see sense and reinstate the Bill we did get, but they simply say that we need to pay the ‘outstanding’ amount. they cannot even tell me why we seem to have been awarded a partial discount as only 65-70 percent is being demanded.
We go to court in a next week and my husbands health isnt great so I am concerned about him being able to go to defend us (as I say his erratic illness makes it hard to keep any appointments and sometimes he can fall asleep for many hours at a time and cannot be roused - several times in excess of 24 hours). I am suffering with my pregnancy and have already been to Hospital twice with hyperemesis (dehydration and vomiting) and i am spending most of my time at the moment gagging and trying to sip water. We do not have any disposable to pay anything to them, as we have already been awarded full ctb, in theory we should not owe anything anyway. Also, despite us telling the Council several times in the past that my surname is now my husbands name, they have used my maiden name on the summons. (someone has mentioned to me that the summons is not issued by the court, instead is printed off by the Council and is therefore invaild - is that right?) They have also used my maiden name on the most recent Bill and on the new Bill for next year. (which is a full bill and on the back says that reduction support should now be applied for but in the meantime we have to pay as billed, which could push us into very severe financial troubles.)
I hope you can help
Thanks for reading
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