Council have left me with £10 for my family.

[chil]

Hi,
sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place.
Long story short, my wife had a part time job for three months which she has had to give up as it was affecting our children. We are in receipt of Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit as I am on a low wage. I have just handed all my details to the Council to re evaluate our claim as it went down when my wife was working ( no arguments there from us) but whilst she was working we got a letter saying that we have to pay three monthly instalments of £293.83 for council tax. I phoned them up and explained that there is no way we can afford to pay that amount each month and that as my wife is no longer working, our claim is being re assessed. I was told by the woman on the phone from the Council that the bill will be suspended until our claim is looked at so not to worry. The problem is that as of yesterday they have taken the £293.83 from the account and left us with just over £10 to do our food shopping and pay another bill. We both don't have any family that can help and now I don't know what to do, as it's the weekend I can't ring them until tomorrow but not sure if I am going to get any luck from them.
Any ideas are much appreciated.

[Amethyst]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

All you can do is contact them in the morning, or go in to your council contact centre, and cancel any direct debts to the council with your bank so they can not do this again. Always pay council tax by bank transfer, cash over the counter or standing order so that you have control.

It may have been set to go out before the person you spoke to put the hold on your account, s just explain what has happened and that it has left you with nothing. Do you get child benefit and child tax credit? When do they go in to your account?

[chil]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

All you can do is contact them in the morning, or go in to your council contact centre, and cancel any direct debts to the council with your bank so they can not do this again. Always pay council tax by bank transfer, cash over the counter or standing order so that you have control.

It may have been set to go out before the person you spoke to put the hold on your account, s just explain what has happened and that it has left you with nothing. Do you get child benefit and child tax credit? When do they go in to your account?

Thanks for the quick reply, the lady I spoke to said that it had been suspended so the amount wouldn't come out. Some of the amount taken out was all of our child benefit and our tax credits don't come until Wednesday. We can cobble together some frozen meals just to feed the kids until then and myself and my wife can go without if we have to, as long as the kids are fed that's our main concern.

[Amethyst]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Frustratingly you are stuck till the morning. See what they say first thing, if they cant refund you immediately, then you should ask them, or pop in a cab or the job centre, and get a referral for the food bank if there's one near you. I know ours is only here once a week as we're In a village so might not be much help. Is your gas and electric ok? ( if on a prepay meter ) Otherwise do you get on with your neighbours? I know it can be difficult asking for help, but I'm always helping out, and being helped out by my neighbours as they are in a similar boat to us.

How old are your children?

[chil]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Luckily (or unluckily in this case) all the bills have been paid and the money that was left was to get food shopping and some left over for petrol for me to get to work. Our children are 5 & 3 and so the eldest can have school dinners as they are free for everyone now.

[Amethyst]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

That's good At least you don't have to worry about the hot water, heating or lights going off, and the kids probably won't even notice xx

I know it is a big panic when your bank account is wiped out incorrectly, but really you can get by a couple days without money, have a polite and weepy ramble at the council tomorrow morning (rather than an angry rant ).

I am serious about the Direct Debit, pay your council tax by Standing Order instead. Then you have complete control over how much goes out and when.

[seduraed]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Can you you get to a charity and get a voucher for a food bank parcel to tide you over?

[chil]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Thanks for the replies, we will get by one way or another, I just wonder when/if we are likely to see any of the extra money taken by the council again?

[Debt Camel]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Did you have council tax arrears? I can't see why otherwise they would try to collect such a large amount from you.

Do you have other debts? If so, you need to prioritise repaying the CT arrears even if this means defaulting on unsecured consumer debt.

You will definitely get the money refunded by the council if your new Council Tax Support claim means you are now in credit for the rest of the year. I can't tell from what you have said if this is likely.

If you don't get an apology and some action from the council tomorrow, I suggest you (a) put in a formal complaint about their action on the council's website and (b) contact your local councillors and ask for their help.

(BTW It is a common myth that "they" (whether councils or banks) aren't allowed to take money from your account if it is benefits. If you have heard of this, just forget it. There are good reasons why they were clearly too hasty in deducting a large sum, but this isn't one of them and it's better to focus on the real problems.)

[chil]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Did you have council tax arrears? I can't see why otherwise they would try to collect such a large amount from you.

Do you have other debts? If so, you need to prioritise repaying the CT arrears even if this means defaulting on unsecured consumer debt.

You will definitely get the money refunded by the council if your new Council Tax Support claim means you are now in credit for the rest of the year. I can't tell from what you have said if this is likely.

If you don't get an apology and some action from the council tomorrow, I suggest you (a) put in a formal complaint about their action on the council's website and (b) contact your local councillors and ask for their help.

(BTW It is a common myth that "they" (whether councils or banks) aren't allowed to take money from your account if it is benefits. If you have heard of this, just forget it. There are good reasons why they were clearly too hasty in deducting a large sum, but this isn't one of them and it's better to focus on the real problems.)

Thanks again, we were getting council tax benefits but they stopped when my wife started working thus producing a £700 arrears which they wanted over three months. They agreed that this would be reduced as my wife no longer works and the arrears would be suspended until our housing/council tax benefit is reviewed, but that promise wasn't kept and the money went out of my account.
The issue of our Child Benefit being taken was only in reply to a previous message about any other money due in that could tide us over. I fully appreciate that they only look at money in the bank rather than where it came from.

[Amethyst]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Hi Chil

Did you get this sorted with the council ?

Sharon
xx

[chil]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Hi Chil

Did you get this sorted with the council ?

Sharon
xx

Hi Sharon,

No, nothing sorted as they said there was nothing they could do. The lady did say that she was going to get our claim fast tracked though, so we'll see. Thanks again for all your help

[Amethyst]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Grrrr, I'm so sorry they are so useless. I would certainly put a formal complaint in to the council in that matter.

Make sure that DD is cancelled and set up a SO for the amount you need to/want to/ are able to pay.

Well at least it's pay day today xxx

[Wombats]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

1111

[stevemLS]

Re: Council have left me with £10 for my family.

Given that you had an arrangement to pay which they breached, my view is that you could contact your bank and use the Direct Debit Guarantee to say that essentially the payment was unauthorised.

The bank should immediately reverse it pending sorting it out.