South East Water, Universal credit deductions. (Been to court)

[IceAgeIce]

Hi everyone,

I am asking this on behalf of my Mum.

In August 2016 My Mum got a court summons about a debt with South East Water.

She went to court in September, but South East Water didn't show up. My Mum chatted with a Lady at the court (She's not sure if she was a judge, but she was in ordinary clothes) My Mum gave the Lady her expenditures including income and outgoings, income was around £280 per month on Universal credit, outgoings left very little. So the Lady at the court said that my Mums offer of £5 per calendar month to South East Water was acceptable.

Mum asked what would happen if South East Water did not accept that, and was told that they probably wouldn't be able to get anything else from her, and the only way they would be able to do that would be to send bailiffs, she also said that seeing as we don't have anything, they probably wouldn't even be able to do that.

So My Mum signed the £5 per month offer, this was sent to South East Water along with my Mums expenditure form.

The Lady said that if South East Water accept this offer, then the court would write with an order to pay that amount, this never happened.

In January Universal credits wrote to my Mum to inform her that South East Water had applied to them to take £23 per month directly from her Universal credits, and Universal Credit were allowing this. My Mum rang up to try and get them to stop that, but they said there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

I thought it would be worth asking here to see if this can be changed.

Thank you :-)

[des8]

Re: South East Water, Universal credit deductions. (Been to court)

I found this on the Rightsnet site.
(I haven't had time to check it out, but it might give youa starting point.
Rather busy at mo with other things, but I'll look deeper later.
Perhaps @enaid has ideas )
The rules about deductions are in schedule 6 of the UC (claims and payments) regs - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...chedule/6/made
The maximum they can deduct in total is 40% of the standard allowance (para 4) (although para 4(4) says that if in the best interests it can be exceeded in the case of rent arrears). There is a priority list (para 5) for which debts should be paid first and they can only do three different deductions (para 3).
The guidance - https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...9832/admd2.pdf - says at D2121 that deductions for rent should be no less than 10% and no more than 20% of the standard allowance

[enaid]

Re: South East Water, Universal credit deductions. (Been to court)

There is a scheme for deductions to help pay bills https://www.gov.uk/bills-benefits, this you apply for yourself. This is called a third party deduction

How deductions work

If you get Universal Credit

The amount of the deduction depends on what you’re paying off. Your Universal Credit will be deducted:

• 5% for gas, electricity and water
• at least 5% but not more than £108.35 per month for fines
• between 10% and 20% for rent

You can use deductions to pay your gas, electricity and water bills at the same time as paying back any debt you owe. This will stop once you’ve paid back what you owe.

Then there is Waterdirect, it doesn't make it clear to me if the water company ask the customer or they can apply to the DWP themselves

Waterdirect

If you are on certain benefits, you can get a third party deduction on a scheme called Waterdirect. This means the Department for Work and Pension pays something from your benefits directly to the water company. The water company may ask for this is if all other ways of paying haven’t worked.

Going of that info 5% may be deducted which would be £14 per month, off your mums £280 UC.
I am unsure about the court situation, there are rules if a party does not attend. Not sure of how any of that can be of help to your mum if she has had no paper work on the matter, suppose you could ring the court and see what happened,
You can make a complaint against the water company or even ask advice CCforWater

[Debt Camel]

Re: South East Water, Universal credit deductions. (Been to court)

Has your mum seen if she could get a cheaper tariff? See http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/your.../social-tariff

Or if she could get help with her water debts? See http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/your...l/helping-hand.