Mumsnet Talk

My OH moved out last year as we split up, when I was 5 mths pregnant. Obviously when he moved out I informed the council and they gave me the single person's discount of 25%. However, in the autumn we managed to sort ourselves out and decided to give it another go for all our sakes.

I know this is going to sound lame but due to the lack of sleep, my baby being seriously ill in hospital at the same time for 5 weeks, PND and everything else going on with my OH moving back in I've completely forgotten to let the council know he's moved back in.

Its now 6 months later and he's been made redundant and we're in huge financial problems due to debt, worrying about keeping the roof over our heads and how we're going to live until he gets another job. We went to the CAB for advice on how to deal with the financial probs (which is another story entirely) but they advised him that when his job finishes at the end of March to sign on for JSA but also to apply for council tax benefit.

I'm too scared to tell him I forgot to sort out about the council tax but don't know what to do about it. I'm scared if I now come clean to the council they won't believe me and will hit us with a huge fine, which we won't be able to pay because he's lost his job and we don't have any money.

It honestly has just been a case of too much on my mind over the last 6 mths - I've never been that sort of person, and definitely wouldn't normally want to run the risk of getting a huge fine/into trouble, as I know council tax is one of the essential bills.

Can anyone give me any advice as to what to do?

I have the housing and council tax benefit evidence checklist here and at no point does it ask when you moved in. I've just applied for it as now in income support.

Call council and say they've moved back in. I don't agree with lying but in your shoes I suspect I'd try not mention it was 6 months ago

Then get him to apply for JSA. It can take a while to come through, it took 6 weeks for my hubby's form to be processed! So get your skates on before your bank account looks worse x

btw my hubby and I are separated, so I'm not committing fraud on my income support.

I really don't like lying but I cannot see how you can deal with this situation. The truth may not be a bad idea and they could back date extra amount but you don't have the money

I suppose you may get lucky and they believe it's an honest mistake if you did tell the truth?

You won't get fined if you are honest, but you will lose the discount from the date he moved back in. As it's end of year, it will be billed separately from the 2010/11 charge, and you can make an arrangement to pay it if you can't afford it at once.

You also need to consider that if the records don't match from where he was previously, they'll know one of you is lying.

Honesty is best, as if you lie, then you might also be flaky when it comes to arrangements etc.

Hi - thanks for your messages. I'm feeling a bit better about it all now having read what you all had to say. It wasn't that I wanted to lie, but just didn't really know how to handle it. I will get down there next week and try to sort it out.

Thanks again

That's good. scaryteacher is right, they'll agree a payment plan if you're strapped for cash. Didn't think of that yesterday

Have a lovely Saturday x