To expect a refund from council tax

[Everytimeiseeher]

I left a dv relationship a few years ago. I struggled financially and ran up council tax debt of around, previous to the relationship ending my ex was financially controlling and did not contribute enough to the house for me to pay all the bills. Between that situation and trying to cope on my own after I left I ended up with council tax arrears of around £1500.
I’m now back on my feet working and am studying full time at college. Things are good but financially a bit tight.
All the bills are paid (just) and I have an arrangement to pay the council tax debt on an instalment plan. So no worries there.
I started college last August and found out a month later that I should be exempt from council tax as I’m a student. I filled in the forma and ha des them into my local office. No reduction was ever made and I was told I don’t qualify for exemption in October. However I have since found out this is not the case and spoke to the council again. Apologies were made and my account was recalculated to show I owe no council tax for this year. However I have paid 6 months of full council tax totalling £580. I am due a refund I was told but they have taken it off the debt arrears. I see their point BUT:

1. exemption of being a student is there for a reason, I’m struggling to afford the council tax and managed to pay it only just.
2. My overdraft has slowly crept more overdrawn since I started college needlessly as I could’ve had this extra money every month and I was planning on paying that off with the council tax refund as it’s costing me money.
3. They made a mistake initially by not awarding the exemption and wouldn’t have had this money from me.
4. I have a Payment arrangement in place for the debt.

I really could do with that money back, what should I say to the council who have decided to pay the arrears with it without consulting me.

Go and see your MP.
Take all your documents.
Sometimes it is just easier.

I think it would be like trying to get blood out of stone and it will only make you angry as dealing with most Council's is a lesson in futility.

I think I would let it go. I can't see them refunding you. Even if you overpay your CT, they don't usually refund, they just take it off the next year's tax bill.

I know it's not great, but what can you do.

To be honest, there's probably something in small print somewhere that allows them to do this. Not paying council tax is a serious thing and one that can get you sent to prison, so it is a priority payment when it comes to not being able to pay all bills.

So sorry but you're onto a hiding to nothing with this one. There's no way they're going to refund money to you while you're in debt to them.

Annoying as it is OP, I think you have next to no chance of getting a refund.

You say you could really do with that money now. I expect the council is in exactly the same position.

I think council should take it to be honest as it is owed to them - even though you needed it to help that will be like them giving you a loan. Technically it is their money and they want it back - unfortunately your circumstances are not their issue :(

I doubt they will pay you the money back tbh, but you might get lucky - worth asking at least.

I remember when people were in a similar situation with Housing Benefit, a few times I paid them the arrears due and set their overpayment to recover from ongoing entitlement at the standard rates per week. However, this was because the HB is specifically for rent and non payment might lead to eviction.

I don't think CT have to refund just because you need the money - I think they should keep it actually but that is my personal opinion and not necessarily what will happen.

I’m a welfare rights officer. They can take any overpayments of council tax and put it towards a debt.

They won't refund you unfortunately, they will always take any overpayments off the debt if you're in arrears.

i know you think you should get the money back, but logically, you owe them money, so why would they give you money so you can owe them more?

Unfortunately it’s entirely legal to offset the balance if there is arrears on an account.

I do think you would benefit from some free financial advice (like step change), because it does sound like you are experiencing difficulties. I would also suggest speaking to a benefits advisor xx

You're not entitled to a refund because you still owe the council money. Sorry OP.

They owe you money, but you owe them more which is why they've lowered your debt. Yabu.

Could you renegotiate the monthly payments to repay the remaining balance off over the original timeframe?

I don't think you can claim an exemption when you active arrears.

You owe them the money so they have every right to apply an overcharge to the debt on the same account rather than refund you.

When I moved house and changed tax bands I informed the council and they said that they would update my direct debit to account for the increase ... what they actually did was set up a new DD and not cancel (or inform me so I could cancel) the original DD. Because of all the money going in and out from moving costs I didn't notice both DDs the first month and it was only when both were taken in the 2nd month that I realised and cancelled the original DD. When I contacted them they apologised for the "oversight" but would not refund the overpayment and just put it towards my account and recalculated my monthly DD amount to include the credit on my account.

The only thing I do think you could ask them to do is recalculate your repayments now the £580 has been credited to allow you to reduce the monthly payments on your payment plan.

The debt is £1500, if your agreement was that you paid £100 a month for 15 months (as an easy example) then now you have paid an extra £580 they could reduce the payment plan by 6 months to cover that and keep your payments the same. However they could instead keep the plan at 15 months but, as the debt is now £920, reduce your monthly payment to £62. That would free up an extra £38 a month which might not sound like a lot but means you have more flexibility with your monthly budget.