£150 council tax rebate - having problems with LA

[MakeItImpossible]

I work with a low income family (FSM entitlement) but old system of CTC so they don’t get council tax help.
They had a direct debit set up and were meant to be in the first group to have the £150 paid directly into account……

They didn’t receive it. Had to phone and email and eventually told ‘the names don’t match the account and the bank account’ (they did i then helped them copy and send the proof). The LA then came back with ‘last year a payment was late so we don’t consider you are a dd payer’ ( but the account is fully up to date) and we could show there’s a direct debit set up. They said no that’s irrelevant.

The LA then cancelled the dd their end. The family are now apparently ‘cash payers’

were told they will have to apply for the £150 payment. Fine.

then the page was updated to say - for those who didn’t receive it we will credit £150 to council tax account by the end of may - this then didn’t happen for the family.

The page has now been updated again (with same update date as the one saying they would just credit £150 to each account) saying a letter was sent explaining how to claim via a different way but will take 6 weeks (they haven’t had this letter yet).

AIBU to think this family should have had this £150 at the very start ??? Saying that they paid late once last year in an account that is now fully up to date seems very unfair ? Are other councils being like this about the £150 ?

Well no, YANBU; and thank you for helping the family.

But ... the government dumped a massive job onto local authorities (councils) that just weren't prepared for it, as evidenced by the number of cock-ups happening. They had to build systems from scratch and some work better than others (polite way of putting it).

Because the family needs to money fairly urgently, I'd escalate this as a complaint, or get a local councillor involved to chase it up.

It just extremely frustrating and they refused to speak to me (fair enough it’s not my account) so we were going back and forth while they called or emailed and there was a lot of gaslighting it seemed to a family who are struggling to understand- telling them they don’t have a dd when they did or that makes don’t match when they do - it just seemed like stalling tactics

I found it very unfair to seemingly punish them for a late payment last year - that doesn’t mean they weren’t dd payers now !!!

makes-names

Sounds like mine for the local government ombudsman if such a thing still exists. If it does then use it.

Ill check. It’s just been playing on my mind. Hearing the phone call especially as they were on speaker phone-it was not pleasant

🙄bloody hell I hate this sodding autocorrect. 'Sounds like one for etc'

The LA is gaslighting people? Really? This seems like administrative incompetence not abuse. LAs have had an enormous task, it's not surprising some claims haven't been processed properly.

Ask the family to contact the LA to set you up as an advocate so you can speak to them. Consider asking the family's local councillor to get involved.

When was the last time a direct debit payment was made? Just having one set up doesn't qualify as a direct debit payer for these purposes, a direct debit payment has to have been made in April. Did they perhaps pay by a different method in March, missing the DD and having that cancelled back to cash?

The Ombudsman will only take on the case if you have exhausted the internal complaints process, so get that started or speak to a local councillor. The family will have three councillors representing the ward they live in: pick the one with the best reputation for being active. (All three of mine are on Twitter which is quite useful for seeing what they're up to / what they're like.)

As pp says, you'll need to signed note to say you have the family's permission to advocate on their behalf.

I could hear the call and bearing in mind they have the full account info in front of them they were saying things like - ‘no you don’t have a dd set up ‘ , ‘the names do not match on tax account and bank account’ and saying they ‘couldn’t see what council tax band you are in’ so they didn’t know if they were eligible ……
Then when pressed and evidence emailed in it just became a case of ‘no. You had a late payment so we don’t consider you’re a dd payer’ and they cancelled it

The time wasn’t pleasant and it felt designed to confuse. Then saying the account would be credited with £150 by the end of may then changing it again it just seems like deliberate stalling

I agree it was a mammoth task to dump onto the LA. Most paid their £150's in May. But the cost of living crisis has impacted on many people at the moment and the intention was to give help to people at the start of the year. So I would inform their MP that there's issues with this refund to people in need. So frustrating for anyone trying to assist family members or friends who don't have access to the Internet or understand procedures involved

I will find out . I just feel awful for them they thought they’d get the £150 2 weeks ago and they are struggling and the process seems to be extremely difficult to access this money

I've found, in the past, that just mentioning the Ombudsman can have a remarkable effect on LAs, missing documents miraculously discovered, impossible permissions suddenly found to be available, withheld payments appearing in bank accounts promptly. It can help focus attention.