To think the government should suspend all bills

[DreamChaser23]

Until the situation is where most people can return back to work. A lot of workers have been laid off and many more will still be laid off.

I got a letter from my council saying that council tax has gone up and first payment is due in April. But no letter to say whether they will suspend the bills.

Even if you get 2-3 months holidays off bills that won't be enough for a lot of people. As not everyone will be in work after 3 months as competition for jobs is much harder now more people laid off and fighting for the same job.

ALL bills? Of course not.

If people's income has dropped they can claim Universal credit. they can take an advance payment. Not everyone will need help with bills some people have thousands of pound in the bank. it would be too difficult to means test everyone for help with bills so best just to claim the benefits available to you. Of course there is the problem that the DWP could quickly become swamped.

I would have thought that suspending bills and council tax will be a last resort type of thing.

Things are changing on an hour-by-hour, day-to-day basis at the moment so not sure that the councils' will have fully pre-empted just how bad things were going to get when the letters were written (at least a week to a fortnight ago?).

It's a nice idea but the fact of the matter is bills are to provide services, which people will still expect. We still want electricity, gas, fresh water and, when this all ends, to be able to emerge from our houses to areas that aren't completely run down with crime rampaging. All of that doesnt come for free, whether the government wants it to or not. There are people behind those provisions, who equally need to be paid....

I think they should let council tax and energy bills be frozen for 2-3 months for people who can prove they have lost their jobs or had their hours reduced and don’t have savings. I have no idea how this could be checked quickly though so it’s unlikely to happen

I think there should be measures to do mean tested extensions for payment, but the problem with suspending bills is that when the suspension is over your bills will be higher to make up for it, so it's just pushing the problem down the line.

There are people behind those provisions, who equally need to be paid....

Yes, but they don't need to be paid the same amount or by the same people. e.g. possible for government to arrange to pay those bills but at a lower rate than consumers typically pay. That may well be better for those companies than the risk of hundreds, thousands, millions (?) of people being unable to pay at all because their finances have collapsed.

With everything privately owned, very few "bills" are paid to the government

It's a nice idea but in reality they can't just write off weeks and months worth of bills for the whole country, many of the companies would struggle if they had such a huge drop of income all of a sudden - and people would struggle to cover the additional bills later on if they were deferred.

And don't forget lots of people will not be financially worse off at all because of this.

If the government suspends bills then they would have to prop up mostly private companies that the bills are paid to (not applicable to council tax obviously).

Utility companies have been paying out big dividends to their shareholders for years, so if they do get govt money then this should come with conditions, eg no dividends for next 3 or 3 years, no executive bonuses for same period.

Similar to the conditions Elizabeth Warren has proposed in the US.

Also, looks likely that the US government will pay 1000 to 2000 dollars to every citizen, either one off or ongoing. Perhaps a better solution (quicker, easier to give money direct to public?).

I see your point, but I think those people who have maxed out their credit cards to clear the supermarket shelves should be made to pay the bill when it hits the doorstep. Preferably before the food goes past its BB date.