council tax and money

[whatatoodoo]

Hi there - without giving too much away, me and my partner are in the horrible position of having to apply for council tax benefit. They requested all the usual stuff including bank statements. I was 'paid off' before Christmas from my last job (although didn't get the money through for a while) and am not allowed to discuss this or mention it to anyone, but the council are now asking what this sum of money is. What can I tell them?

Thanks

I have been asked that question by the benefit agency -so I think it?s a fairly standard question
I assume you signed a confidentially agreement - could you ask your last job is this applies to benefit applications - I can't see that it was intended to.
I would ask CAB or other benefits advice service what to do - and tell the council the situation - they may have come across it before
However this is my view - not a lawyer - the application will be in confidence and it seems unlikely that your former employer would find out you had disclosed it and even if they did - they would be very unlikely to sue you for disclosing it - but I would check this view with someone else - I wouldn't want you to take my advice and then get into problems

Thanks. The agreement was very stern about no-one else in the whole world knowing but I guess I will have to explain it somehow. Honestly! All for what will probably be about £2 a week!

Can you not even say it was a compromise agreement?

I've worked in CTB administration before and I would think that if you don't give the Council the information they have requested they will not process your claim. It's a pain I know but they work within very rigid guidelines to administer benefits and there is little room to accommodate unusual circumstances. It is also possible that they may contact your previous employer to verify what the payment was for.

Just tell them.

It was a comp agreement. I'm not allowed to talk to anyone except my partner about it, hence the name change. It wasn't even a huge amount - certainly not above the limit, but clearly it's in the account (was in the account ) It seems ridiculous. We need this extra money - hopefully not for long, and if I can't tell the Council what it was - then my ex-employers are, effectively denying me of my right to benefit. We don't get anything else we're not entitled to!

If I tell them, I'm breaking the 'rules' of the agreement! It's a vicious circle.

I don't see how they can stop you from disclosing the amount of the payment for benefits purposes. Can you give them a call and ask them?
The Council will probably ask you for some written proof of what the payment was for.

I did ask my solicitor a similar question regarding JSA when I tried to sign on for that and he was very firm in that there was no way anyone was ever allowed to know! Not in a financial position to be charged £100 for an answer now though! It's quite mad. I'll just have to risk it I think and if they accuse me of breaking the agreement, I will have to talk about not being able to claim benefits which are my right as we are obviously now on a low income!

For God's sake just tell them. It won't invalidate your agreement. They'll never find out about it.

ok.