Hi all.
This might be a bit long winded but bear with me.
I'm a single parent to a 13 year old working full time. Her dad is in the picture but he also works full time.
I also suffer with mental health issues.
I was informed by my local council in the back end of 2016 that they had found unpaid council tax from the property I lived in 3 years previous. I asked how could there be unpaid council tax as when I moved out I had asked my local council if everything was paid they said yes.
I started paying £50 as agreed with them. Then I went for a night out at new year and stupidly broke both of my ankles and wasn't able to pay the instalment. The council immediately went for an attachment of earnings.
Since January last year I have been crippled by their attachment of earnings on my wage as they are taking around £300 each time. When I got my wage slip in December last year I almost cried to find that there had been £500 worth of deductions from my wage.
Im not entitled to any housing benefit so I'm liable for full rent and council tax. The £500 worth of deductions was tax, ni and the rest was council tax. So with my rent being £500 and the £500 of deductions off my wage I was left with £200 to cover all my bills.
Needless to say I've not paid gas, electric,water, tv licence in over 15 months since the attachment was put on my wage. I'm barely keeping my head above water. I live in a housing association property and they took me to court last January because of complications in starting a new job, my pay was delayed and I wasn't able to pay my rent on time. So now from them I have a suspended possession order.
I've lost count of how many times I've not paid my full rent because my monthly expenditure has eaten into my rent money.
I have contacted my local council on more than one occasion and discussed the issues it's causing only to be laughed at, told to get an iva if I'm that bothered or told to go see citizens advice to then be told in the next sentence that citizens advice can't actually do anything for me with regards to council tax.
I thought I'd reached a light at the end of the tunnel in november last year when id finally paid it all off only to be told on the phone that they had done another attachment for last year's council tax. I couldn't afford to pay it because of the massive attachment of earnings.
I'd finally had enough at the beginning of this year and contacted a company called council tax advisors. They discovered the best route was an iva. I found out yesterday after all the papers were signed and a standing order was set up that my local council had rejected it.
I thought I'd finally be able to get my wages back. But no. I can't even afford my child new shoes for school. I can't afford Clothes for her or myself. Good is of bare minimum each week. Sometimes living off beans, soup, noodles or anything cheap I can get.
My daughter's birthday is on Christmas day and I can honestly say Christmas 2017 was a miserable day. All I could afford to buy her was a cup that cost 1.99. Whereas my neighbour next door who is on benefits, she can work it's a matter of she can't be bothered. She got a loan out from the benefits and splashed out on Christmas. It's a bit of a p* take when most of us go out and work our backsides off.
I don't know where to go now. It's payday next week and I'm dreading it.