Council tax In arrears

[Twounder1]

My partner is on income based jsa? The one where you didn't contribute enough in tax through work despite working since he was 18.
Because of this. I'm unable to claim maternity allowance. It was one or the other. We had more on his jsa.
I have two kids and 600 a month to live on. My rent is 500. The child benefit I'm awaiting for ds to be sorted. The rest is scraped by for food etc. I contacted my council and told them I'd be unable to pay my council tax until my benefits were sorted. (housing benefit etc) they said it was fine and they'd put it off until the benefits were sorted as I also applied for a council tax reduction. I've never missed a payment. I've made a payment late once as I had my purse stolen but I Informed them as soon as it happened.

I now have a letter in front of me now saying I'm in arrears for nearly £300 in council tax to be paid in 7 days.

My housing benefit documents that I sent off (birth certificates etc) have been sent back today.. I don't understand.

I'm behind on rent.
I'm up to my eye balls on a credit card as work didn't pay me properly for months and my HR manager was shit and didn't sort it for me. By this I mean I'm 175.00 to pay by Friday. I don't know how I'll do it.

Any advice?
Thankfully I've got formula for my ds and I've food for dd. But this is so rough :( I'm currently on the phone in a que to sort the council tax out but I don't know what to do :(

Ok. Firstly don't panic. I've been in arrears with council tax. They add what you owe onto future monthly payments but it has to be cleared by the end of the year (next April)
Rent will be paid once your hb claim goes through so your priority is to get that sorted out. If you have pre existing arrears then speak to your landlord and arrange a payment plan, even £1 a week is better than nothing.
How have you only got £600 a month? Does that include hb, tax credits, child benefit etc?

Contact Step Change about your credit card, you should be able to arrange a repayment plan through them to reduce your monthly payments.
Council tax should be fine with your arrears if you keep in touch and arrange a repayment plan that you stick to.

Ok I used to work in council tax arrears. Let me know is it a final notice or a summons?

OP how did the call go? As PP suggest step change if you are already in debt. Otherwise contact the card company- citizens advice may be able to help. Was there a letter enclosed with your original documents? If not it probably means that they have verified, scanned or copied the documents and are therefore returning them. You should get a letter either asking for more information or confirming the award.

Hi all, I managed to find the email dated the 10th April. It did not say how long my account had been put on hold for. But it was for 30 days. Unfortunately they only recieved my claim on the 14th May! My housing benefit still has not been sorted and can take another 14 days. My rent was due yesterday so I'm in the shit with that. I was 110 pound off last month :( I really hope we can get it backdated.
Thankfully they were so understanding and they've told me to rip that letter up and they'll send me a new total for me to pay once it's been sorted and a reduction. Thank gosh. I cried with relief over the phone
600 is what dp has from jsa. Working tax credits for ds has now been sorted I've seen on my statement today. We're a bit better off but that's to pay electric, gas, food, Internet etc. We're on the cheapest packages but we are scraping by :)

Good news

I would also advise contacting your local councillors. This is exactly what we are there for- to support people during their interactions with the council.