repayment of maternity pay - nightmare help!!!

[monkey]

This is very long & convoluted. I'm getting really stressed out about it. I'll try & be concise.

I worked as teacher, had baby, went on maternity leave. Intended to return, but then (A) got pregnant & (B) dh got transferred abroad just before return. Was told I had to repay maternity pay. I thought it was mean but still fair enough. Couldn't afford whole lot so agreed to pay £50 a month.

Stupid bank account couldn't set up standing orders, so I had to arrange individual payment to go to council each month.

Anyway, in March, dh gets lump sum into English bank account. I decide to pay off mp in full. Phone council, only to find that last 6 payments haven't been made & it's gone to court & I've got loads of additional court costs etc. I was v. upset. They say they have no notice of my change of address (2.5 years ago). They've sent me letters (which I've obviously not received). It was pure chance that dh got this payment that I contacted the council & even found out about the situation.

As we don't live in UK we rarely use UK bank accountm so I just didn't notice the payments weren't going out as usual. It turn out I'd missed 6.

Anyway I spoke to this bloke, he sounded reasonably sympathetic (HA HA) and said he'd see if there was something he could do at waiver at least some of the costs or interest, but I needed to put it all in writing. I did so the same day. I even 'phoned him a couple of weeks later to see if he'd received it & a decision had been made. He confirmed he'd received it & would look into it soon.

Anyway, it's more than 2 months ago, still not heard, so I phone up just now & he's on holiday & the woman I spoke to tells me that there is no record of my change of address (still), no record of me speaking to this man & no record of our conversation. As usual I get the "well, if you did inform us of xyz, how come there's no record of it on file? So and so is always meticulous with their records" She then goes on to say that in April it's gone back to court & I've been charged with a further £1800 pounds on top of the other fines & the original mp.

I could weep. They clearly don't believe me. I have phoned millions of times & they just say there's no record so I can't have done. They still haven't got my 'new' address on record & I'm getting more fines even after I 'phone & say I want to pay in full & am just waiting for them to get back to me with a figure. I feel especially frustrated because I'm not in the UK, I'm pregnant, tired and totally depressed. Any great ideas to help me in this bloody awful situation?

monkey, write a detailed letter to the director of the education department clearly setting out exactly what has happened, and copy it to the legal department and chief executive. Generally speaking, the courts tend to be sympathetic when a defendant has not received letters, as long as the court believes that you are not pretending. You should ask the director to confirm what stage the court case is at. Most likely, you will be able to agree a compromise with the council's legal department, either waiving costs or paying a fraction of their costs. Make the point that you have all along been intending and trying to pay but there has been a break down in communication which you don't think is your fault as you have provided them with your addresses. Also make the point that you are abroad, pregnant and upset and are very keen to sort it out soon.

Sorry can't offer any help other than to repear what outofpractice said but just wanted to say what a horrible thing to be happening, keep your chin up and try to only think about the good things in life!

it also might help to have your phone records as proof that you have been contacting them - I am sure your international calls would show up on your phone bill? Just want to second what outofpractice said.

sorry that it is so upsetting.

Thanksall, especially outofpractice.

I have been crying all morning. I daren't tell dh. The guy I spoke to, and the woman this morning are both in the legal department. I'm just wondering, as this is with the council's legal dept rather than the courts, they've basically got me trapped in a corner demanding more and more money (which I haven't got. I feel panicked and sick and tearful at the thought of it.

That's a good idea about the phone bill, but unfortunately, most of my calls are to England anyway, to family, and the crap bills aren't itemised, just vague topics, like how much overall for local, national & international calls.

I now have the brain of a flea & have always been crap at arguments/discussions. Like she said accusingly this morning, that the last correspondance they have from me was august (we moved October) & there's no mention in that letter of a house move & I just had no answer for her. About an hour later , sitting on the loo in floods of tears I remembered we only came house hunting mid-august so at that point didn't have a new address.

Oh, I'm sorry for going on, it just seems so bleak and hopeless. I wish I could turn up at the offices & thrash it out & pay it off (minus all/ a lot of) these unbelieveable charges, but I'm stuck here & am now clearly out of my depth financially (& mentally).

Monkey - if the council have been at fault in this, then you might find you could take your case to the local government ombudsman .

Something not as serious as this happened to us a few years back. The council had put the wrong reference number on our standing order for council tax so we'd been unknowingly paying someone elses. First we knew was when a court summons for non payment arrived, although the money had been going out of our account. Armed with bank statements, and a confirmation from the bank of the standing order details I went to the council offices to tackle them about it. It took four hours of being told by a dozen different people that I must have got it wrong, and that just making a nuisance of myself wouldn't stop proceedings against me - plus several jibes along the lines of they'd instruct the bailiffs to take everything they could - before someone would even look at the evidence I had. Even then when they eventually agreed that they'd got it wrong they wouldn't give me a written assurance that they were cancelling the summons, and wanted to take the letter informing me of it off me. No way! It's amazing what even the threat of the local government ombudsman and the word "maladministration" can do though. That was what someone I knew who is a barrister advised and you've never seen people jump through hoops so fast! Eventually we got a refund because they'd not only got the wrong reference number, but they'd been charging us for a house in a higher band than ours was.

One more thought - try you phone company and ask if they could do you an itemised summary of calls to England (that number in particular). Their records should let them do that, even if your bill isn't normally itemised. They have to keep those records in case anyone queries their bill and they need to show what calls have been made (and also for police purposes in most countries).