hiya all

just wanted to alert you all that unfortunately, we have had an attachent to earnings letter re our council tax,

however, i had spoken with the council only last week and although i explained that we were late, i would rectify this months payment by this week, which i have

it now appears to me i only have 2 oustanding payments for this years council amount to be paid off,

i never gave the council info re national ins number for neither of us, only i recall i gave the name of the company my hubby works at in the earlier part of the year

the council disregarded what i told them and my written email from last week and now signed a attachment of earnings against my hubby

i complained on the telephone to the council and have requested a complaints proceedure to be sent to me , do date nothing has arrived - my debt is less than 400.0 for 2 months still to pay and that is fine within their 10 monthly payment scheme - i also told them about a friend who owes more than 2000.00 and has had baliefs to the door and they should be doing more to collect that debt than mine as i feel really cross with the council as i feel we in work are now an easy target for the attachment to earnings process

i rang national debtline who told me they are now seeing more and more of this tactic - and would send me info to complain to the council and also she commented it looks like they jumped the gun a bit with my personal circumstances

i will need to put all facts in writing to the council and she recommended that i send recorded delivery so i get a signature on arrival and await their responce and contine to do what i am doing with my payments,

i rang my hubbys work as he was mortified and the wages team were helpful and advised that this wouldnt be passed to my hubbys work colleagues or bos, and that they have been receiving loads of these attachments especially from councils lately, however, they do take a bit of time for the process to be set up, so i think with us, we are fine for a few weeks

on the back of our letter they can only request a percentage of your weekly earnings net or monthly net earning,s but with us, once it gets set up its about 70.00 a week, and thus the council will get thier money in say 5 weeks

i suppose in this times of crises, and our council has lost money in icesave or at least they invested some of our councils money, i would think this is a policy to just get as much money as you can from those in jobs for the time being and chase the ones who arnt paying a dime until later

im so very cross and i will becomplaining but i wanted to alert others this could be a way other creditors could follow

take care and lets share our experiences to help others

will update you all ciao for now MAZ:cool:

Why dont you SAR the council?

You should then be able to point to your comms.

Emails and phone calls are not really much good.

Keep things in writing with copies and proof.

They do not like having to supply SARs,and sometimes a request prompts them into action to take you seriously.

Just a thought.

Hi there, have the council obtained a liability order via the magistrates court? as I unerstand it, that's the first step before they can apply an attachment of earnings order. Unfortunately this is becoming an everyday occurrence, I have processed around 35 of these AoE's in the last year and the sneaky so and so's don't always apply for a new liability order if the next year's tax isn't paid on time, they just use the original one. I'm not sure of the legality of that and will check it out.

An employee who had an AoE send a written letter of complaint as he had alredy made an arrangement to pay over the telephone. The AoE was suspended while the complaint was investigated (around 3 weeks) and he paid the arrears off in that time and was allowed to start monthly payments direct to the council. So you should definitely lodge a letter of complain. At the top of the letter write "FORMAL COMPLAINT UNDER xxx COUNCIL'S COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE.

Also, check that the AoE was addressed Private and Confidential for the attention of the Wages/Payroll dept. They have a duty to protect your husband's interests and the AoE should not just be addressed to the company otherwise anyone could open it.

Ell-enn

Hi there, have the council obtained a liability order via the magistrates court? as I unerstand it, that's the first step before they can apply an attachment of earnings order. Unfortunately this is becoming an everyday occurrence, I have processed around 35 of these AoE's in the last year and the sneaky so and so's don't always apply for a new liability order if the next year's tax isn't paid on time, they just use the original one. I'm not sure of the legality of that and will check it out. They need a liability order for the year the AOE is being applied

 

An employee who had an AoE send a written letter of complaint as he had alredy made an arrangement to pay over the telephone. The AoE was suspended while the complaint was investigated (around 3 weeks) and he paid the arrears off in that time and was allowed to start monthly payments direct to the council. So you should definitely lodge a letter of complain. At the top of the letter write "FORMAL COMPLAINT UNDER xxx COUNCIL'S COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE.

 

Also, check that the AoE was addressed Private and Confidential for the attention of the Wages/Payroll dept. They have a duty to protect your husband's interests and the AoE should not just be addressed to the company otherwise anyone could open it.

 

Ell-enn

See above

Thanks for the info Josie, I take it then that the AoE is unenforceable without the liability order? of course most people won't know that and just accept their fate

Maz, were you notified of a liability order being granted?

Hello Martin3030, Ell-enn, and Josie-8

many thanks for your support and info

ive calmed down a bit today = lol

today i get their compliants form and how to make a complaint leaflet.

yes the council did get a liability order in the summer, which is noted on the paperwork of attachment of earning order. However, we agreed to pay the monthly amount albeit on the 1st of the month, and all payments on time since that date only november i failed this month

Ell-enn, yes we did have an arrangement in place just that this month of nov i contacted them on the 12th to advise was paying about 70 short but advised on the telephone would be paid by end of the following week which i did on 14.11.08

the attachment of earning was dated monday 17.11.08, and is of current year bill so i will take it as legal. my next payment is not now due until 1.12.08 but they have now isssued this attachement i think just because i was late this month, but i called them and explained, and although the advisor gave me the outstanding about she didnt say as ive failed to pay on the 1.11.08 the attachment of earnings would be done anyway- that what im cross with. kick me in the teeth, when others in the borough havent paid one penny, its infuriated me!

Also as there are no arrears now unless i fail to pay on the 1.12.08 i guess, i feel i want to complain anyway to stop the attachment of earnings being processed.

only 2 months to pay to finalise

Yes, the letter i had did say the company name and Private for Wages dept

i know i could sars them but i think my initial compliant letter should suffice, for an investigation at least and to tell you the truth, i just want to pay it off as quickly as possible now within the next month

looking at their leaflet its says some things they cant change, ie - a legal action against us, a decision made properly which i disagree with

so i think my best way of stating my complaint is that whilst their proceedure was correct they jumped the gun after i explained what id intended to do and totally ignored my difficulities this month, which was unfair and ....what else could i say

the form states, what is my complaint about and another part - what i think the council should do to resolve my complaint

ideas welcome, and the lights didnt come on properly last night at the launch of the xmas lights for the town, cant even get to switch the lights on properly, argfhaaaaaaaaahahah - im now calm ,,,thank you .lol

will be back for your thoughts much appreciated thanks MAZ:)

Maybe they are having problems getting onto the social tarrif ?

hahahh

or waiting on the refund back from Iceland, and need our money for their xmas party!

well unfortunately, its a sign of the times i think, anyone with a job is going to be class A meat for an easy picking

mulling my thoughts x maz

A lot of councils are going down the bankrupcy route and are using it more often, I suppose you could be thankful they did not do that with you.

hiya coniff

yes of course, but only now owe them about 370.00 so isnt that way down the amount for a bankruptcy order? thought it was only 750.00?

well they havent done a bankrupty on someone that owes them nearly 2000.00 only sent in the wet lettuce of a balief, who noted down car reg on her drive and aint been back to tow them away so they are wet sausages too

i honestly think that if they can locate someone in a job - a fixed job - then that their form of attack....

im also thinking guys help me out here, i spoke with the council and with my hubby on the telephone agreed to the payments way back in the summer, i know i gave my hubbys firm name but never his national ins number or anything, and is this enough for them to go for a attachment of earnings as he never gave them permission to contact his employer and neither did i.

or is it because its the council they have these rights and dont need our permission?

just thinking along a data information complaint too, my head hurts!

i know i can resolve this for us thankfully , but its made me cross for others who could be in the same situation and are struggling and then are faced by this attachment of earnings that will cause others more grief

thanks for your interest all

ciao maz

Even if you don't tell the council where you work they have ways of finding out - one employee told me that the "man from the council" knocked on her next door neighbour's door and asked where she worked!!

If they do know who your employer is, they will ring up the HR/Payroll department to check that you do work there - they do that regularly where I work

Ell

im also thinking guys help me out here, i spoke with the council and with my hubby on the telephone agreed to the payments way back in the summer, i know i gave my hubbys firm name but never his national ins number or anything, and is this enough for them to go for a attachment of earnings as he never gave them permission to contact his employer and neither did i.

The council don't need your permission to set up an attachment (the liability order gives them the legal power) - you would have been issued with a form to complete when the Liability Order was issued which asked for employment details. It's actually a criminal offence not to supply these details when requested.

hiya all

many thanks for your input guys, although now on reflection i hope this thread helps others in the future, and like you say ss002d6252 the council would have had the legal power from the liabillity order i understand that now

at the moment there are no arrears as long as i pay on the 1st of dec, for the next installment so in theory the attachment order should not be processed but i guess it may - however, i will send my complaint in all the same so i get their reply in writing from their investigations and what they now intend to do and if they accept weekly payments instead of a lump sum to enable me to clear the outstanding amount of only 2 months worth of payments which have no arrears at the moment,

will update you all have a fun day ciao for now MAZ

There are lots of ways they can find info about us.

Theres the Programme that Council revenues and benefits use-its a sort of master programme thats linked to DWP HMRC and loads of other agencies....they can reconcile everything from there.

In addition we know that Councils use Experian for finding people.

Then theres National Hunter-the secret agency that has 100,000 requests a year.

I grew up in the cold war days-we used to talk of Russia and big brother.....but we probably know more of our people than the Kremlin knows about theirs.

In fact I bet our Council revenues and benefits officers could teach the FSB (old KGB)......a thing or two.

How things change................

Martin 3030

you have actually given me even more info to put into my complaint thanks,

yes i totally agree they must have ways of locating people, so im going to ask why havent they used their computers to track the people in the borough who havent paid a dime..... i wonder if that area the freedom of information will give me how many people have not paid their council tax and yet im being hounded legally yes - cos they have the paperwork and without any compassion for under 400.00 which is not in arears now but will be on 1st if i dont pay that day by one months worth

could i get any information from the freedom of information is that what its called or am i totally lost the plot this week? lol

thanks for your helpful info everybody , ciao for now MAZ

There are lots of ways they can find info about us.

Theres the Programme that Council revenues and benefits use-its a sort of master programme thats linked to DWP HMRC and loads of other agencies....they can reconcile everything from there.

In addition we know that Councils use Experian for finding people.

Then theres National Hunter-the secret agency that has 100,000 requests a year.

I grew up in the cold war days-we used to talk of Russia and big brother.....but we probably know more of our people than the Kremlin knows about theirs.

In fact I bet our Council revenues and benefits officers could teach the FSB (old KGB)......a thing or two.

How things change................

hiya martin

i went to the council today as id complained by their online site and not had a reply, and lo and behold they couldnt even find my complaint even though id printed off the number it gave me!

anyway they denied that they could trace via other avenues unless they are told officially by the customer where they work!

So i told the man i was there primarily for my own complaint ref attachement and the telephone conversation id had with the council before they sent out their official aoe letter

so now im having to raise the complaint again on their green form and submit it, it wont really help me as we now only owe about 150.00 which will be taken over the next 3 weeks and then its ended for this year and paid fully.

I still want to complaint because, the advisor didnt record what i told her before the aoe was sent to me, thus not listening to their customers - ME

also that other people in the borough have not paid a penny and only sent a wet lettuce of a balief and still no payments for an amount of over 2000 pounds and yet us hard working and advising the council of our difficulties at the time of last month, we get targeted as easy prey and have an aoe

i asked if i could pay over 12 months next year and was more or less told only if i can prove financial difficulties etc

i told him i want a written investigation into what happened and why their advisor didnt record the full conversation of my proposals

i told him that id liased with the council on paying regular weekly amounts to clear the amount due by the end of the year and the ist of jan 09 would have been the last monthly payment anyway if id done via direct debit so in theory im not even in arrears now.

i just feel angry that there are certain people can get away with it and others cannot - told him to treat me fairly not just hide behind his proceedures, but kept repeating if my complaint was about the phone calls i have to submit it again

i told him i feel not being listened to and he even asked if i provided work places of these people i know who havent paid they would action aoe, i told him he has the facility to do via the council and not rely on us doing their work for them!

i was not happy but i now feel i do need to action this even if it protects others or changes are made for the future

my own amount due will be paid off and i accept from the aoe , and so be it for this year, but told him i was planning on paying weekly from next year and now i will pay on the last available date he even tried to nark me if i paid late then i know what would happen! So be it i will wait for the baliefs then i retorted, cos i know they dont do nothing!

i am sorry for ranting i feel so much better now though, but i need to action my complaint and also what info is there that i can use to tell them to use the facilities available to them to track others that arnt paying - i guess to make my points stand out better and show my reasonsable behaviour, albeit this morning i was very very assertive and didnt mince my words! oops

thanks for the listening ear, laters angel x

Council Tax staff have no access to DWP/HMRC systems , we do have access to Equita/Experian etc depending on the council. If we did have access it would be much easier to trace debtors out of the area.

The CIS (DWP/HMRC) system is currently restricted to Housing/Council Tax Benefit purposes.

Council Tax staff have no access to DWP/HMRC systems , we do have access to Equita/Experian etc depending on the council. If we did have access it would be much easier to trace debtors out of the area.

 

The CIS (DWP/HMRC) system is currently restricted to Housing/Council Tax Benefit purposes.

Thank you for that added information, maybe that then explains that baliefs are sent instead then, yet that is a pointless excercise, as ive witnessed 2 residents of the borough who just move their cars around the area and keep their windows and doors shut for any entry by the baliefs

I for one, after the experience ive had, will no longer telephone the council , will put into writing or emails my concerns or queries, ive now found my emails to the council on my date i called them which the council say they havent got recorded what i discussed with them, well the emails back my information up thankfully, and they responded to it so cannot say now they were not informed.

will keep you posted, i will be informing my local councillor too of my complaint.

if nothing else i now realise Always correspond in Writing Only.....

have a good day tomorrow laters angel x

hi guys just wondering what the outcome was, i and my partner are needing urgent help in a similar situation involving AOE and now bailiffs

many thanks

Hello there.

This thread dates back to 2008. You're better asking for advice on your own thread.

HB