Hi, wondering if anyone can help me out here

I have been on Income Support for the last year and out of nowhere I got a letter from the DWP saying deductions were being taken off my IS of X amount for Council Tax to my local council and the total amount I owe them is around £900. This was news to me!

So I e-mailed my council and said something along the lines of 'what the heck'!!! I have not been informed of owing them anything and nor did they write to me to inform me that they would be dipping their hands into my benefit!!! Is that even allowed!!!!!

Anyway, I got this response today from them:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your email regarding the Deductions Notification you have received from the Department of Works and Pensions.

I can confirm that the deductions are for the following accounts:-

£866.42 on account 20XXXX for the period 01/07/00-31/12/01 at XXX

£58.27 on account 21XXX for the period 13/05/06-29/09/06 at XXX

On account 21XXX I can see that you contacted my office on 7th April 2010 and advised you were a student for the period concerned. To date my office has not received any evidence confirming this, so the charge remains outstanding. Should you have confirmation (a council tax exemption certificate) from XXX University that you were covered for this whole period, please forward it to my office as soon as possible.

With regards to account 2XXX, this is a joint account with yourself and a Mr XXX. This account had a Liability Order granted in 2001, and an arrangement was subsequently made with you to pay this amount off over a period of time. The arrangement was defaulted on, and so an Attachment to your Earnings was issued to your then employer, XXX.

As no payment was received from them, the account was held pending further action with reminders sent to them requesting payment. Eventually that method was abandoned but my office was unable to apply for deductions any sooner as you were no longer living in the area and my office was not aware of your circumstances. It later transpired that you were living in XXX.

Upon your return to the area to move into XXX Road, my office was able to link your new account with the two older ones and apply for the deductions from your benefit.

I trust this clarifies the situation for you but, should you require any further assistance, please contact my office on XXX

END ~

Now, I don't remember ever having received anything from them back in 2000/2001..in fact i'm sure I would have been getting some Council Tax benefit for that period. As I've always claimed HB/CTB, my whereabouts have always been known to them and I've at no point have they EVER written to me about it. Nor has anything EVER been noted on my council tax bills that they always sent through to me.

In 2006 I did briefly move from the area to go to Uni till the end of 2009 but they are also my LEA and again, always knew my whereabouts. The amount for £58.27 for a period I was a student and exempt from council tax, is also surprising. I was on HB/CTB for that period anyway as well as being a student. They sent me a bill early this year but it was for about £35 ish which is when I rang them in April. Again, I was not told about this other amount I apparently owe and this differs from what they say above!!!

So, what should I do next? It's been 9/10 years and they have done nothing! I don't remember any of this being the case! and they've also dug into my IS without telling me..are they allowed to do that!!! what can I do about this?

(I'm also annoyed that they cant seem to verify that I was a student for that period when THEY are the ones that are my LEA and have been giving me Student Support for the last 4 years!!!!)

Thankyou

You don't automatically get benefits, you have to apply for them.

The best way for you to get the full picture of all that has happened is to send a Subject Access Request (with £10). This way you will be able to see all the letters and documents relating to you and then either continue payment or challenge.