I have just had a Council Tax Bill of over £1000. I am a single parent on minimum wage working between 16 and 20 hours per week. Some weeks I work 12 hours others I can work 20 or more depending on the needs of the business.

Phoned the council only to be told that their systems are linked to HMRC and they calculate my council tax liability on my earnings. They say my Council Tax Support has been overpaid and now I have to pay it back.

So from being ahead with no debt I am now in huge debt with the Council Tax and I cannot see a way of being able to afford to pay it back.

As well as this I have been overpaid on Housing Benefit too. Council now want me to pay £83 per week in rent for my 2 bedroom council house.

They told me this is backdated from 1st April 2013 until 19th October 2014.

I have no idea how I am going to afford all this as I earn less than £500 per month in wages. I get £139 a week in Tax Credits, £20 a week Child Benefit and £30 a week from CSA. This only just covers the bills. I would be better off not working!!

According to the council I have to phone them every week if my hours change. I did phone them earlier in the year telling them I am working more than 16 hours but they told me just to wait for them to get in touch.

Real Time Information has just gone live recently and councils have received the current matches.

It could probably be to do with this.

The onus is on you to tell the council of any changges.

I would suggest seeing if you can set up an agreement to repay this.

I did inform them. They promised to send me the forms out but never did.

Their arrangement is £126 by 1st November then £251 in December, January, February and March. I don't earn enough to pay that much. As for rent I can't afford that either. I would be better off going Bankrupt!!

You need to request a revision of their decision.

How are they working out your income? They evidently have a very different figure to yours for income, so you need to make sure of the figures they have. Did you receive an award notice with a breakdown of their calculations? If not, you should probably also ask for a full breakdown.

No I have not received an award notice nor a breakdown of their calculations. I managed to get in with my local Citizens Advice and an advisor is now sorting it all out for me.