Two years ago my son was off work for some time following an operation on his knee. With SSP as his only income he was awarded Council Tax Credit but foolishly never informed the LA that he had returned to work. Quite rightly they now want the overpayment refunding and have told my son his monthly payments will now be £400 to include recovering the overpayment as well as his CT for the current year. He has contacted them to say he cannot afford this amount but they are adamant that this must be his monthly payment. I have told him this is the usual intimidation tactic and to contact them again, in writing, with an offer he can afford and further, if they refuse his offer to cancel his Direct Debit and let them take him to court. For reasons better known to himself he is adamant that going to court is not an option, in which case I cannot see an alternative and he must take what's coming.

Any suggestions?

Don't know how local authorities deal with overpayments of benefits and recovery thereafter. However, if you son is going to go down the route of cancelling his direct debit and paying the council what he can afford (rather than what the authority dictates) then he will be wise to put it in writing expressing that whatever payment is made each month (presumably including some overpayment) is for the purposes of reducing the indebtedness of his current year's council tax liability with the remainder paying off the overpaid sum.

The danger is of your son not instructing the council of his payment preference is that the authority is likely to allocate monies to the overpayment owed as a priority thereby putting his current year's council tax account in arrears.

Council tax and housing benefit are now done in the same council department. I informed the Local authority just after i moved out and it appeared i was overpaid by £200 in housing benefit as it was a part month.

They were already aware i was on ESA and a repayment proposal agreed.

I am currently paying back the overpayment at £5.00 a week through a standing order and will take just under a Year to pay back.

I found out that if you are straight with them and that they are fully aware of your current financial situation then i can see no issues, but i do accept not all local authorities are the same with recovery processes. You just have to push what is reasonable to both sides

For reasons better known to himself he is adamant that going to court is not an option

He is correct. Court action will only increase the final bill and could lead to aggressive bailiff actions with their fees piled on top. Worst case scenario could see the bill being increased by some £500 (£125 for a liability order, £75 for a compliance letter, £235 for a visit).

The only way of avoiding court action is to keep paying and negotiating with the LA (preferably in writing).

you should also be aware that if your son refuses to pay, the council has the power to make your son's employer deduct the council tax debt directly from his wages

Only with a liability order secured through the courts, they cannot do any deduction of wages just on the local authority say so

Section 14 Employment Rights Act 1996

Thanks for the input guys. It is not my son's intention not to pay but to pay at a rate he can afford, thus my suggestion that cancelling the DD prevents the LA just taking the £400 he cannot afford. He can then pay in cash what he can afford. If the LA don't like it they can pursue it further. Quite frankly, I see the LA's unbending attitude quite unreasonable but unfortunately, as some one has already pointed out, the cards are stacked in their favour and at the end of the day it was my son's own silly fault for not informing them he had returned to work.

Thanks once again.

Your son should write or email the dept with details of what he is able to pay, for instance:

£xxx a month council tax liability for year 2015-2016, plus payment towards overpayment of £xxx a month on x date every month

then he needs to stick to it religiously - set up a standing order if possible.

Offer to complete an income and expenditure form if required.

above all else keep talking to the council, things get bad if it ends up in the hands of debt collection.