Thank you for your reply! Unfortunately I'm not a member of a Union. I did call a couple on the day I got suspended but they said there wasn't a lot they could do as it was too short notice. My manager has said I can't have anyone accompany me in the investigatory meeting, but if it goes to the disciplinary stage I can. EDIT - As I posted this late last night, I was extremely exhausted and completely forgot to add something pretty important!! I applied for a job a few weeks ago before any of this happened and I have had my second interview today. I'm pretty certain I will get offered the job, and my current employment only requires me to give a weeks notice. Will my employer be able to give me a bad reference, even though I've done nothing wrong?

Hi all, I work as an administrator within the care sector. One day last week I was working in my office as normal. I went onto the unit to get a cup of tea and was told by a nurse that a member of staff had been suspended. I had absolutely no knowledge of this until the nurse told me. We then (a group of 4) had a light hearted discussion about a previous incident (that I didn't know much about) which we all thought could be the reason for the member of staff getting suspended, and that was it. The same nurse that told me about the suspension, then went and told my manager that I had been discussing the matter with others. Next thing I know I have been suspended on grounds of 'serious breach of confidentiality' I have the investigatory meeting on Friday afternoon this week and I have absolutely no idea what will happen. I have no idea how I could have breached confidentiality as I knew nothing of it, until the nurse told me about it. Also they only found out because the person that had been suspended, went and told everyone on the unit. Oh and as far as I am aware, even though there were four of us discussing it, only I have been suspended. My manager told the nurse (who got me suspended) to have an informal chat with the rest of the staff, and that's it. Has anyone got any advice? Where do I stand legally? and knowing what my manager is like, I know she will do her best to try and make it stick. If she does and goes ahead and gives me a disciplinary, can I take her to a tribunal? I feel that my manager has done this to make an example out of me to warn other members of staff, except she has gone the wrong way about it and hasn't given it much thought. I have called ACAS and the information they gave me was extremely vague, so I'm still non the wiser. Thanks for reading

Well me and my partner went in today to pay what we paid last week, they asked us to step into the office so they could discuss our account. The lady said in order for them to help us we need to help them, pretty much all they wanted to do is give the stuff back. She said they could downgrade a couple of the items, but when my partner said to them will half payment still be enough to cover all these downgraded items she went silent and couldn't give an answer. So absolutely no logic in that what so ever. So we told her we'd pay what we came to pay and leave it at that. We also told her that we're in talks with CCCS and she said once we've had our counselling session with them next week to ring BH up and give them the number and ref number so they can call them themselves. Blatently to check that we haven't lied about anything, as the woman said all they will advise us to do is to give everything back. Although you could tell they've been told to 'try' and help instead of the usual bully ways, we were still disgusted in the way she was talking down to us. As we were leaving my partner turned around and about three of them were stood staring at us, giving us dirty looks etc and my partner almost blew his top and went back in to have it out with them. You could blatently see them slagging us off. We won't be going in next week to make a payment as we're not going to put up with being treated like that, it's horrible going into a shop and coming out feeling like utter sh*t. Going to write a letter to the head office explaining this aswell. oh and i forgot to mention, they said they won't remove the service cover while we're in arrears, but we're not paying for it anyway at the min.

Yeah i gave a copy of the letter to the guy at BH, to cancel all the OSC, going to post a copy to head office aswell. I think what we plan to do is keep making the payments we can afford, get the OSC taken off and see how much is left on the items we've had longest, then TRY to pay those off and give the more recent one back. Thanks for the advice clemma Hopefully we won't have to deal with these people for much longer, i can safely say we will NEVER go back to them, rather go without!

Went in saturday and told the guy that I couldn’t do the full payment because work had cut my hours and I had hardly any cash, he said he would get “accounts” to come speak to me. This guy was more like a manager I told him the problem and he asked how long I thought it would be until we were back to normal. I said I didn’t know and for now we were in touch with a debt agency. He said BH wouldn’t speak to them and they would only speak to us. I said that’s fine which is why I'm stood in front of him. He then said there is another option we can consider, we can give one of the items back and put it on hold, it would remain on hold for 90 days. On hold we wouldn’t have to pay anything for it and we could have it back and it wouldn’t affect what we had already paid on it. Sounds like a trick to me... I said I wanted to make a half payment to the account and spread it over the 3 items. He said they couldn’t do that and he would pay one of the items off. He also said it would mean I have a bit of change to go into the “yellow” pot but I would get a late charge on the others as there is no way he can take part payments. He then asked how much I would be paying next week and I said I didn’t know at this stage and it would more than likely be the same. He said it can’t go on like this and they would consider taking the items back and “you don’t want that as its your bed” I said he couldn’t step foot on my premises without a court order. He said he could, I said no, handed the letter and told him a copy was on its way to Head office. he said no they can come and collect them when they like, I said no, you can’t, you will be breaking the law if you step foot on my premises without a court order. He said “whatever” Paid and left.... He says he won't accept half payment this week, so my partner will be coming in with me this time.

Thanks, will get that printed off and sent asap. So from what i can gather the one we've had longest isn't a real priority to them so they wouldn't bother going out their way for that, but the more recent ones we have, they would turn up to try and get them back. Would they be likely to get a court order to gain access? What sort of position would we be in if we refused to return them? Reason i say this is because over the last few years we have paid them THOUSANDS of pounds, so just handing things back just seems like it's money down the drain. But obviously if it's going to put myself in a seriously bad position then i will have no choice but to return them? Thanks for your reply edited as forgot to mention we don't have home insurance at the moment.

I do yes and up until now i've not realised you can cancel it. But as i'm due to pay this saturday i don't think i have time to get it cancelled as you apparently can't do it when you're in arrears?

Thank you, i have posted in there. Teach me not to look around the forums properly! lol

Hi, Another member pointed me in this direction so thought i'd ask here. Basically i just want advice regarding my BH account. I have three items, one i have been paying for 2 years and have a year left, one i have been paying for nearly a year with a year left, and one which i got just before christmas, with about 2 and a half years left. It's got to the point where my debts are taking over and i can't afford the £34 a week payments to them, my next payment is due this saturday and i have no idea what to do about it. As i am considering BR due to the amount of other debts i have, i am told that BR won't wipe the debt i would have with brighthouse because it's secured debt. I have been paying them religiously for the past two years, missing only two payments one of which that wasnt my fault. What should i do? I don't particulary want to give up the items as i have paid a god awful amount on them to date and i won't have anything to sleep on etc. Should i stop paying them? offer them a small amount of money? Will they enter my house and remove the goods as they're secured debt? Will they get a court order? I am so confused right now as what to do, and time is running out. Help!

this is what they said. Hello, Bright House agreements are not standard debts they are set up as hire purchase agreements. If you were to default on a HP agreement this would put the item at risk.

Thanks i'll do that. Have you any idea why CCCS would say that BH is a priority and needs to be paid? As it worried be a fair bit when they said that.

Okay. I know what you mean about council tax. I can't even afford to be paying BH the half that CCCS have said i should give them, so should i just stop paying altogether and offer them £1 or whatever i think i can afford? My only issue is that if i offer them the £1, it will be years upon years before they're even close to being paid off, as opposed to going bankrupt where i'll only have it on my file for 6 years.

Hi, thanks Yeah we're claiming for everything possible, we're not entitled to housing/council tax benefit as i earn too much apparently, and my partner isn't entitled to any benefits for the same reason. So only benefits we get are Child/working tax credits and Child benefit.

The problem is that i don't even have £1 spare at the end of the month. If i were to offer all the creditors £1 per month i'd have to stop paying something like TV License, to be able to pay it. I have no uncessary outgoings at the present time, all bills which need to be paid. I recently offered the council £60 a month for the arrears ontop of this years, however i've not yet been able to commit to paying this years so i'm not in arrears with that, i've just been paying the £60. Including this years we owe around £2500 We've been in arrears with council tax for about 2 years now and we've not had any bailiffs come around, which must be lucky because a friend of mine had bailiffs visit him after he was only two months behind with his council tax! For the past year or so we've been sent expenditure sheets etc, filled them in and offered what we can realistically afford but it's been refused every single time. Now the issue i have is if i go Bankrupt or get a DRO, if i qualify for one (thanks for the link cerberusalert), what will the council be able to do regarding the debt? Will they bankrupt my partner with him not having any income? Or would they be more likely to accept a reasonable payment from him? As for BrightHouse i am told they are a priority debt and they MUST be paid - where would i stand regarding this? I have been paying them religiously for the past two years only ever missing two payments (one of which was their fault). But i just cannot afford to pay it any more. I am actually more worried about this than the council tax!! The next payment is due this saturday, so shall i pay half as advised? or just leave it completely? I do understand 10k (however it will rise to about 14k with brighthouse) is a small amount to go bankrupt for and i do know the seriousness of it. this isn't something i've just thought about overnight, it's been in the back of my head for months. I would rather not have the hassle of companies constantly threatening me, refusing my offers, going to court, and struggling with money again making sure i pay them etc, and just go BR/DRO, get them off my back and start a fresh. I know it lasts for 6 years on my credit file but my credit history is in tatters anyway with defaults, ccj's etc and would take me years to get back to any sort of decent state.

I dont have much of a choice going bankrupt. It might only be 10k and there are people in worse situations than me but if i dont do it the council will. CAB also cant make a pay scheme for me as there is no income spare after the council have finished with me. I dont see there to be much of an alternative. Have you got any reasons for going with payplan? I dont see how the banks will benefit from me? I did try them but they couldnt call me at times when i could answer all the questions i need to.

Hi All, I've been searching on the web for this information and also phoned a few places to ask them but nobody is clear. If i start from the beginning.... Im on a low income and have high outgoings. I worked out my debts to be a little over 10k for which im not proud of! My issues lie with my council tax and brighthouse (for which i have read some VERY interesting threads on here!!) Im considering going bankrupt or using a debt relief order, i've been in touch with CCCS who i have a phone counselling session with in 2 weeks time. For the bankruptcy, all debts are in my name except for my council tax which is joint. I have been informed by the council that if i declare bankruptcy then the debt will be transferred to my partner. This creates a problem that the debt will still be there for me as i work and he is a stay at home dad and isn't in receipt of any income or benefits. So how will the council get the money from him if there is none to be had? The question regarding Brighthouse: I have 3 things with them 2 will be done in 52 weeks one i still have a massive 130weeks to go with them! Now the next few weeks i have no income. It is all going on paying what council tax i can. The CCCS have advised me to pay half my payment to them and to go to the store and pay it. When he told me this my partner decided to research BH and see what everyone else has done and the stories, particularly on here, are worrying. Why on earth did i get in with them?! So i was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what i should do about them. Do i go in and pay half my payment or wait until CCCS advise me on whether i should go bankrupt, have a payment plan or use DRO? Oh and i'll be asking them to remove the 'optional' service cover aswell, after reading about that on here. any advice appreciated! B