Thanks very much for your advice, will definitly do a subject access request as I did not receive a letter 14 days before and I can understand why now, they would much rather make a profit by the liability order. Surely this recognisably a ridiculously out of proportion profit for them, how can they be allowed to get away with it? Thanks anyway, will let you know how I get on.

Hi, Im hoping I can get some advice. I have been on maternity leave and am due to start work again next week. During this time I had fallen into arrears with my council tax, only £124, I recieved a notice from them last month and therefore emailed my council to explain that I would clear these arrears on my return to work and to take note that i had still been making regular payments to my council tax account. I also requested a statement of my payments. I didnot hear back until today when I received a court summons for hte end of the month and the court charges are almost as much as the arrears I am in. I am so angry that they did not even respond to my previous contact and the court date is while I am at work, I am not disputing the arrears and I will pay it when I can, however I do not think I should pay the charges as I will pay the arrears before the court date. Do I have a case to not pay the charges and to complain about the fact they never bothered to respond to my previous email? Sorry if I am ranting, I am so angry. Thanks for any advice x

Hello All, I know its been a long time, happy new year to you all! Just letting you know I failed miserably at getting any justice done, the chief executive replied and admitted official error but i still have to pay it back. I just wanted to thank you all so much for your help anyway, it was much needed support at the time. Many Thanks xxx

You are correct AngryAndy, Installspark is certainly the man, but so are you, I am so grateful for all your advice and inspiration, it can be very intimidating when you are dealing with big organisations and the support from people like yourselves is so valuble. I have emailed my letter and will send an actual copy also, then i guess its another 10 day wait for the chief exec to make a decision, i'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

You are a star thank you so much,I feel a bit more confident now in taking it to a stage 3 complaint with the info you have provided, a million thank you's, I 'll keep you updated. Thankyou

Well I received a complaint stage 2 full response today. They admitted that part of the overpayment is classed as an official error but i apparantly should have reasonably known an overpayment was occuring, therefore it is recoverable, they also admitted it took 6 weeks to process my original change of circumstances letter and this was longer than the council would have liked but it is not considered excessive. As I said before I thought my benefit would be reduced but not stopped altogether so i was not aware of such a significant ovverpayment taking place, and I also think 6 weeks is excessive to not deal with my information. The problem is, is it worth taking it to a stage 3 complaint to the chief executive or is it a waste of my time, I cant believe they can admit they were in part in the wrong but still have the cheek to demand all the overpayment back. If I agree to pay back the first part in installments but not the part they are admitting to official error, will they accept or do i need to take it to stage3? I just feel so drained by it all I dont know if its worth fighting my corner? Do you think I have a case or should throw in the towel??????? Thank you so much for reading.

What happens of they dont reply in the time frame they have set?

Thanks Big Boss Man, Good luck for your tribunal next week, keep us informed also. Take Care

Hello All Just an update, after chasing them to speak to someone I found out the guy who was dealing with my case had conveniently gone on leave for a few weeks and no-one else knew what they were doing, anyway I complained to the chief executive and my complaint/appeal has apparantly already been looked at at stage 1 and is now being looked at stage 2 by the customer services director. I am told I should get a response by 31st August, is this a good sign or a standard response by them? It seems such a simple dispute i don't understand why someone appropriate cant just look at it and make a decision, I suppose that would mean they were doing their job efficiently and that would just be far too simple wouldnt it. Thanks for all your advice.

Thanks so much for your advice Andy and Installspark, I will contact them today with my new found knowledge. Do you knw if councils generally prefer to deal with these issues themselves before it goes to a tribunal? Ill keep you updated, thanks again so much for your advice. Natalie

Hi Andy, Congratulations on your victory, sorry i don't have any pearls of wisdom for you regarding your question, but I was hoping you might have some pearls of wisdom for me regarding my post- housing benefits overpayment. Any advice would be very welcome, thanks

Hi, thanks for reading, I was just wondering if anyone can offer me any advice on my situation. I am a single parent and until recently was entitled to partial housing and council tax benefit. As my wages increased I am no longer entitled to any. I gave in all my documents on time to the council for them to re-assess my claim, they did not deal with it when they received it and therefore were overpaying my landlord and my council tax account for much longer than they should have been. I was not aware that they were overpaying duting this time, i expected my benefit to be reduced but not stopped altogether. So two months later when they wrote to me to say i owe near enough £1000 I wrote to them to say I dont mind paying for the overpayment incurred before I gave in my documents, but they wre at fault for letting it run on for two months. Their benefits support manager wrote to me so say he was looking at it, in the meantime i received an invoice for the total amount to be paid by next week. When I phoned their debt department and asked for them to put it on hold as it was being looked into they said they wont do that unless it goes to tribunal. I have since emailed and phoned and no-one gets back to me. If you have any advice on what I should do next I would be very grateful, also if you think I have a case? Many thanks x