That's really good to know, I'll say it has to be standing order. I have all those proofs to hand, should it come to that. Thank you!

Thanks so much, it's not easy but it is nice to hear. Just woke up in the middle of the night panicking about it. I'm not actually worried he'll be sent to prison. I probably should have mentioned that the letter from the council says he needs to surrender to the warrant so a Magistrates Hearing can be scheduled for an 'enquiry'. I'm just wondering what "surrendering" means really... he's not very cognitive but still physically fit and able, so people assume he can do things he can't. Is 'surrendering' a case of going to the police station or can he just call and ask them to fix a new court date, is the basic issue on that front. I should have been clearer.

Hello all. In a bit of a state of panic, any help would be so gratefully received because I just don't know what to do now. I've tried to find answers on the forum but nothing specific has come up... My husband and I owe Council Tax. Apparently there was a court hearing in Feb 2008 which we did not attend. This was a really bad time for my husband, health wise, and I don't recall a Summons - but it was such a confused period I can't be sure. Anyway, we didn't attend. We moved house in April 2008. The council were aware of this my husband's health problems had lead to him having to go on to ESA, and we were claiming Housing Benefit. The council tax arrears stem from 06-07 when he was still working. I'm not sure of the exact amount. We heard nothing until November 2008 when we got a bit of paper through the door from Rossendales, saying they had visited along with an arrest warrant and were there to execute it. I didn't even know who Rossendales were, we'd had no contact from them at all. I called our local court to see if this arrest warrant existed and they couldn't confirm, but they did say that Rossendales were our council's bailiffs so I should try the council. Council were very unhelpful and said that we owed money and it was now with Rossendales so we needed to contact them. Have a bit of previous experience dealing with this from helping a friend, so asked them to take the debt back but they said no. We called Community Legal Advice, who told us to send Rossendales an income/expenditure form and offer repayments. We offered £7 a month which I know is paltry but it's all we can afford due to husband's ill health and reliance on benefits, and my Carer's Allowance still hasn't come through. We sent the letter recorded delivery and I still have the proof. This was in November. At the end of December, we got a letter from the council saying we needed to surrender to the arrest warrant but we ignored it as we thought we had covered that on advice of CLA with the income/expenditure. Then, nothing, until this morning when we got another of those "we visited to arrest your husband" cards through the door. My husband is a deeply unwell man and this panicked the heck out of me. I've had no recognition of the means test I sent. What on earth do we do? I'm loathe to contact Rossendales - they've never sent us a letter or anything, and I don't want to call the mobile number on these "arrest" slips. Should I call the council again? Resend the means test? Or does my husband need to surrender to this warrant? What does that even entail? He's got severe memory problems and I'm terrified of what that might mean. I just don't know what our next course of action is - 5.30am fear has hit and it seems forever until the CLA open, not that it seems to matter as their suggestion didn't seem to do anything. Any help GREATLY appreciated.