Hello, I'd be grateful for any advice please. I've received a letter out of the blue from a company called Bristow & Sutor, who say I owe Recycled Council Tax on a property I left 18 months ago. I gave the local council my forwarding address & they also had my email address. I had this account with a payment arrangement set up directly with the council. The then current bill had been passed to a collection company. I was ill & unable to work & was self employed. I asked the council if i could pay reduced amounts but they just passed everything to the bailiffs. The amounts with the bailiffs have been completely paid off. This letter says I owe the council £220.21 & Bristow & Sutor have added on £310, total bill now £530.21, now with enforcement. I've looked back through my records & on the last call to an advisor the outstanding balance was £55 left to pay. I must have forgotten all about it & I received no further correspondence. I've managed to get the account suspended for 14 days while I try to contact the council. However they take 10 days to reply. I've been emailing since the 11th January. I had a response which confirmed all outstanding bills were paid in full with the bailiff company. And that this was recycled council tax. I emailed back to say the outstanding balance was £55 & my bank statements showed payments of £260 leaving a balance of £57, I copied the bank statement in the email too. I then got a reply from another person, junior officer, who then contradicted everything the first revenues officer told me. I've emailed again, but still waiting for a reply. I've emailed Bristow & Sutor & they've only replied this morning to say I have to make an arrangement to pay & if there is any amendment to the bill, the council will instruct them. I'm expected to blindly pay for something I have no idea why I owe it. I'm being ignored by the council, their responses are just not good enough. You just can't get a straight answer but I think it's more no one has any authority. Why is it acceptable for Bristow & Sutor to put on an additional £310!! But I'm very worried this is an enforcement agency, don't want any visits. I'm also worried as I can't pay very much a week at the moment. I don't know what to do. Does any one have any suggestions please? Thank you

Hi. I will try be short n sweet here. I was claiming JSA through 2015, I was away visiting family for 3 weeks in the summer, with this JSA I was also getting reduction for council tax. When I come back they placed me on the newer Universal Credit. OK not a problem. Now they did not tell me I had to apply for reduction on council tax as separate. So from October till March they are asking for £280, not bad you might say but I am only on £150 a month, as after I have paid £350 rent I have that left. I called them and explained that I thought it was automatically done with this revolutionary new system but they said 'I should have been aware of how the system works'........ Uhm no because you complicate the hell out of it so we don't understand it). So now I literally have no money to pay this £280 and they have sent a letter back saying they will not change their mind on their decision, they said I can appeal it but let's face it, the same people answer the letters and make the same baboon choices. So what do I do here? I don't need this right now, letters coming through doors, their pathetic threats of court action and all that rubbish. I am just getting by on £150 a month (£37 a week). Impossible. What do you think I should do? The women on the phone was a right toff nosed. What annoys me is that a local department store has just been liquidated, and the owners were let off with £180,000 in business rates, then 2 weeks later he opens up as with the same name but with a different parent company or something. What is going on with this work?? .

A claims company has become the first to be fined under new powers after making millions of "nuisance calls", the government has announced. The Hearing Clinic, based in Derby, has been fined £220,000 following hundreds of complaints about speculative calls regarding hearing loss claims. It was the first fine issued by the Claims Management Regulator. Many of those called by the business had subscribed to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), indicating that they did not want to receive unsolicited calls. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33788527