Hi, it’s Karen here. April the 3rd, 2023. Um, yeah. I just want to tell you a little bit about this erm farce I had with the council tax, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
To cut a long story short, my brother-in-law , who lives in Ireland , was going through a real bad time with his mental health and I was quite worried about his well-being. But I was also worried about his safety. So, I said to him, you know, come on over here and I’ve got a spare room and I can keep, you know, my eye on him.
So, I went to Citizens Advice Bureau as well, just to check because I’m on benefits, I don’t pay council tax just to check, you know, that it wouldn’t incur any extra cost on the council tax. And I was assured that, no, you know, with him being on universal credit as well, that it wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever.
So, that was that and he came over and he registered. He got all his universal credit transferred over here and he got on the electoral register. So, everything was above board. Last month, I got a bill from Stockport Council for 540 odd quid for council tax. So, I rang them, obviously thought it was a mistake and they said it’s because I didn’t tell them that my brother-in-law had moved in September 2021. So, I explained the situation and told I didn’t think I needed to, apologised. They said, Well, you know, you’ll have to pay this bill anyway. So, she offered me a payment plan, which I had no choice but to accept. I asked her if, if she could, you know, waive the cost. Obviously, I couldn’t afford it. Costs of living has gone up my gas and electric has gone up from £95 a month to £211. We’re all struggling, and 540 odd quid is a lot of money. So, she said no, going forward, my council tax is zero. So basically, what she said was if I’d have told them September 21 that my brother-in-law lived with us, my council tax would still have been zero, but because I didn’t tell them, they charged me 543 quid. So basically, I’m being penalised for not telling them. It makes absolutely no sense. So basically, if I’d have told them the council tax would have still been zero because I haven’t told them, they’ve sent me a bill for £543, I can’t get me head around it. Really don’t understand that.
And it’s just another, you know, the people on the lowest incomes seem to be penalised the most and that’s what I’ve been – I’ve been punished for not telling them.
So yeah, thanks for listening.