Hundreds of London's poorest and lowest-paid inhabitants
attended a mass court hearing in south London on Friday, hoping to
challenge non-payment of council tax orders issued by Southwark council, which had summonsed 5,800 people to attend.
The mass summons was one of a number of similarly large summonses issued nationwide over the past few weeks, as legal proceedings begin against unemployed and low-income people who have been unable to pay new council tax payments, introduced in April.
Around 400 attended court on Friday, most of them responding to a court summons for the first time, many of them anxious and angry about the process. Although the weekly payments appear low, averaging at around £2.50, those who attended gave detailed accounts of how this was a difficult sum to pay out of a minimum wage income, or out of benefit payments. All faced the additional £65 cost of the court summons, in addition to the council tax arrears.
Lisa Whitman, 33, a single mother who worked as a nursery nurse before her daughter was born, said: "I am short every week, after I've paid the bills and fed and clothed my daughter. This means I can't afford after-school activities for my daughter."
Until April, millions of people on low incomes in England paid no council tax, but this dispensation was removed as part of a package of cost-saving welfare reforms when the government cut the amount given to councils to reduce council tax liability for their poorest residents. Councils were given discretion to decide how much to charge low-income residents. In Southwark, previously exempt residents are now required to pay 15% of their council tax bill.
Duane Derby, 37, an unemployed painter and decorator, said he owed about £200, including the court costs. "How can I pay without the money?" he asked, waiting in line at Camberwell magistrates court to have his case processed by one of 22 council officials, who had set up makeshift desks in the waiting area. He is looking for work, but for the past six months has had his benefits sanctioned (cut), in punishment for failing to attend a job centre meeting. For the first two months, he received nothing, and is now receiving only about half the normal jobseeker's allowance rate. He says he missed the appointment because he did not have enough money for the bus fare. "The money goes on the first day – on gas, electricity, food, obviously, an arm and a leg for the launderette. It's not possible to save money to pay this."
Daniel Peters, 29, a pizza delivery man, owes a similar amount. He earns £120 a week and cannot see a way to pay the money he owes out of his wages. "I'm just trying to survive," he said. Ray Malone, 68, who lives in sheltered housing and was one of many who suspected he had mistakenly been sent the summons (the tax is not payable by pensioners), said: "I'm not paying anything. I'll go to jail before I pay. I'll do bread and water."
Many were muddled by the summons letter, which told them on page one that they should appear at 9.30am at the magistrates court, before informing them in huge block capitals on the third page that they did "not need to actually attend the court".
Sczerina Perot, a volunteer lawyer advising people on how to challenge the summons, said this was a "well-crafted" attempt to discourage thousands of people from turning up at the court. "But if you don't attend court, you automatically have a judgment made against you. It is an irritant for the court when people turn up," she said.
Joanna Kennedy, chief executive of Zacchaeus 2000, a poverty charity helping many of those in arrears to negotiate discretionary relief from payments, said: "Most people on a means-tested benefit haven't got enough to live on as it is, because benefits are set at the lowest level needed for survival, and now that benefit is being taxed. The poorest are bearing the brunt of government's policy to restrict welfare payments." Many of the people who came in to challenge the summons were unwell or had disabilities, she said. "It is very, very stressful to receive a court summons. Once a court order is obtained, the threat of the bailiffs follows."
At least 157,000 people have already have already been summonsed across the country, according to figures published by Labour this week, based on freedom of information requests to councils. The shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, Hilary Benn, described this as a "new poll tax": "Those affected – including tens of thousands of disabled people, war veterans, war widows and carers – are receiving court summonses that could ultimately result in some of them being sent to prison."
Bell
said her friend had been very distressed to receive a court summons. "It
is frightening to get a summons. He is lucky he has friends helping
him. You can't sit there watching a man starve," she said.
Defending the decision to impose the charge, Richard Livingstone, the cabinet member for finance and resources for Southwark council, said: "Court action is a last resort for us and not something we relish, but relatively small missed payments for individuals of as little as £2.50 per week would add up to a big hole in the council's budgets for the coming years if we did nothing about this."
The mass summons was one of a number of similarly large summonses issued nationwide over the past few weeks, as legal proceedings begin against unemployed and low-income people who have been unable to pay new council tax payments, introduced in April.
Around 400 attended court on Friday, most of them responding to a court summons for the first time, many of them anxious and angry about the process. Although the weekly payments appear low, averaging at around £2.50, those who attended gave detailed accounts of how this was a difficult sum to pay out of a minimum wage income, or out of benefit payments. All faced the additional £65 cost of the court summons, in addition to the council tax arrears.
Lisa Whitman, 33, a single mother who worked as a nursery nurse before her daughter was born, said: "I am short every week, after I've paid the bills and fed and clothed my daughter. This means I can't afford after-school activities for my daughter."
Until April, millions of people on low incomes in England paid no council tax, but this dispensation was removed as part of a package of cost-saving welfare reforms when the government cut the amount given to councils to reduce council tax liability for their poorest residents. Councils were given discretion to decide how much to charge low-income residents. In Southwark, previously exempt residents are now required to pay 15% of their council tax bill.
Duane Derby, 37, an unemployed painter and decorator, said he owed about £200, including the court costs. "How can I pay without the money?" he asked, waiting in line at Camberwell magistrates court to have his case processed by one of 22 council officials, who had set up makeshift desks in the waiting area. He is looking for work, but for the past six months has had his benefits sanctioned (cut), in punishment for failing to attend a job centre meeting. For the first two months, he received nothing, and is now receiving only about half the normal jobseeker's allowance rate. He says he missed the appointment because he did not have enough money for the bus fare. "The money goes on the first day – on gas, electricity, food, obviously, an arm and a leg for the launderette. It's not possible to save money to pay this."
Daniel Peters, 29, a pizza delivery man, owes a similar amount. He earns £120 a week and cannot see a way to pay the money he owes out of his wages. "I'm just trying to survive," he said. Ray Malone, 68, who lives in sheltered housing and was one of many who suspected he had mistakenly been sent the summons (the tax is not payable by pensioners), said: "I'm not paying anything. I'll go to jail before I pay. I'll do bread and water."
Many were muddled by the summons letter, which told them on page one that they should appear at 9.30am at the magistrates court, before informing them in huge block capitals on the third page that they did "not need to actually attend the court".
Sczerina Perot, a volunteer lawyer advising people on how to challenge the summons, said this was a "well-crafted" attempt to discourage thousands of people from turning up at the court. "But if you don't attend court, you automatically have a judgment made against you. It is an irritant for the court when people turn up," she said.
Joanna Kennedy, chief executive of Zacchaeus 2000, a poverty charity helping many of those in arrears to negotiate discretionary relief from payments, said: "Most people on a means-tested benefit haven't got enough to live on as it is, because benefits are set at the lowest level needed for survival, and now that benefit is being taxed. The poorest are bearing the brunt of government's policy to restrict welfare payments." Many of the people who came in to challenge the summons were unwell or had disabilities, she said. "It is very, very stressful to receive a court summons. Once a court order is obtained, the threat of the bailiffs follows."
At least 157,000 people have already have already been summonsed across the country, according to figures published by Labour this week, based on freedom of information requests to councils. The shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, Hilary Benn, described this as a "new poll tax": "Those affected – including tens of thousands of disabled people, war veterans, war widows and carers – are receiving court summonses that could ultimately result in some of them being sent to prison."
Alan
Sandiford, 57, a former warehouse worker, currently unemployed because
of ill health, attended court with his friend Gloria Bell for support.
He owes £106.32 in unpaid council tax and a further £65 in court costs.
He had a letter informing him that back payments would be deducted from
his benefits payments at a rate of about £30 a month. He calculates that
after rent, electricity and food, that will leave him with about £6 a
week. "There's no money left from week to week," he said.
Defending the decision to impose the charge, Richard Livingstone, the cabinet member for finance and resources for Southwark council, said: "Court action is a last resort for us and not something we relish, but relatively small missed payments for individuals of as little as £2.50 per week would add up to a big hole in the council's budgets for the coming years if we did nothing about this."
SOURCE
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/18/thousands-court-council-tax
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