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PIP is not included as income for Council Tax Support??

racyguy

Further to a other posts I seems that the Council will not treat PIP as income when calculating CTS. However it seems to be included by the Council when they set a figure to be paid for the rest of this year in respect of a Liability Order.
Been to court and had to go to the Council offices to set up weekly payment (£40) to cover the rest of this year plus £133 off the arrears for the next three months for this year plus legal costs (£310).

They had me sign that I agreed to this.

But thinking afterwards we get £227 a week (SRPx2) and £157 for my PIP. So out of the total weekly income of £384 they are expecting me to pay £75 a week for the next 3 months then £40 a week thereafter.
That doesn't leave that much for other bills and living costs.
Have the Council got the right to use my PIP as income?

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Comments

poppy123456

I think for this reason and paying what you owe for your council tax then yes they can. You can of course claim council tax reduction if you wish, as well as the pension credit.

calcotti

woodbine said:

Is this a case of here we go again ? @racyguy is it me or have we discussed this problem in a different disguise before ?

I believe we have.

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

I think for this reason and paying what you owe for your council tax then yes they can. You can of course claim council tax reduction if you wish, as well as the pension credit.

Yes of course I can but unfortunately not only is it extremely difficult for me to make those claims but the maintenance of them is far to odious.
I just really wanted to know if the Council were entitled to use my PIP for paying off a debt and paying for ongoing Council Tax whereas not for awarding CTS. They are provided for the costs of my care and they allow me to be mobile.

racyguy

woodbine said:

Is this a case of here we go again ? @racyguy is it me or have we discussed this problem in a different disguise before ? If it's me then I apologise profusely .

Different problem to be honest

racyguy

Biblioklept said:

Really, it does seem unfair for CTS to ignore it but them to use it as income for purposes of paying your council tax. I don't think there's a way around it though or anyhing you can do £300+ a week for bills and living costs isn't that bad though. Some people on just UC only get around that a month!

Maybe, but £157 of that money was awarded for my care and mobility costs - and not for paying Council Tax, electricity/gas, insurances, food, clothing etc.

poppy123456

Biblioklept said:

Really, it does seem unfair for CTS to ignore it but them to use it as income for purposes of paying your council tax.

They can if you were taken to court for not paying your council tax, which is what’s happened here. For this reason they have taken into consideration their PIP for the purpose of paying what they need to pay.

poppy123456

racyguy said:

poppy123456 said:

I think for this reason and paying what you owe for your council tax then yes they can. You can of course claim council tax reduction if you wish, as well as the pension credit.
I just really wanted to know if the Council were entitled to use my PIP for paying off a debt and paying for ongoing Council Tax whereas not for awarding CTS. They are provided for the costs of my care and they allow me to be mobile.

Indeed, which I did answer. The problem here is that council tax must be paid, it’s not a bill you should avoid paying.

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

Biblioklept said:

Really, it does seem unfair for CTS to ignore it but them to use it as income for purposes of paying your council tax.

They can if you were taken to court for not paying your council tax, which is what’s happened here. For this reason they have taken into consideration their PIP for the purpose of paying what they need to pay.

In which case who is going to pay for my care needs and mobility issues?

poppy123456

We could continue to go round in circles yet again here. You simply can’t ignore a council tax bill and that’s pretty much all there is to it.

janer1967

Your PIP in your opinion is just for your daily living and mobility

but I think you will find most people.getting pip are having to use it for meeting the cost of living

Bills etc are part of daily living costs

At the end of the day you have not paid your council tax and now that has caught up with you putting you in this situation sorry as I am about this but the debt has to be recovered maybe you should have 8ffered them the £150 rebate to offset some of the debt

poppy123456

Council tax reduction is one of the easiest benefits I’ve claimed. You can’t pay your bill, you get taken to court, you’re still arguing that you can’t pay it but you still won’t claim the benefit which will help you financially.

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

We could continue to go round in circles yet again here. You simply can’t ignore a council tax bill and that’s pretty much all there is to it.

I do see your point. But compared to last January we were receiving over £50 a week more in income and had no CT liability to pay as we were classified as being on a low income and exempt from CT.
Now we are over £50 a week down and having to pay £2100 a year council tax.

poppy123456

That was because you were claiming pension credit but you cancelled the claim. Nothing further to add here really because it’s all be said before.

MarkM88

What happened to the £50?

poppy123456

MarkM88 said:

What happened to the £50?

They cancelled their pension credit.

MarkM88

poppy123456 said:
They cancelled their pension credit.

Oh…

ShirleyW

I don't understand why the maintenance of a Pension Credit claim is so difficult when your only income is 2 x State Pensions and PIP.

There is no maintenance to be done after the initial claim. The Pension Credit people know what changes there are to your State Pensions. There is no need for you to contact them.

If you reclaim it again your Council Tax not need to be paid in the future.

calcotti

ShirleyW said:

I don't understand why the maintenance of a Pension Credit claim is so difficult when your only income is 2 x State Pensions and PIP.

There is no maintenance to be done after the initial claim. The Pension Credit people know what changes there are to your State Pensions. There is no need for you to contact them.

If you reclaim it again your Council Tax not need to be paid in the future.

My recollection is that there is a private pension also but it has been done at great length on previous threads.

ShirleyW

@racyguy perhaps you could confirm if you also have a private pension as @calcotti seems to think.

Because at the beginning of this post you say that your only income is the two State Pensions and PIP.

chiarieds

Hi @ShirleyW - The OP mentioned 4 annuities & 2 work pensions in his first comment here: https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/86680/pension-credit-is-a-nightmare