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wages arrested non payment council tax
A friend has had their wages arrested for non payment of council tax. I believe the council has sold his debt onto a collection agency. They are taking a heck of a lot back each month, anybody know what he could do, as he is struggling big time. thanks
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I'm sorry, this makes no sence to me at all.
Do you mean a Detachment of Earnings?
The amount they take is calculated as a percentage of his take home pay each month.
They did the same thing to me a few years ago when they eventually caught up with me for Poll Tax I never paid them.
The only way I got rid of it was to change jobs. But it was only a temporary respite. They just went to my bank account and emptied that instead.
The arrestment arrangement is done between the agency and the employer (mine didn't like it at all but had to go along with it) so there is very little you can do.
You can try phoning the debt collection agency but if they have their hooks into your wages, it's unlikely they'll be interested in taking a lesser amount by personal arrangement. If you are going to come to an agreement, you're best to do it before it gets to this stage.
You mean Attachment of Earnings and the term Arrestment is a common alternative to this.
As for the OPs question I'm not sure of an answer, his employer will have no choice but to deduct the monies and all I can think is that he could appeal to see if he can get the amount reduced - he does owe the money I presume, so they are perfectly entitled to want it back. Maybe he should make an appointmnet with his local CAB as see what they advise.
I imagine the OP means the Council is taking the money directly from the individual's wages, whatever that's called. I believe it's possible to go to court and ask for smaller payments to be made over a longer period, but things must have got pretty far for the debt to have gone to a collection agency. The friend would have stood a better chance while the debt was still in the Council's hands.
We had a guy like that at work who struggled big time to pay his necessary bills but always had plenty of money to spend on entertainment and trivia. Some people get priorities all wrong.
Attachment of Earnings - in England
The OP could be perfectly correct in their terminology.
Once the Arrestment/Attachment has been set up, there is little your friend can do. The Arrestment/Attachment is legally binding on the employer to operate. The only ways to avoid this are:
1) Leave job, or
2) Reduce hours so that the take-home pay is below the lower limit for deductions, or
3) Arrange with the agency to repay the balance of the debt directly
The amounts to be decucted are fixed, based on the amount of take-home pay your friend has. So there is no way to reduce the payments either.
Yes, the debt collection agency have gone through his work to take the money off at source - (i think)
Your friend should have therefore received a court summons to attend this hearing. Where it would have been an opportunity for them to negotiate a monthly payment. And by this time, as long as you can prove you can't afford to pay more the courts usually accept a very small sum.
The fact it has gotten this far to me makes me think your friend was ignoring it, hoping it would go away. Now they are stuck as the debt collectors are getting money from the source. And by this time they are not obliged to negotiate any further. They are getting the money, that's all they care about.
Not much your friend can do I don't think. If they are truly struggling to make ends meet then maybe a trip to CAB is in order? For a start they will take a look at where the money goes and help your friend budget better.
Yes I thought they would have had to notify him too, but apparently the first he knew about it, was through his work. Thanks, I'll advise him to get on to CAB.
The Sheriff Officers are meant to send a copy to him at the same time as they serve it on the employers, so he ought to have known earlier - though it doesn't invalidate the arrestment if he didn't get a copy.
I'm not an expert in this area, but I doubt there's much he can do about the amount being deducted - the debt is due under a court judgment, and the deductions are subject to statutory limits (so are deemed to be affordable).
The debt collection agency employed someone to find out, probably adding £1000+ in fees to the debt as a result.
Translation: They offered him advise but it wasnt what he wanted to hear.
In England, a detachment from earnings order would not be issued without prior knowledge.
Has this friend been to the Citizens Advice? They are non profit making and will give the best advice, simply because 'there's nothing in it for them'.
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=03_recovery_of_council_tax
Maybe he just doesn't open letters?
Apparently he could have asked for time to pay his council tax. From the above page:
However, I suspect that matters may have gone too far for him to do that now.
The National Debtline might be helpful: its number is 0808 808 4000. Other advice here:
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice/advice_topics/paying_for_a_home/paying_council_tax/council_tax_arrears
They won't do that unless...
a) He is an awful long way behind.
b) He has ignored all attempts to contact him.
OR
He has broken a previous agreement to pay back an arrears.
No, but that's because they only have one endgame in mind; settlement of the debt.
Bit of waste of time contacting them at this stage. As others have said this didnt happen overnight. Plenty warnings would have been given, along with plenty of opportunities to negotiate maneagable repayments before it got anywhere near this stage. The fact that he is were he is means he has ignored every warning and ignored every offer to settle the debt in a more managable manner. And now that reasonable negotioation stage has passed is when he atempts to sort it out? Waste of time, of course the conversation went round in circles.
The only practical advise one can give now is learn from this experience so it never gets to this stage again. May sound like harsh and impractical advise right now (and I apologise for that), but in the long term it will save a lot of stress and money.
Or he had already disclosed the information when discussing making arrangements to pay.