1 day Ago
Phillip Richards and Lisa Ives now face another battle over council tax they have been told they owe. The couple from Birkenhead, Wirral were told in February 2025 they owe £3,143.80 for council tax bills dated between April 2020 and October 2023 and would have to pay this back over five years.
This relates to a previous dispute with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over housing benefit which the couple said they won. As part of her benefits, Lisa was having her council tax covered as part of a past reduction scheme for those on the lowest incomes. When Phillip and Lisa began living together in 2020, they notified the DWP of this.
However, it’s understood the DWP failed to process their claim properly and continued to issue the benefits in error not informing Wirral Council or the couple of this. The couple said they had sent hundreds of emails trying to resolve the issue but with no luck. The couple showed the LDRS letters saying they owed zero council tax between April 2021 and March 2023 as well as a letter confirming both council tax support and housing benefit from March 9 2022.
The couple were only sent a letter confirming changes to their benefits in July 2022. Despite the error over their benefits, the couple said the DWP tried to take them to court and failed. The couple were later told on June 17 2024 in an email, seen by the LDRS, that housing benefit debt of £8,210.
98 was written off. Phillip, who works full time, said he and his partner had repeatedly tried to resolve both issues but struggled to get any response despite sending numerous emails and calling multiple times. He said: “If we were wrong, we would pay it.
If we were wrong, we would have now probably paid any bills but when you know you are in the right, it’s frustrating.” Lisa said: “Replies seem to be copy and pasted. It took months for them to notice what was going on.
We wanted it resolved years ago when we first started ringing when we heard about the housing overpayments. They didn’t even make us aware of it. They have hid it very well.
” The mum added: “I was scared to take my babies out of the house because I was worried the bailiffs were going to come to the door. They were very abrupt. It’s difficult enough having a baby, it was horrendous but that has added pressure.
Sometimes I just wanted to curl up in bed and hide from the world. “It was terrifying. Even talking about it now brings back all kinds of anxiety.
I just shake. My nerves got that bad. It feels like PTSD because it happened every single time.
” A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “The council has a duty to address outstanding debt according to its records. The appeal hearing relevant to this case ruled that the original overpayment of housing benefit was the result of an error unrelated to the council, which meant income-related Employment and Support Allowance continued to be paid and the council did not receive notification of the change in circumstances at the time. “The effect of the judgement on the rate of council tax that should have applied during that time is being investigated and we hope to be able to inform the resident directly of the outcome of that process very shortly.
” After the LDRS approached the council, the couple were told by the local authority it had made an error and would be reversing most of the charges as well as liability order costs. The council said the couple now only owed £970.49.
The council told the couple: “At the point when council tax Support was awarded, the assessment was made on a 75% charge due to a single occupancy discount. Bills issued at the time showed a nil balance due to Council Tax Support and a 25% discount as one adult resident. “Although the decision from the tribunal was based on you having advised the Department for Work and Pensions that your partner had occupied and they did not adjust your income, the Local Authority were not advised of Mr Richard’s occupancy and no request was made to remove the single occupiers discount.
” Due to other council tax arrears, the couple will have to pay £135.78 for April 2025 followed by 11 monthly payments of £132.00.
The local authority apologised for the delay in updating the couple’s council tax account. The couple still plan to contest the amount of money they’ve been told they still owe to the local authority. They said this is because they were not aware of any council tax debts until February this year as the debt had been racked up during a period they were told they didn’t need to pay council tax.
Phillip said: “I am wasting a lot of my own time,” adding: “Unless we have got thousands of pounds, we can’t really do anything about it. That is the big issue. If we had the money we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.
I am not the council, I haven’t got solicitors working for me to fight this in court.” The DWP did not respond to a request for comment..
