General Chat

Most will be aware of the rebate of £150 that everyone will get towards their Council tax bill. If you pay your bill by d/d then it will most probably be credited to your Council tax account. This will then reduce your monthly payment so you will have a few pounds left over.

I pay mine by debit card every 1st of the month and mine went direct into my Council Tax account thus reducing my monthly amount.

So I'm listening to a discussion on the radio where in Rotherham, those that pay the Council Tax in cash at council offices or PO, received a cheque for £150.(This is because the local council does not have their bank account details) These people were complaining because they claimed they wanted the money straight away and did not want to pay the cheque into their bank accounts and have to wait say 5 days for it to clear.

So many queued up at Pawnbrokers who cashed the cheque for them and charged £16 so they only received £134!! Quite ridiculous. They were moaning that some needed the money for food and electric immediately But this is an extra one off benefit in addition to what these people get anyway..

Firstly, this rebate was actually to help you pay less each month for your council tax.Not for for spending on other things. .

Secondly, all cheques are crossed with the words "Account Payee only," This means that the cheques cannot be signed over to anyone else and can only go into the account of the person named on the front of the cheque. That is the Banking Law Act. I know this because I worked in banking for 16 years and quite often refused cheques that were being paid into a business where say a corner shop had cashed a cheque for someone.

If the cheque bounced, it would be quite difficult to trace the payee if it had been given to a 3rd party.

So the Pawnbrokers who are cashing these cheques and then putting them through their business are breaking the law and the banks should not be accepting them.

I get so cross when I hear these people wingeing about having to wait for the money as its an extra benefit. They are lucky to be receiving it.

As for not minding about giving £16 in charges away to a Pawn broker, that says it all!

Florence in the hebrides

Seems a lot of money to lose when cheques, generally, only take a couple of days to clear.

It seems ridiculous to me that they wont give the council their bank account details so it can go straight into their account but then again, as they are happy to pay £16 in charges, it makes you wonder what they are spending the money on. As its cash, it wont be traceable!

They would normally pay the money direct to the Council tax account but these people choose not to pay by d/d...

Edit: The cheque act was brought in in 1992. But businesses like Pawnbrokers and cheque cashing shops have apparently an arrangement with their bank to accept these cheques but lose the right if the cheques bounce to a refund...

The Gov UK website states that 'the government expects billing authorities to provide a £150 one-off payment to a liable council tax payer', and that those who pay council tax by direct debit will receive the £150 directly into the bank account used for the direct debit.

Maybe Scotland decided to deal with it in a different way. I was happy to see the extra £150 in my account :-)

No Lyndi, Scotland put the money direct into the council tax account. These people were in Rotherham in England

OH says Scotland were wrong to do it that way, called it illegal.
But I haven’t looked up to see if he was right or wrong.

Illegal? How when the money was to reduce your council tax monthly bill? This way the money was being used properly. If it went into your bank or as a cheque in some cases, it could used to fund "habits" etc..

Yes Joan, far simpler

I did say I hadn't looked it up.

It was somehitng about it supposed to being repaid to the consumer and not into their council tax account.

It was a one off payment to help with the cost of living rise, aimed at that point more at the fuel increases. They used council tax bands to decide who should get it, anything higher than a D you were considered you had enough to get by, but could apply for a grant..

Councils could then identify the qualifying households easily and that was why it was paid through the council.

Many people needed the money urgently, some are on prepayment meters (I don't even know how they work as I believe they use top up cards, it was put a shilling in when we last had a meter) .

Some households are exempt from paying council tax and they were also entitled to the £150.

And yes namelessone, it does say should be paid direct and not as discount on council tax. Didn't bother me how I received mine, but it made a big difference to some.

It was sad to see people so desperate as those in the queue at Rotherham.

I understand all of that Lyndi, but these people in Rotherham could have scanned their cheques on their phones and in 3-4 days it would be available.Why waste £16 in charges if they are so needy?

If this benefit hadnt been paid, they would be surviving on what they normally do so saying because of this delay, I wont have electric or food to eat isnt really fair,

My mum is an OAP, she doesnt pay council tax and she hasnt received any rebate.
She hasnt had any letters about it so no idea if she is entitled?

If she doesn’t pay council tax there won’t be a rebate. If she doesn’t pay for her electrics / heating herself then she won’t get the other payments. That one will go to the bill payer eg Landlord

The rebate will be provided as a separate payment, rather than as part of your council tax bill.

This allows the support to be provided to households more quickly, rather than the benefit being spread as a discount across the usual 10 or 12 council tax bill instalments during 2022-23. It also means that households that do not pay council tax - for example, if they are exempt or have nil liability - are not disadvantaged.

Florence, the above is from the website and suggests that if your mum is a householder in a band A-D property she should get the payment - it will depend on her housing situation.

Thanks Lyndi. She owns her flat and gets her pension plus pension credit but hasnt received anything in the post about it. I shall ask her again at the weekend. She pays all her bills herself.

That’s good. That means she will get the big sum but I am confused over who gets the council tax rebate.

That’s good. That means she will get the big sum but I am confused over who gets the council tax rebate.

Florence, I'm sure you know already, but if your mum is an OAP and gets the winter fuel allowance, she will also be entitled to the one off £300 pensioner cost of living payment.

Seems that would be in addition to the £650 payment her pension credit entitles her to.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-living-support/cost-of-living-support-factsheet-26-may-2022

Hopefully your mum will everything she is entitled to at some point Florence. I think all the other payments (apart from the £400 which is going straight to utility suppliers) will go into the account her pension is paid in to, so one worry less :-)

A excellent edition of Money Box on radio 4 has just covered this.

It is repeated tomorrow (Sunday) at 9 pm. But you might want to turn off when it gets to the petrol topic. Listening to that won’t help your blood pressure.