on councils

 generally have low expectations when it comes to anything related to public administration in Britain. In the past three years, all my encounters with British officialdom have suggested gross mismanagement and exceptionally poor organisation. In no aspect of daily life here does this appear more true than when dealing with the local councils. Councils in the UK pick up your rubbish, clean the parks, and charge you something called council tax. This is a mysterious tax everyone pays on top of property tax etc. We are told it helps pay for the councils. Council tax is not cheap. My monthly rent is 600 pounds per month, my council tax (were I to pay) would be 150 pounds per month on top of that, in other words an additional 25% on top of my rent.

However, there are two categories of people who are exempt from paying council tax: unemployed people on benefits, and full time students.

I am still registered as a full time student, and therefore qualify for an exemption, as I have every year I have been in this country. So this October, at the start of the school year, I took in a letter from my university stating I was indeed still a student. However, a got a letter a month later claiming "PhDs are not really students as they do not attend classes." Ridiculous. So, I went back to my university where the officials composed a letter, citing home office legislation, explaining that actually PhD students are in fact students. I took that letter to the council in November. Fortunately I got a receipt acknowledging they had got it….in December, I got a summons to appear in court for "non-payment of council tax" a crime for which, the letter told me, I could have my property confiscated, or even go to prison. I panicked and went to my university, which assigned me a legal team. They called the council to ask why my earlier documents had not been approved. The reason? No one had bothered to look at them, supposedly due to a backlog of cases. Although my case was referred to supervisors at the council five times in December and early January, no one from the council ever looked at my documents. My university filed a claim of maladministration against the council. It went to court late last week, and the case lasted under 5 minutes. The legal representative for the council claimed he had no idea I had ever submitted evidence of being a student. Fortunately I had the documents and the receipt from the council on me. The magistrate asked the council rep why they had issued me a summons before looking at the file I had submitted to them. The council's rep said "um, I need to speak to my supervisor." Where upon the case was thrown out of court, and the council ordered to

1. Grant me the exemption

2. pay my court fees

3. pay all my legal fees

4. issue a full apology for wasting my time and the court's time as a result of their maladministration

 

Now this entire adventure cost the British tax payer several thousand pounds, and it all could have been avoided if the council had just done their job properly, and looked at the documents submitted to them in a timely manner. Clearly, however, this is asking too much. I posted a little message on a social networking site proclaiming my victory and I was astonished to find myself flooded within hours by messages from other acquaintances with similar stories. A colleague told me an incredible story about having her bin seized by the council, because she left it on the pavement on a Wednesday her first week after moving into the area. She also got a summons claiming she would have to appear in court and pay 500 pounds if she wanted her bin back. She also won her case, but had to wait 6 months before the council could find a replacement bin. Another person wrote of being fined for using the wrong coloured bin liner. Another guy said he had been on the dole for 2 months while between jobs, and when he eventually got a job, he was told by the council he would have to repay all the money they had given him while on the dole (he sent this letter on to his MP and the council quickly issued a full apology, citing "computer error" as the reason why he was ever issued such a ridiculous letter in the first place) the cases went on and on.

 

There is one park in my borough, and it is not clean. The rubbish is collected only twice a month (every other Wednesday). I am told the schools are overcrowded and under staffed. Why exactly do people pay council tax?