Food bank stories
Loraine’s story
Our Council Tax campaign group of local people who've had to use the food bank and have also experienced Council tax debt and bailiff action, recently met with Wandsworth Council to ask them to stop using bailiffs to try to recover debt from people who receive Council Tax Reduction - and brilliantly, the Council said yes! Loraine has been a key member of our group, and this is her story.
“I’ve had bailiffs come around my house for Council Tax and it’s scary. You open the door, they put their foot in the door, and you can’t close it. It’s very intimidating. You don’t want them to come in because you’re frightened, but you also don’t want your neighbours to see because of the shame.
Once they’re in, it’s like what money have you got? Have you got this? Have you got that? How much money have you got in your bank account? But I hadn’t got anything.
They said: ‘Oh, we need the money now. We’re not leaving. Could you ask someone to borrow it?’. Who am I going to phone to ask ‘Can I have a thousand pounds’? They think it’s so easy.
It’s the presence of them. I feel uncomfortable, upset, frightened. That’s the big one: you’re frightened. You’ve got yourself into a bit of a pickle where it’s a certain situation in your life, however it’s come. You didn’t want this situation and the last thing you want is somebody coming in your home.
However depressed you are, you always know you’ve got keys to your door. You’re in your own home and that’s your sanctuary. That’s the one place on earth that you’ve got that is safe.
And yet these people are in there, taking your stuff or threatening to take your stuff. It’s like you’re being robbed in your own home while you’re standing there, allowing a stranger to do that. Even though they never took anything because there wasn’t anything worth taking, they’ve taken your self-worth and your safety.
What if you’ve got somebody who’s been an abuse victim, and you’ve got these men forcing their way into your home? They don’t know what situations they’re walking in to.
So they’re in your own home and although you know you can’t afford to pay that bill in the first place, you’ll agree with anything they say because you’re fearful of the person that’s standing in front of you. You’ll agree to anything just because you want them out the house. So when they say ‘Can you pay back everything in three months?’, you say, of course. ‘Can you sign this bit of paper?’ You’d sign anything. They give you no time. They say if you don’t pay we’ll be back with the trucks.
They go off – that’s their job – but you’re left so anxious. I’ve had those knots in my stomach and felt sick. What am I going to do? Where am I going to raise some money from?
I owed something like £500 to the Council for Council Tax. It was even less than that. By the time it finished with the bailiffs, it had gone to £3,000. Every time the bailiffs put a letter through the door, it was something like £50. In the end it got so bad, I couldn’t pay it.
It was horrible. The debts send you into a spiral. It was somewhere I’d never been there before, a deep black hole. I couldn’t come out of my bed. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t wash. And that went on for a good six months. It has an impact on you, you know, and they don’t understand that.
I’d ask the Council to be a bit more proactive. Can they phone people? And if people are able to phone the Council, can we get through to a real person who is kind and helpful and patient? I know they have their website but not everyone can do that.
If you’re in trouble with your rent, the Council seems to give you a lot more time. My rent is now paid direct to the Council from Universal Credit because of my bipolar and depression. If you’re behind with gas and electric, they’ll put you on a prepayment meter. But Council Tax? It’s never changed, it’s just stayed stagnant. And that’s the difference. Everything else seems to give you a little bit of leeway, and time to pay.
The Council needs to take people’s individual situations into consideration. Things do happen – some people can’t cope. They get depressed or worse, all because they’re in such debt.
You have to be person friendly. You have to help people out. Everyone has different needs. I know you can’t be person-centred on every single case maybe, but if you look and can see that someone’s struggling, please help them.”