Category Archives: Casework

Please vote for a new project

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The recent changes to the amount help the government will give people with their housing costs will mean that many thousands of households will be forced away from their homes, jobs, friends and family and into cheaper areas . Moving house can be stressful and traumatic for everyone at the best of times, but it is especially for those forced to move  while surviving on a small income. It will be particularly difficult for those who are working on low wages who  depend upon their local networks for the child care help that enables them to work.

Z2K wants to use money from the NatWest Community Trust to employ a part-time co-ordinator to recruit a number of volunteers to assist families to settle in their new neighbourhoods. These locally based volunteers will help with important activities such as enrolling in local schools, registering with doctors while also supporting people with integrating into the local community and making  new friends.

Please register with  CommunityForce and vote for our important project here:

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/566

Voting closes on 23rd October.

Casework Success

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Ms A is a single mother struggling to raise her two sons. She is still recovering from the shock of having one of her children die in bomb blast in Afghanistan. Her only income is in the form of benefits, as she has been judged unfit for work, due to suffering from ‘chronic pain syndrome’, and is registered as disabled (she is unable to use her left hand). She has not been able to afford to take her children on holidays for the last 6 years. She recently fell into debt with British Gas, which caused her a great amount of anxiety. In a moment of panic, she decided to switch to another energy supplier, EON. After Z2K helped her make an application to the British Gas Energy Trust / Charis Grants, her debt with British Gas was written off, and she received £98 in the form of assistance with her current energy supplier.

On top of our Caseworkers assisting individual vulnerable utilities customers, like Ms A, Z2K organised an Energy Awareness Conference which brought together advice agencies and energy suppliers together to discuss consumer support and protection

My Time as a Z2K Intern

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Our recently departed intern, Janan, wrote this about her time with us. We’d like to congratulate her on her new role with the Financial Ombundsman, thank her and wish her all the very best.

My time as an Intern at Zacchaeus 2000 (Z2K) was extremely interesting, challenging and enjoyable. Even from my first day I was given a lot of responsibility, with an induction and training folder provided and support close at hand. I was always kept busy with interesting and varied cases, communicating with different clients, legal representatives and statutory bodies either face-to-face, by telephone or in writing. I very soon had opportunities to attend Tribunals in order to support clients through their hearings. Working so closely with clients has given me an insight into the various legal processes and how they affect different people. As a result, my work with Z2K has been a real eye-opener and a great opportunity to develop new skills. As a member of the team you quickly become open to and aware of potentially new and important issues experienced in society that Z2K would wish to be flagged and monitored.

The training is thorough and the training folder provided for every volunteer is extremely helpful. It provides valuable reference material on topics such as government benefits and associated laws that Z2K work with on a daily basis.

Z2K is made up of a great team which includes qualified professionals, such as solicitors and barristers, and experts in areas of policy and law that affect the most vulnerable in society. They are an inspirational team as they are enthusiastic and dedicated to their work at Z2K and never give up trying to achieve a valid cause. I have learnt a lot from every member of Z2K and every moment of my internship has been productive and interesting. I intend to remain as a volunteer for the organisation as I continue to believe in their goals and values and wish to contribute to their valid causes as much as possible.

Z2K tackle Camden Council’s maladministration

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Z2K has been helping a disabled person, Mr D, suffering from Crohn’s disease to address his council tax debt. In 2011, Camden Council decided to pursue Mr D for debt accrued from around 2006. Initially they said the debt was £118 – after calculating it and telling them that we had arrived at quite a different result, they decided the debt was in fact £39.84.

We asked them to write the debt off as it was causing Mr D an undue amount of stress, and he was in no financial position to expected to pay the amount. Regrettably Camden initially refused. However upon requesting them to conduct an internal review of that decision, they decided that it was quite inappropriate to pursue such a vulnerable person for such small amount of money, and the debt was written off. They even apologised, and said that our request ‘should have been highlighted to a senior staff member’.

We strongly condemn Camden council for initially miscalculating Mr D’s arrears and refusing to waver the debt once this error was brought to their attention. Many vulnerable people  are in no position to check and challenge erroneous calculations and decisions by local and central government.  It is not known how much money is unfairly and unjustly collected from other people in similar situations to Mr D.

Having said this, we are glad that after Z2K’s pressure Camden eventually admitted their mistake and wavered the debt. We hope that this unfortunate chain of events will inform future practice.

SEEKING JUST OUTCOMES: THE MACKENZIE FRIENDS PROJECT

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Joanna Kennedy talks about a new scheme for support in court in July’s issue of “Magistrate”

Lola is a nurse from Burundi where she was raped and tortured. Her husband was murdered and she was separated from her children. She fled to this country where she was granted asylum and eventually reunited with her children. She is extremely grateful for all the help that she has been given which she would like to repay by building a new and productive life for herself and her children, although she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

She was housed by Hackney Council who are her landlords but the property is in fact in Islington. She applied for and was granted housing benefit but no-one told her about council tax or that she had to make a separate application for council tax benefit in Islington. Eventually, out of the blue she received a demand for £836 council tax. She obtained benefit backdated for six months but then faced a summons for £533 including costs.

Lola lives on a very low income and paying this sum would literally take food out of the children’s mouths. The benefits system recognises in principle that she cannot pay but in practice cannot help. Z2K is a charity which helps those on low incomes facing debt and summonses. She came to us on the brink of the hearing of the summons because she was terrified of going to court. We sent someone with her as a McKenzie Friend who arranged for the hearing to be adjourned. We then reminded the council of its power to remit tax under s13A  Local Government Finance Act 1992. Eventually it agreed to reduce the demand to £318 for which it still insisted on obtaining an order. A McKenzie Friend went with Lola to court again to discover that the council, having agreed the reduction, still sought £418, so the McKenzie Friend helped challenge this: without her an incorrect order would have been made.

McKenzie Friends Project

Lola’s story is extreme but it shows that there are people who face council tax summonses who are not at fault, who are terrified of going to court and who need help. Councils bring computerised lists of alleged council tax defaulters to court seeking liability orders. Sometimes those applications need challenging for all kinds of reasons but most unrepresented litigants, especially those with difficulties with English or literacy or with mental health issues, are incapable of doing that without help.

Lola was referred to us before the hearing but many more simply turn up at court frightened and bewildered. There may be good reasons why the claim should be investigated but anyone with articulacy problems or lack of confidence is unlikely to persuade the council tax officer not to steam ahead to obtain an order and even less likely to persuade the court that there are issues that need scrutiny.

The recent cuts in legal aid and to advice centres budgets mean that there is no publicly funded advice available for any kind of debt including council tax.

Z2K joined with LawWorks (the umbrella body for solicitors’ pro bono work) and the College of Law to devise a ‘duty’ volunteer McKenzie Friends scheme which will provide a McKenzie Friend for all those who turn up to court facing a council tax summons. The McKenzie Friend will help negotiate a manageable outcome with the council officer and there will only be a dispute in court if a sensible outcome cannot be agreed.

We will start with a six-month pilot scheme in Brent Magistrates’ Court from September 2011 dealing with Brent’s Council tax list. The ‘Friends’ will be law students whom Z2K will train. They will be supervised, we hope, by retired magistrates who might be interested in this work, which we intend to develop into dealing with other issues in due course. Any retired magistrates reading this who would be interested in helping, please contact me at the e-mail address below.

The Brent judges have been very encouraging and we believe this scheme should be welcomed with open arms by all magistrates. It should improve the functioning of the council tax list and produce more just outcomes. We also propose an information campaign which will mean that more of those summonsed will attend if they know there will be help available.

Without a McKenzie Friend, Lola would have suffered more stress which would have impeded her recovery and damaged her children. This scheme will provide similar help for all the other Lolas out there.

Joanna Kennedy is the chief executive of Z2K. Contact her via e-mail on:

admin@z2k.org

Ms M., a Z2K success story

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Our Caseworker Yiannis Voyias recently secured an excellent outcome for one of our clients. The account below shows how persistence and determination can pay off. However, many vulnerable debtors on low incomes, such as Ms M, lack the resources to fight for a satisfactory conclusion. Sadly this case is not isolated and organisations such as ourselves cannot help everybody; so a more efficient, reliable and compassionate system is clearly needed.

Ms M, was referred to us from Women Against Rape.  She is  a single mother from Burundi suffering from post traumatic stress because  her  husband was murdered and she had been raped and tortured. She received a Council Tax bill for a period in 2009, when she had made a council tax benefit claim, but LB Islington had lost all the papers, so no benefit was awarded. The bills exacerbated her stress problems, and so did LB Islington’s aggressive approach to the problem – taking her to court twice.  Z2k working with a local Councillor  Greg Foxsmith managed to convince Islington to put enforcement on hold both times  since we were in the middle of addressing the issues. After being told repeatedly  that LB Islington cannot backdate benefit claims more than 6 months, we requested that the debt (around £400) be written off completely. This was also refused several times , but after requesting an Internal review, and notifying them of our intention to appeal even further to the Valuation Tribunal Islington  they decided to write off all the debt.