The following is a guest post by Z2K volunteer Mike Duggan

Mrs X, a lady from southern Europe working in London as a cleaner, had been summonsed for alleged non-payment of council tax. As a Z2K volunteer I was asked to help, and we arranged an interview at the Z2K office about a week before the court case was due. That’s when the problems started.

Firstly, Mrs X did not have good English. But she had brought one of her two sons, who could interpret. Secondly, it was very hard to determine the facts of the case.  Although it was clear that Mrs X’s council tax bill had soared overnight in late 2012, to the extent that she simply couldn’t pay it on her cleaner’s wage, the reason for this was far from evident. Continue reading →

Z2K Team before the walk

On Monday 20^th May a team of Z2K staff, volunteers and friends took part in the London Legal Walk. The Walk raises money for a wide range of charities and organisations to provide free legal advice. This year it was bigger than ever before with a record of 428 teams and 7,500 walkers, among them Judges, QCs, solicitors and legal advisers.

This year’s walk comes at a time when the government has cut the legal aid bill by £350 million a year, removing support for most housing, debt and welfare related cases. This will have a devastating effect on the ability of people in poverty to access justice. For example Shelter have said they will have to cut 10 of its housing advice centres in England because of an effective 50 per cent reduction in funding for the charity’s face-to-face advice services. It is in this context of growing demand and falling supply that access to free legal advice is more important than ever before.

The Z2K team were walking to raise money for our vital advice and support services. It took 11 of us just over two and half hours to walk the 10km around London (some slower than others!). We were left tired and blister ridden but our exertions were for a worthwhile cause. We have already seen a huge increase in our caseload this year and many of the benefit changes have yet to take full effect. We are pleased therefore to have raised just over £9,000 so far. But while this is an impressive amount it falls short of last year’s £10,623.50 and our target of £15,000 so if you haven’t already you can still donate here.

Part of the money raised will go to our Relief from Poverty fund which is used to make one off payments to temporarily help vulnerable families and individuals who find themselves with no other source of income through no fault of their own.

For example one of our clients had all his benefit taken away as a sanction for not attending a JobCentre meeting because he was busy attending a course the JobCentre had sent him on. We helped him to appeal successfully but this took a couple of weeks during which he had no funds at all. The fund gave him some money for food and fuel without which he would have gone hungry. If you want to help us to continue to support clients such as these please give generously.

The following is based on a real life example of one of our clients

Georgina is a single mother, having left a violent and abusive husband, with 3 children (aged 4, 7 & 10). When she was with her husband he was working in London so they needed to live in London. Now she is raising her three children single-handedly, through no fault of her own. She lives on benefits and relies on the support of local friends and family. Her ex-husband is not contributing in any way.

Her housing benefit was cut last year as a result of the housing benefit caps so, in order to remain close to her support systems, she downsized and now lives with her 3 children in a 2 bedroom flat at a rent of £330 per week.

She currently receives £591.73 a week in income support, child benefit, child tax credit and housing benefit. Prior to April 2013 this left her with £261.73 after rent, however she now has to pay £4.37 a week in Council Tax. After paying her energy bills she is left with £220 with which to feed and clothe her children and take them to school.

From 15^th July she will be subject to the benefit cap meaning her Housing Benefit entitlement of £305.77 will be reduced to £214.04. After she pays her rent and energy costs this will leave her with just £128.63 a week to survive on – an impossible task. What would you do in her situation?

I am currently studying Social Work at the University of West London but still live at home during the holidays. Under the new ‘bedroom tax’ regulations rooms occupied by students studying away from home are meant to be exempt. However Barnsley Council recently contacted my parents to inform them they would have to pay for my room, even though I am a full time student.

I called the council on behalf of my mum to inform them that the room is occupied by a full time student so could not be classed as under-occupied. They asked me to put this in writing, after which they then wrote back asking for seven pieces of information to prove that the room is occupied by the student. These included train tickets to prove the periods I had been at home (who keeps train tickets from 2011?!) and a list of all the times I have visited home since starting my course, where belongings are kept and post is delivered, what sort of accommodation do I live in at uni and what work I have undertaken during my summer holidays.They also threatened that even if the bedroom is exempt then they would make a Non-Dependant Deduction anyway.

Whilst I could provide the information they requested (with the exception of train tickets), this is an exceedingly over-zealous and bureaucratic process.  If they ask this information of all households with a full time student it must waste an incredible amount of time as well as causing anxiety, especially with the threat of having to pay a Non-Dependant Deduction.

In my case I am fortunate enough to be on  a placement at Z2K so I was armed with the knowledge that Non-Dependant Deduction do not apply to full time students, but someone with this knowledge may have been made to pay.

With all the doom and gloom coming our way it’s  no wonder we have seen an increase in the number of clients walking in through our doors. This year alone we have already helped over 300 new clients as well as continuing to support many more existing clients. This would not have been possible without the help and assistance of our trusted volunteer team.

We are a volunteer led organisation and it is our volunteers that support the majority of our casework here. Volunteers undertake a variety of tasks ranging from answering phone calls, taking down case referrals to preparing appeal bundles and supporting clients in courts and tribunals. Our volunteers love the fact that no two days are the same and they get to do exactly the same casework as the staff so no boring administrative tasks.

We are very grateful to all of our volunteers old and new for all their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm. Without them it would not be possible for us to help the sheer number of people that we do! If you are interested in volunteering at Z2K you can see the opportunities we have available here.