Council Tax Support

[brainiac]

When applying for Council Tax Support you have to provide details of savings. Would your bank be allowed to release details of your account if the council contacted them, or is your account protected by data protection?

[New Judge]

They would not need to. They take what you tell them as true and you face prosecution if it is discovered you have told porkies.

[brainiac]

.....but how would they know you were lying (I'm not!) if they didn't check?

[hc4361]

It's not worth trying it. The government already knows what savings accounts you have as you are either paying tax on your savings or you have signed a declaration for the taxman stating you are a non-tax payer.

Being convicted of fraud has long lasting implications - it affects your ability to get house and other insurance for years; it can affect your job prospects.

[New Judge]

As hc says, they have their methods.

Local authorities do not check the finances of everybody who applies for Council Tax Credits. However, if they suspect you have made a false declaration they have ways of establishing your true position.

[Buenchico]

For several years (up until a year ago) I was unemployed most of the time but with occasional casual work. Every time I got such work (as well as signing off the dole) I had to write to the Council Tax people to tell them about my change of circumstances and then, a few days later (when the work had ended) I had to write to them again to tell them that I'd 'signed on' again. Every time I did that (which could sometimes be two or three times in a month) they required me to go to my bank, get a complete print-out of all my last 6 months transactions (which had to be stamped and signed by the bank's cashier) and then submit it to them. So they were certainly determined to check up on how much I'd got in the bank and how much income I had coming in!

[factor-fiction]

They sometimes get tip offs too from the public and then they can start to dig.