‘Hundreds of London’s poorest and lowest-paid inhabitants attended a mass
court hearing in south London on Friday, hoping to challenge non-payment of
council tax orders issued by Southwark council, which had summonsed 5,800 people
to attend.
The mass summons was one of a number of similarly large summonses issued
nationwide over the past few weeks, as legal proceedings begin against
unemployed and low-income people who have been unable to pay new council tax
payments, introduced in April.
Around 400 attended court on Friday, most of them responding to a court
summons for the first time, many of them anxious and angry about the process.
Although the weekly payments appear low, averaging at around £2.50, those who
attended gave detailed accounts of how this was a difficult sum to pay out of a
minimum wage income, or out of benefit payments. All faced the additional £65
cost of the court summons, in addition to the council tax arrears.’
Read
more: Thousands of UK's poor in court over non-payment of council
tax
‘Hundreds of London’s poorest and lowest-paid inhabitants attended a mass court hearing in south London on Friday, hoping to challenge non-payment of council tax orders issued by Southwark council, which had summonsed 5,800 people to attend.
The mass summons was one of a number of similarly large summonses issued nationwide over the past few weeks, as legal proceedings begin against unemployed and low-income people who have been unable to pay new council tax payments, introduced in April.
Around 400 attended court on Friday, most of them responding to a court summons for the first time, many of them anxious and angry about the process. Although the weekly payments appear low, averaging at around £2.50, those who attended gave detailed accounts of how this was a difficult sum to pay out of a minimum wage income, or out of benefit payments. All faced the additional £65 cost of the court summons, in addition to the council tax arrears.’
Read more: Thousands of UK's poor in court over non-payment of council tax
