Venessa Feltz talks about money and debt with Ripon Ray on BBC London Radio

As Vanessa starts the conversation on money on BBC London on 9 November 2018 Ripon Ray phones in on her show to explain what he sees in Hackney as a money and debt expert.

Carers Rights Day 23rd November 2018 and my talk on Universal Credit and Debt

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray (23/10/2018)

Another week and another tip and topic for you. On this show I talk about how to keep your tax bill in check to make sure that the HMRC does not end up biting you extremely hard.

Also, my main topic of the week is to look at whether you should save or invest your money. When should you save your money? What is the difference between saving and investing? What benefits and risks there are before you think about saving and investing? If you are thinking of investing a huge sum, you must seek financial advice.

Your Money Matters ...with Ripon Ray (Second Half) (16/10/2018)

On this half of the show my tip of the week is on life insurance. What is life insurance? Should you get a single life insurance or a joint? What are the benefits of getting a life insurance? Find out on this YouTube!

My main topic is then on council tax. Do know how councils work out how much you pay council tax? Are you entitled to any financial support on your council tax bill. When are you liable to pay it? What is the process for challenging your liability? Do you know that in curtain circumstances you are entitled to get a discount and exemption from paying council tax? If you are liable to pay, I explain the process councils throughout country follow to recover the debt either from your income or via an enforcement agent. Councils can make you bankrupt. In extreme scenarios you may be put in imprison. You will find all the answers on this part of the show.

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray (16/10/2018)

My tips of the week for you is how to avoid paying extra on your mobile phone. I also explain ways for you to buy a car and pros and cons of buying your car outright, on hire purchase, loans repayment, personal contract purchase, paying by using credit card and peer-to-peer lending.

My Response to Tower Hamlets Council Consultation on Council Tax Reduction Scheme (2018)

1. Limit the maximum non-dependant deduction applied in respect of any person who gets disability benefits i.e. Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independent Payments, Attendance Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance to £4.00 per week. (A non-dependant is an adult who lives in the household other than the Council Tax charge payer and his/her 

Personal Independent Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA) are for the following purpose: to help with extra cost of the disadvantage of having physical or mental health disability for people aged 16 to 64  and above. They are non-means tested benefits. These benefits enable recipients to manage their health conditions. If the council deducts from their disability benefit it would reduce their ability to live independently. Individuals who are affected by disability are already living in poverty. Please read this article: Half of people in poverty are disabled or live with a disabled person | Disability Rights UK

Half of people in poverty are disabled or live with a disabled person | ...

2. Adjust the assumed level of minimum income for self employed claimants to reflect their age.

The council's charges ought to reflect the financial reality of those who  are self-employed. Younger workers may not be as equipped as those individuals who are experienced in relation to being self-sufficient. Any forms of support to inform individuals who are self-employment is beneficial. This is particularly the case when younger  self-employed claimants are concerned.  If they are supported in a way for them to pay their taxes and manage their income and budget their finances, in the end, it would help the council in the long term because they would not get in to debt.

3. Enhanced support for self-employed claimants

Referring individuals to advice services is essential in order for claimants to negotiate on their behalf or manage their debts. At the same time, the council ought to withhold from taking recovery action until the matter has been resolved.   

4. Allow entitlement to be backdated for up to 52 weeks

Tower Hamlets' backdating policy would help a number of residents who are struggling financially. This policy would go beyond the current national legislation in relation housing benefit backdate.  Housing Benefit backdate is only for 1 month for example. Check here: https://touch.nihe.gov.uk/housing_benefit_backdating.pdf 

5. Change the Child Allowances included in the local scheme to reflect those used in the assessment of Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit and Housing Benefit

Bengali families are larger in size compared to White families on average. Tory government's limit to 2 children would discriminate against these Bengali families. The local government should move away from working in line with universal credit. Instead the calculation ought have been done in relation to the legacy benefit system which helps family members much further than what this policy does.

Child Poverty Action group has taken the government to court in relation to limiting benefits based on 2 children based on human rights issues. Check this out: 

judicial review | Child Poverty Action Group

6. Are there any other changes you think we should consider to our current scheme?

The council is able to increase council tax bill by 5.99 without calling a referendum to charge high earning properties and  at  the same time support low income/benefit claiming residents.

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray (02/10/2018) Part 2

This is your second half of the weekly Betar Bangla Radio/ Youtube show. Your tips of this week is how you can save money on your water bill.

Here is your chance to find out about different types of bank accounts: savings accounts, current accounts, basic accounts, Post Office accounts and joint accounts. You can also find out ways for you to make a complaint against your bank if you are unhappy with its services. Find out ways you can prevent your creditors from taking money from your account without your permission.

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray (02/10/2018) Part 1

On the first half of this weekly show I explain your tips of the week when an airline company goes bust and who you can bring a claim against. If you are thinking of ways to formally write off unsecured debts and you are an individual, you need to watch this YouTube because I talk about Debt Relief Order, Individual Arrangement and bankruptcy.

Your Money Matters ...with Ripon Ray (First Half)

On this part of the weekly money show I explore the importance of making a will for your loved one. Why is it important making it? What could happen if you don't have a will? What are the ways of making it and potential risks involved with these options?  I also look at ways for you to save money on your fuel supply - this is my tips of the week.

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray (Second Half)

This is your weekly radio show.  This time I talk about how to save money on your car insurance and  ways to protect yourself from scams.

My Campaign: No Poll Tax 2 campaign urges Town Hall to scrap controversial relief cut

By Ed Sheridan, Local Democracy Reporter | September 18, 2018

Hard Times: Campaigners clash with council over council tax support. Photograph: Marco Verch.

A cross-party campaign is calling on Hackney Council to walk back a recent cut to tax relief and instead provide full support to the borough’s poorest residents.

The Town Hall came under heavy fire from anti-poverty charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K) in September last year after it announced plans to increase the amount of council tax paid by working age residents in financial hardship.

In order to offset government cuts, the council made the decisionearlier this year to go ahead with changes to its Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS), increasing the amount paid by working age claimants from 15 to 17 per cent.

The No Poll Tax 2 campaign has now started a petition calling on the local authority to think again and provide 100 per cent support through a “fully funded Council Tax Benefit Scheme”.

Z2K campaigner Jen Durant said: “We strongly campaigned against Hackney Council’s plans to cut council tax support for people on the lowest incomes.

“While we understand the financial pressure local authorities are under, we see no reason why the council is choosing to push the burden of government cuts onto its poorest residents.

“We have long argued for a return to 100 per cent council tax benefit, and we very much hope Hackney will follow the lead of boroughs such as Tower Hamlets and Camden in reinstating full support.”

The cut to council tax support for roughly 27,000 working age claimants was made in response to a predicted £500,000 rise in the cost of the CTRS,  and against a backdrop of a fall in financial support from central government.

The council initially planned a 5 per cent cut – meaning those affected would have to pay 20 per cent of their bill – but the idea attracted sharp criticism from local political parties.

The Town Hall then settled on 17 per cent, effectively a 2 per cent cut, after a fraught consultation process during which a Z2K petition labelled the original plan “absurd”.

Modelling undertaken by consultancy firm Policy in Practice (PiP) predicted that the current 17 per cent rate would leave vulnerable households “more impacted than non-vulnerable households”.

Both Hackney’s Liberal Democrats and Greens have signed up to the No Poll Tax 2 campaign, which is pushing for the council to imitate other boroughs such as Tower Hamlets and Camden in offering 100 per cent council tax relief through the scheme.

Vice chair of Hackney Liberal Democrats Darren Martin said: “Nobody disputes that funding cuts to local government have left Hackney Council with difficult choices to make, but they do have choices.

“The neighbouring borough of Tower Hamlets with similar pressures to Hackney provides 100 per cent council tax support for its poorest residents and we believe Hackney Council should do the same.

“The funding pressures are not likely to get any easier in the next few years and the reality is that the cost of the CTRS will continue to rise.

“The answer is not to ask the poorest people to pay – the solution is to find the additional funding to safeguard the scheme and protect those who need it the most.”

Debt adviser and campaigner Ripon Ray added: “Asking people to pay contributions to council tax regardless of income or circumstances is regressive and amounts to a new poll tax.

“Hackney is attracting wealthy residents and many of them can pay more. It appears that there is lack of consideration for those who are unemployed, disabled, single mothers or zero-hours contract workers.”

The campaign is also calling for exemption of bailiff action for those on council tax support “as a matter of principle”.

Hackney Green Party campaigner Samir Jeraj said: “[Bailiff action] causes immense distress to people who are already under a lot of pressure and actually only ends up driving people further into debt.”

Responding directly to the petition, Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville said that offering 100 per cent relief would cost the council somewhere between £2.6 million and £3 million.

Mayor Glanville said: “That £3 million, it would have had to come from somewhere else, it would have led to further cuts in services.

“This isn’t the only service to the most vulnerable in the borough. There’s housing support, there’s our youth services, debt advice within the council, it’s equivalent to what we spend on libraries –  I don’t want to be going to look at these services for that £3m.

“I would say to the campaigners, we are absolutely with you that this should be a fully funded scheme. The people responsible are government, and they need to return that funding to the system.

“And until they do, it’s very hard for boroughs to make up that shortfall. Boroughs like Camden have a very different shortfall in terms of number of claimants and levels of council tax, so doing it here is not as easy because we have a lot more people in receipt of council tax benefit than Camden does.

“We did a really big consultation exercise last year. A lot of the same people were involved in that consultation process, and a lot of poverty action charities and organisations both inside and outside the borough made their views known.

“We listened, and stepped back from the proposals to increase the contribution to 20 per cent.

“We settled on 17 per cent because it met some of those deeper concerns about the impact of going to 20 per cent, but it still reflected the challenge of our financial position in making sure that the scheme was sustainable for the long term.”

Mayor Glanville added that the changes to the scheme would be reviewed half way through the term of his administration, and that “halfway through the first year of the scheme operating is not the time to suddenly change.”

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray

Alternative Lending - This week my focus is on payday lenders, credit unions & peer-to-peer lenders. What do they stand for? What are the differences between these lenders? What are the benefits of borrowing from them? I also talked about the risks involved when lending from these companies.

Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray

Universal Credit: How does it work? What does it mean for claimants? How to claim it? What does it include and what does it not include? If you disagree with the Department of Work & Pension how do you go about challenging it? This show talks about all those things and more on Your Money Matters...with Ripon Ray