Debts cancelled for former asylum seeker
CHAC Case study
Zaheer’s story
Eight years after arriving in the UK as a 17-year-old unaccompanied asylum seeker, Zaheer received council tax bills from Canterbury City Council totalling almost £5,000.
Although Zaheer received monthly Universal Credit (UC) payments of £265, it wasn’t until the arrival of the council tax bills that she became aware of the UK’s council tax system. She had no knowledge of any support to which she might be entitled and came to Canterbury Housing Advice Centre looking for help.
Zaheer had arrived in the UK in November 2014. She had fled her home in Nigeria when her parents were killed during a period of political unrest. Initially, she fled to another African country but was kidnapped by an unknown man. She manged to call her aunt who reported her kidnapping to the police. Her kidnapper then released her but not before he beat her so badly with a tyre wheel brace that she required treatment in hospital. Once she recovered, Zaheer felt so unsafe that she fled to Libya and then to Europe by boat. She made her way to France where she paid a man to get her onto a lorry to the UK. The police and Border Force then found her and two other refugees in the back of a lorry near Dover.
As an unaccompanied minor, Kent County Council Social Services took over responsibility for Zaheer and provided her with financial and non-financial support. At first, she was placed with a foster family near Ashford. However, when she started college in Canterbury, Social Services moved her to a shared house in the city.
Once Zaheer got her papers from the Home Office (confirming she had indefinite leave to remain in this country together with recourse to public funds), Social Services ceased their support on her 21st birthday in 2018. Prior to stopping the support, Social Services ensured Zaheer was housed in a Council flat by Canterbury City Council. Social Services also made an online application for her for Universal Credit. However, Social Services did not tell Zaheer anything about council tax or Council Tax Support.
Zaheer had no prior experience of life in the UK and, from arrival, had been looked after by Social Services. She remained unaware of the UK’s council tax system until May 2022 when she received bills for £4,943 from Canterbury City Council. The bills covered the period from when Zaheer’s council tax liability began in 2018 through to 31 March 2023. These were the first communications from Canterbury City Council that Zaheer received about council tax.
How CHAC helped
Firstly, CHAC provided proof to the Council that Zaheer had been a student until July 2019. This resulted in her council tax debt for the year 2018/2019 being cancelled. Secondly, CHAC notified the Council that she had always been a single person and was therefore entitled to a 25% council tax discount. The Council accepted this, applying the discount from July 2019. Thirdly, CHAC helped Zaheer apply for Council Tax Support for the year 2022/2023. This was backdated for one month (Council Tax Support cannot be backdated for more than one month).
The outcome
Zaheer’s council tax debts were reduced from £4,943 to £1882. CHAC then helped Zaheer apply to the Council to write off her remaining council tax debts due to her background and personal circumstances - and the fact that she had not been billed for council tax from April 2018 until May 2022. The Council finally agreed to write off Zaheer's remaining council tax debts for the period up until she started receiving Council Tax Support.