Privatising public assets meets a setback

LB Haringey thought they were onto a good thing by 'joint venture' capitalism between a public authority and privatising global corporation Lendlease.

Haringey Unite Community and Haringey Green Party member Gordon Peters has made them think otherwise, however, with the aid of crowdfunding a legal challenge.

Details at https://uk.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=dwp%20right%20to%20be%20accompanied&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-100&type=newtab
and
http://londongreenleft.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/legal-challenge-to-social-cleansing-in.html

Unjustly treated Revd Paul Nicolson points to the mass-destruction perils of 'push button justice' over civil debt

Guest blog post from Revd Paul Nicolson

IT IS HIGH TIME THIS INHUMAN COMPUTERISED INJUSTICE IS STOPPED. 

Today Highbury Corner Magistrates court, as expected, issued a liability order against me to Haringey Council adding £115 costs. 

But far more seriously the magistrate issued liability orders plus costs against 510 Haringey residents by signing a computer printout. That was a small number: sometimes it has been over 2000 at one time by signing a print out. The total number of summons issued by Haringey last year was over 27.000. Nationally there are 3.5 million a year. 

The vast majority are issued by computer against local people who can never afford to pay the tax because their benefit incomes have been shredded by central government. 

Haringey Councillors ought to be ashamed of themselves for letting such an oppressive law loose on the large number of vulnerable and impoverished residents in the borough. It creates serious hardship.  

Great efforts by council staff goes in to collecting the tax from people who cannot pay. No surprise that over £2million is left unpaid every year. 

A computer will now send the following threats to residents of the borough vulnerable or not. It is an inhuman process. 

​​

Failure to contact 

​the council on receiving a liability order 

will result in the council taking one of the following methods of recovery to collect the outstanding Council Tax

​. 

• Enforcement Agents (
  ​commonly known ​
  as bailiffs)
  ​​
   
  ​ They add £75 as soon as Haringey give them the case​ (over 11,000 times last year). They then add £235 if they have to make a visit and another £110 if they call to collect the furniture. Council tax is a civil debt so they are not allowed to break in to people's homes. Keep to door shut is the advice. 
• Attachment of Earnings
• Attachment of Benefit
• Bankruptcy / Liquidation
• Charging Orders
• Committal to Prison 

Reminder: Support nonviolent revolutionary Revd Paul Nicolson on trial for Civil Disobedience against unjust laws that exacerbate poverty and mental health problems

The place: Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51 Holloway Road, London N7 8JA location map (1)
Date: Thursday, 13 July 2017

Demonstration of support for Paul

Outside the court, 12 Noon till 1:30pm

The Court Hearing

From 1:30pm

Further details

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/civil-disobedience-media-release-rev-paul-nicolson-summoned-to-court-for-no

See also
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/11/stop-making-poor-people-mentally-ill
regarding the bigger picture of the threats DWP benefit claimants have imposed on them even without their being imposed upon by Council Tax demands by LB Haringey, etc.

Paul argues that cessation of such State brutality would relieve the NHS budget of unnecessary strain. Public spending cuts, anyone?

Notes

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=531464&y=184830&z=0&sv=N7+8JA&st=2&pc=N7+8JA&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf

High Noon at Highbury Magistrates Court on Thursday 13 July 2017! Show solidarity for civil disobedience vs fiscal policies bad for health

Guest blog post by Revd Paul Nicolson, founder of Taxpayers Against Poverty, writing in a personal capacity

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE in solidarity with everyone in UK suffering mental or physical ill-health due to inadequate incomes and debt 

I have been summoned to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51 Holloway Road, London N7 8JA at 13.30 on Thursday 13th July.  There will be a demonstration outside the courts from 12-1.30. 

I am refusing to pay my council tax, as an act of civil disobedience, in solidarity with everyone in the UK suffering mental or physical ill-health due to grossly inadequate incomes and debt in work, self employment, unemployment  or zero hours contracts; particularly those who have been forced by national and local government to go to a food bank. 

​TWO UNPRECEDENTED RISES IN DEATH RATES.  

How many more infant deaths, how much more diminished life expectancy, do there have to be before UK national and local governments accept the overwhelming and undeniable evidence that low incomes impact on mental and physical health? Some 52,400 more deaths were reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to have occurred in the year to June 2015 as compared to the same period a year before,

​

Nine blogs on health equality 

Dr Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl Walker University of Brighton 

​​I will be asking the Highbury Corner Magistrates when and how they checked the costs of £115 they award this year against, mostly impoverished, council tax defaulters, 27,270 times in 2016/17.  ​

The bailiffs were dispatched by Haringey council to the doorsteps of Haringey residents 11,492 times in 2016/17​

There is a comprehensive description of how  £73.10 single adult unemployment benefit has been reducing in value since 1979 on the TAP website.  Its increases were frozen in 201I. It cannot afford 20% of the council tax, let alone court costs and bailiffs fees, introduced in 2013.  It also has to pay rent dues to the bedroom tax and the benefit cap.. 

OBJECTION TO HARINGEY'S COUNCIL'S  ACCOUNTS

I have raised an objection to Haringey Council's 2016/17 Accounts asking the auditors BDO, LLP 55 Baker Street, London W1U 7EU to audit the council tax costs awarded to Haringey Council by the Magistrates. 

​I have told the auditors that there is a profound public interest in the council and the magistrates ceasing to impose mental and physical ill health on the poorest ​Haringey ​tenants by enforcing an unpayable tax against grossly inadequate incomes adding court costs and bailiffs fees​, and failing to collect over £2million every year.  

Camden and Westminster Councils have already exempted benefit claimants from the tax. 

​Haringey's auditors BDO LLP  are authorised and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales 

I have reminded the auditors that ​BDO LLP is authorised and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales ("ICAEW") under registration number C001055835. .May I remind you of the ICEAW code of ethics. "ICAEW members are expected to demonstrate the highest standards of professional conduct and to take into consideration the public interest. Ethical behaviour plays a vital role in ensuring public trust in financial reporting and business practices and upholding the reputation of the accountancy profession".

HARINGEY COUNCIL TAXES BENEFIT INCOMES OF ITS 
POOREST RESIDENTS OF UK'S MOST DEPRIVED WARDS WITH 
LOW LIFE EXPECTANCY AND HIGH RISK OF LOW BIRTH-WEIGHT.

Ten blogs on affordable housing by 

Stephen Hill MRICS Churchill Fellow, Prof Danny Dorling University of Oxford, Fred Harrison Land Research Trust, Alison Gelder Housing Justice. 

Nine blogs on health equality 

Dr Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl Walker University of Brighton

Media Notice: £37 Council Tax hidden in £102 Court Costs to pay Haringey's Corporate Overheads — claims Revd Paul Nicolson

Guest Blog post from Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

MEDIA NOTICE

Rev Paul Nicolson

Tottenham 

1st August 2016

Revd Paul Nicolson Tottenham demo

02083765455

0761177889

£37 COUNCIL TAX HIDDEN IN £102 COURT COSTS TO PAY HARINGEY'S CORPORATE OVERHEADS - CLAIMS REV PAUL NICOLSON 

On the 4th August in Tottenham Magistrates Court I will be claiming that I have been unlawfully overcharged by at least £37 to pay the corporate overheads of Haringey Council in the court costs of £102 charged to me on a summons to the Magistrates court date 26th May 2016 and to 24,796 late and non paying residents of Haringey very many of whom are vulnerable. 

THERE WILL BE A DEMONSTRATION

​ AGAINST THE COUNCIL TAX ​

​

OUTSIDE TOTTENHAM MAGISTRATES' COURT, LORDSHIP LANE, N17 6RT COURT AT 10AM  ON THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST. 

The effect of Haringey including the £926,655 corporate overheads when calculating the £102 court costs charge for a summons by the council increases the council tax by £37 a year. (see attachment) 

I will be arguing that corporate overheads are part of the normal administrative costs of the council. Mrs Justice Andrews made it clear that court costs are to be treated as separate from administrative costs in the case that I won against the Magistrates and the Council in the High Court last year.   

This is important because £37 extra tax in £102 court costs on top of arrears can be the last straw which causes the hunger that forces thousands to visit the food banks. 

The impact of Haringey taxing the benefit incomes, shredded by central government, of the most vulnerable in Tottenham, where I live, since April 2013 has been devastating. £37 is a substantial part the £44 minimum food budget needed for a healthy diet for a week by a single adult. It is researched by nutritionists at the University of York, agreed as reasonable in public consultation and published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. (see table 1)

Three powerful departments of government DWP, DCLG and MOJ are simultaneously damaging the health of vulnerable, disabled, mentally and physically ill households in Haringey. 

The UK has a failing benefit system which requires councils to stop piling local agony on national inhumanity.

The total JSA for a single adult is £73.10 week. It has been paying the council tax and rent due to the bedroom tax since April 2013 and  fined for minor offences such as evading payements of TV licences and fares which cannot be afforded. It has also been stopped with a sanction for one month, three months or three years. Increasing rents mercilessly consume incomes needed to buy food and the fuel to cook it. . 

Note to editors,

My claim of overcharging by £37 is calculated as follows. 

The total cost of corporate overheads charged to court costs incurred up to the times of summons is £926,655 (see attached "Revised Cost Calculations 2015/16)

50% of corporate overheads £926,655 /24,796 summons = £37.

£37 of corporate overheads cannot be justified as a "cost reasonably incurred by the council in connection with the application" to the magistrates court for a summons.  Mrs Justice Andrews made it clear that court costs are to be treated as separate from administrative costs (paras 35-44). Corporate overheads are administrative costs to be spread among all council tax payers not dumped on late and non payers.  

It is a long standing principle in tax taxation law that sums have to be precisely calculated and the basis of taxation clearly defined. This £37 tax has been hidden in court costs. 

Since the council started taxing benefits of its poorest residents in April 2013 summons costs have been waived or withdrawn 21,258 times showing a loss of income to the council of £2.5 million.  (council witness statement). This inevitable consequence of taxing the lowest incomes in no way alters the unlawfulness of including corporate overheads in the court costs of over 40,000 late and non paying residents over the three years so increasing the council tax of those whose summons was neither waived nor withdrawn.   

Rev Paul Nicolson

93 Campbell Road, 

London N17 0BF

02083765455

07961177889

from the Reverend Paul Nicolson

Taxpayers Against Poverty

No citizen without an affordable home and an 

adequate income in work or unemployment. 

93 Campbell Road, Tottenham, London N17 0BF, 0208 3765455, 07961 177889, 

https://www.facebook.com/Taxpayers-Against-Poverty-299911526728884/

https://twitter.com/taxpayers_a_p www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk, 

www.z2k.org, www.prohousingalliance.com

PLEASE HELP FUND TAP

It is now possible to sign up as members for our email list using the join panel, and to help fund TAP on the TAP website, or to join TAP without contributing funds, membership is free.

Some people prefer to follow on twitter and Facebook but not on email.

Those of us who can afford to fund TAP are supporting those who cannot.

We need to raise £50,000 a year.

When you can please sign up for a monthly payment. 

​​or you can send a cheque or cash to;

Taxpayers Against Poverty Ltd, 

93 Campbell Road, Tottenham, London N17 0BF

or pay into Taxpayers Against Poverty Ltd a/c at

Branch sort code;40-06-20; Account Number; 71664603

Media Release from Revd Paul Nicolson: Revd Paul Nicolson vs Haringey, Grant Thornton and Tottenham Magistrates Court - case adjourned

From Revd Paul Nicolson by email:

Dear all. 

Haringey are making a meal of this wanting a full blown trial in the Magistrates Court with exchange of skeleton arguments by 29th June, bundle and agreed index by the 27th July and trial on the 4th August. The date can be varied when we hear from the Civil Appeal Court. 

All good wishes, 

Paul

Revd Paul Nicolson vs Haringey, Grant Thornton and Tottenham Magistrates Court — case adjourned

MEDIA RELEASE.

Rev Paul Nicolson; 020 8376 5455

I attended Tottenham Magistrates Court today to answer a summons to a liability order hearing for non payment of £2800 council tax to Haringey Council. The case was adjourned by the Magistrate at the request of both the council and myself but for different reasons. The council because they were not ready to address the issue I have raised; myself because I am awaiting the decision of the Civil Appeal Court about whether they will hear my appeal against the High Courts decision on the same issue as the one I have now raised with the magistrates. 

I am asking the council to explain why they did not raise with their auditors, Grant Thornton, the cumulative impact of benefit cuts, caps and council tax on the health and well-being of thousands of low income Haringey residents, in work and unemployment, when the council tax enforcement costs were being audited.  I had raised the issue with Grant Thornton, Haringey's accountants, when they were auditing the enforcement costs, now £115,  that are imposed by the Magistrates in bulk, sometimes 1000s at a time, on top of council tax and rent arrears and while individual's and family's income is stopped for three months during a benefit sanction. They replied ”we have no remit …to opine on the impact of this policy on the well-being of those required to pay council tax”. 

My question is "Why no remit?" when the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) have guidance issued to courts and councils specifically drawing attention to the vulnerable circumstances of residents with a disability, the seriously ill, pensioners, single parents, pregnant women, the recently bereaved and Lord Freud has written in a letter to me "Four principles have underpinned welfare reforms. First the welfare system should support the elderly, vulnerable and disabled people..."

Revd Paul Nicolson's Council Tax case vs LB Haringey adjourned till Weds 4 August 2016 — photo gallery

Revd Paul Nicolson's Council Tax case against LB Haringey over their taxing of already inadequate state benefits through unfair levying of Council Tax on the poorest has been deferred until 4 August.

Three Kwuggies (Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group members) attended Tottenham Magistrates Court in support of Revd Paul Nicolson today along with a host of other supporters. Together with the 'Refusenik Reverend' we formed an unorthodox angel host. 

1. Kwuggies find Revd Paul Nicolson tweeting at the bus stop

2. Revd Paul — pausing from tweeting — joins us at Kwugging.
"He's a double sided natural," says our Kim

Tottenham Magistrates Court, by contrast, did not prove to be such a great enough host to welcome as many as half those present to the proceedings in the Court Room, or to have a coffee vending machine working — though radiators blasted out hot air to add to global warming. Lack of refreshments though was not the reason that the case was adjourned till 4 August, but Revd Paul announced to all who had not heard today's court proceedings and to those who had, what the situation was.(1)

3. Taxpayers Against Poverty: Benefit levels are too low
to tax

He also produced a pack of A5 double-sided leaflets for the prelude where we assembled at a bus shelter outside on what turned out to be a fine day. We also distributed 10 KUWG leaflets in which we shared the billing with Unite Community who generously printed the leaflets for us on fine quality, pretty weather resistant paper.

4. Revd Paul Nicolson's supporters starting to assemble for a photo call
at the bus stop

5. The Court officials had told us that no photographs
were to be taken on the grass in front of the Court House

6. We gradually got a little more organised in our assemblage

7: Another photographer intervenes

Those present of Dude Swheatie's acquaintance or otherwise identifiable among the score or so supporters present included:

• Claire Glasman from WinVisible (Women with visible and invisible disabilities),(2) 
• Gill Thompson whose brother David Clapson was 'sanctioned to death'(3)
• Haringey Unite Community and Haringey Green Party member Gordon Peters and friend
• a local housing justice and anti-gentrification campaigner; 
• a Socialist Worker distributor; and
• Revd Paul Nicolson's son — who helped find Dude Swheatie's hat when it was mislaid

8. Revd Paul conferring with Claire Glasman of WinVisible
who had supplied the hand-scribed placards

He had said to his supporters at the outset today that his great inspiration for the day as he was heading out alone was a newspaper photo of an elderly lady in Paris standing up to paramilitary police and in defiance of viciously anti-trade union laws. He said that that sort of thing is where this country seems to be headed.

One of my KUWG comrades observed to me that she was really surprised at the declaration on the A5 leaflet that a proper diet should require about £43 per week — not something that those who set benefit levels seem to acknowledge, while benefit claimants become inured to insufficient nutrition.

We concluded as we waited outside the Court Room, regarding the legal hoops and hurdles he has gone through in search of economic justice, that Revd Paul Nicolson's motto is more, "Never attend anywhere official alone," than, "Anything for a quiet life."

Technical note about the taking of the photos

As stated in caption 5, the Court officials had given the instruction that no photos were to be taken of us on the grass in front of the Court House. Thus for photos 1 and 2, the taking of the photos was subject to the vagaries of a very narrow pavement as outside Kilburn Jobcentre where we do manage to get the building's branding in the background. 

The real stunt people at a Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group action are generally the persons taking the photos at the risk of being knocked down by oncoming traffic; but Dude Swheatie extracted the face of Revd Paul's A5 leaflet as a 'selection' from photo 2 and reduced the 'noise' in that image to make the writing appear less jagged and much clearer. (That was achieved with the aid of Serif PhotoPlus X4 photo editing software for Windows.(4) PhotoPlus X4 was also used to apply a 'diffuse glow' to the image of Revd Paul in photos 1 and 2.) 

Photo 1 was taken by CJ, photos 2 to 8 by Kim, and photo 9 by Revd Paul Nicolson.

9. When we did find coffee in Tottenham, it was not at
the Magistrates Court!

Links

1. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/media-release-from-revd-paul-nicolson-vs-haringey-grant-thornton-tottenham-magistrates-court.html
2. http://www.winvisible.org
3. https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/david-clapson/
4. PhotoPlus X4 has since been superceded by PhotoPlus X8 http://www.serif.com/photoplus/

Join 'refusenik' Revd Paul Nicolson at Tottenham Magistrates Court, Wed 15 June at 10am for economic justice

As previously announced on this blog, KUWG will be backing Revd Paul Nicolson when he appears at 

Tottenham Magistrates CourtThe Court HouseLordship LaneTottenhamLondon N17 6RT (Location map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=533569&y=190573&z=0&sv=N17+6RT&st=2&pc=N17+6RT&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf)

on Wednesday 15 June 2016 (tomorrow!) at 10am. [The previous announcements on this blog:

1. Support Revd Paul Nicolson at Tottenham Magistrates Court, Weds 15 June at 10am(1) 
2. Placards in support of Revd Paul Nicolson's Council Tax defiance against LB Haringey(2)
3. Media notice re Revd Paul Nicolson's defiance of illegitimate Council Tax levying(3)

]

This is alongside others supporting his aims of social and economic justice. The weather prospects for the day may not be brilliant for a demonstration outside the Court House, but that may be all the more reason for those in support of the 'Refusenik Revd' to enter the court — peacefully, of course. Just think of the impact that that may have in terms of 'justice being done — or not, as the case may be — and the fact that there will be witnesses present to what happens in that magistrates court. KUWG's branding 'strap line' or 'golden rule' is, "Never attend anywhere official alone," and officialdom regards the people facing them differently when the accompaniers really attend the building rather than just leave the person called before offialdom after helping them to arrive at the building.

(Compare this with U. Glasgow Law Professor Dr David Webster's observations regarding how benefit sanctions are applied as 'Britain's secret secret penal system'.(4))

Two members of the KUWG have committed themselves to attending physically in support of the 'Refusenik Revd'. Other 'Kwuggies' will be 'with him in spirit' as they take part in the direct action of helping people with their cases, some of which involve contesting the 'secret penal system' that is the application of benefit sanctions by bureaucrats who — as the U. Glasgow law professor has pointed out — have never faced the people sentenced to devastating loss of basic income.

As an ending note to this blog post, demonstrations can be great networking opportunities — though talking between members of the public inside the Court Room while the Court is in session is likely to be pounced upon heavily! It is also cogent to mention that at this time of writing, Revd Paul Nicolson's 2014 article What councils don't tell you about the enforcement of Council Tax has, to date, attracted 437 viewings to this blog, making it the 5th all time 'biggest hit' on the Kilburn Unemployed blog.(5)

Blog Post Links

1. Sorry for earlier typo in the post address!: http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/support-revd-paul-nicolson-at-tottenham-magistrates-court-weds-1-jun-at-10am.html
2. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/placards-in-support-of-revd-paul.html
3. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/media-notice-re-revd-paul-nicolsons-defiance-of-illegitimate-council-tax-levying.html
4. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system
5. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/what-councils-dont-tell-you-about.html

Support Revd Paul Nicolson at Tottenham Magistrates Court, Weds 15 June at 10am

Taxpayers Against Poverty-founder Revd Paul Nicolson reports:

Dear all,
​I have been summoned to the Tottenham Magistrates Court for non​-payment of council tax to the London Borough of Haringey on Wednesday 15th June at 10 am. I will be attending the court.
​
​It would be great if there could be a supporting demo at the same time on that day for photos and statements....

Tottenham Magistrates Court is at

The Court House
Lordship Lane
Tottenham
London
N17 6RT

For further details, go to

http://www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/summoned-to-court-for-civil-disobedience-of-laws-damaging-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-tenants​-who-claim-benefits/

Interactive 'how to get there' details available from Transport for London 'Plan a Journey' website at https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/ and Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=533569&y=190573&z=0&sv=N17+6RT&st=2&pc=N17+6RT&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf

Revd Paul Nicolson thinks globally and acts locally, and so this action warrants the support of people outside LB Haringey who oppose the economic injustice of poverty. And in Ewan MacColl's song Ballad of the Carpenter, there is the line, "He knew that wealth and poverty live always side by side."

Judgement Weds 6 May 2015 10am Nicolson v Tottenham Magistrates & LB Haringey

From Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

MEDIA NOTICE 

JUDGEMENT TOMORROW

Judgement in my case against Tottenham Magistrates & The London Borough of Haringey will be handed down tomorrow  Wednesday 6 May 2015 at 10am at the Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand London, Court No to be announced

​from the ​

Rev Paul Nicolson

Taxpayers Against Poverty

No British citizen without an affordable home and an adequate income in work or unemployment. 

93 Campbell Road, Tottenham, London N17 0BF, 0208 3765455, 07961 177889, 

www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk, www.facebook.com/pages/Taxpayers-Against-Poverty/299911526728884, https://twitter.com/taxpayers_a_p

www.z2k.org, www.prohousingalliance.com