Chopsy Baby Blog: North Somerset Council Tax and Liberata

I can honestly say I have never seen such a fiasco in my life. It’s truly frightening that some of Bristol’s communities most vulnerable people are left to deal with Liberata.

North Somerset Council – of which some Bristol residents fall under – out source their Council Tax and Housing Benefit system to private company Liberata.

You may remember hearing about them in 2008, when they cocked up processing education maintenance allowance (EMA) grants for students.

Well, that’s not all they’ve cocked up. I have seen first hand the hell some have to suffer when dealing with a business that doesn’t know its hand from its arse.

They lose paper work. They lose things that leave people at risk to identity fraud. They don’t respond to emails. they don’t always return phone calls. They don’t make what they want clear. They send out different letters asking for different amounts of money in the same week. They take people to court for debts that include money that is not even owed yet.

It’s about time there was a way to call these businesses up on it.