Rev Paul Nicholson: A large number of cases dealt with by the Zachaeus Trust are related to the fact that under the current system an unemployed person usually has to deal with four different government departments (ChildTax credit, Council Tax, Housing Benefit, Job Centre ) which can be difficult for those who are already vulnerable.

Alan Murdie:
Gives example of a case dealt with by the trust where a woman ended up in the courts as a debtor as a result of a miscalculation in her benefits which caused them to be cut.  In the past there were two types of debtor, the feckless and the individual who got into debt through misfortune but over the past 10 years a new type of debtor has emerged; people who get into debt due to an error or miscalculation of  benefits they are recieving

PN: Cites case of a single mother of five who got into debt because the Inland Revenue did not believe she had five children and cut benefit before checking the number.  A major problem is communicating with benefit agencies due to the decrease in use of landlines and increase in use of pay as you go mobile phones. 

AM: Communication is  huge problem. Another problem is trying to get some sort of redress when there is an error due to the increasing complexity of welfare law.

PN: Cites the case of woman who ended up in debt due to a fine imposed for not renewing her TV licence on time and legal confusion over whether bailiffs should be used or not. 

AM: This case clearly illustrated the way different parts of the legal system can interpret the law in different ways causing confusion over whether court's decision to send in bailiffs could be withdrawn.

PN: Zacchaeus Trust circulated reply from government on this issue to other organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau who said that treatment of such cases seemed to vary in different parts of the country. The lack of clarity over this issue of whether a decision to recover money using bailiffs can be withdrawn can lead to huge problems.

AM: In this woman's case the Trust dealt with 23 different courts in order to clear the woman's debt and get compensation which did not reflect all that she had gone through as a result of the initial decision to impose the fine.

PN: Overall the case had huge effect on many aspects of her life including her children's education - her child couldn't do homework because they couldn't afford a landline and woman was taken to court over truancy of her child.

Zacchaeus 2000 Trust principles are as follows:

We will combat poverty, and related ill health and educational underachievement;
We will promote the improvement of living and working conditions on the basis of economic and social justice in pursuit of a society that is fully inclusive of people of every race, colour and creed through the provision of evidence based policy alternatives to government.
We will pursue policies that are rooted in the experiences of the disadvantaged and excluded people of the United Kingdom, and the work of NGOs among them. They will be designed to reform the structures that create those conditions.
We oppose discrimination and inequality, both between men and women and between generations.
Aware of the pressures placed on the national economy and society by the globalised free market we will promote an economy in the United Kingdom aiming to generate the conditions of full employment in which all can share the financial burdens and opportunities of a democratic nation.
We will operate without allegiance to any political party while promoting, vigorously, policies that are consistent with this statement of principles to all political parties and to the government of the day.

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