Finding other help with money and benefits

Contacting your MP about tax problems

Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected to the House of Commons to represent the interests and concerns of the people who live in their constituency. MPs can help their constituents with matters that central government is directly responsible for – this could include matters concerning HMRC. As such, your local MP may be able to help if you are facing a tax problem. They will not be able to assist with council tax matters, as this is a local authority issue. For more information see the UK Parliament website.

Your MP will not be able to give you tax or legal advice, but might be able to help with a tax problem in the following ways:

• If you feel that HMRC are not dealing with your tax affairs correctly, your MP may be able to contact HMRC on your behalf – for example, to enquire about the status of your tax issue, request clarification, or provide additional information that may help resolve the problem.
• Your MP may be able to help you to navigate complexities in the system, for example by generally explaining things to you or referring you to resources or support services that they know about. However, as mentioned they will not be able to give you specific legal or tax advice, nor can they get involved in any court or tribunal proceedings. 
• Your MP may be able to raise individual cases or broader systemic issues with the tax system generally in Parliament, bringing attention to problems that may require legislative or policy changes. They can potentially also advocate about certain issues in debates, hold HMRC to account in terms of customer service or treating taxpayers fairly and table questions in Parliament, prompting an official response from the relevant government minister. 
• If you have received poor service from HMRC, or they have made a mistake, and the usual HMRC complaint channels have not resolved the issue, your MP may be able to assist you in making a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

If you would like to make representations to your MP, you can find out who they are and how to contact them on the Parliament website. HMRC have written a helpful booklet for MPs explaining how they can help them to help constituents.

Help with council tax

If you are having trouble paying your council tax, think you may be entitled to extra support, reliefs or reductions, or just need some advice you should contact your own council. You can find your local council by using the tool on GOV.UK. Each council operates an entirely separate budget and funding process and will also have its own process for collecting council tax.

You may be able to apply for a discount, perhaps because you live alone or because you want to make a lump sum payment. You can also ask to pay in instalments. Each case is reviewed individually. You should ask the council to confirm any reduction, relief or special agreements you get in writing, in case you need it for future reference.

If you think you are going to struggle to pay your council tax, we recommend that you get in touch with them quickly as the consequences of missing payments can be severe. Failure to act can mean that the council might start enforcement action and bailiffs may visit you.

If you find it difficult to use the telephone or get to the council offices, ask if somebody can visit you at home.

If you have a council tax debt and are also struggling to pay other bills and organisations, we recommend that you seek further debt advice. There are many charities and not for profit organisations who can help you and their advice is free and confidential. There is a useful tool on the Money Helper website to help you find free debt advice.

Help with benefits

A number of charities offer help on a wide range of benefit and tax credit issues. Some also specialise in supporting people who need help to deal with debt related problems.

For example:

• Citizens Advice: England, Scotland and Wales offer help on a range of issues, including tax credits, council tax, benefits and general debt. Further information on contacting Citizens Advice can be found on their Contact us page
• Citizens Advice: Northern Ireland signposts to other organisations who can help with advice on tax credits, benefits and general debt. Further information on contacting Citizens Advice Northern Ireland can be found on their Contact us page
• Advice NI If you live in Northern Ireland you can also contact Advice NI for help with on a range of issues, including tax credits, tax, benefits and debt. Advice NI have a special web page for those needing help with tax and benefits
• Advicelocal This is a local guide to help with benefits, work, money, housing problems and more. For further information, visit Advicelocal

There are also benefits checker calculators available from Entitledto and Turn2Us. These can provide a reliable estimate of what you may be entitled to, provided you input the correct information. 

Legal or financial advice

Often when dealing with tax and benefits matters, you find you need other kinds of professional help. You might need legal advice, for example. There is a general page of guidance on finding legal advice on GOV.UK. As this need often arises when dealing with the affairs of someone who has died, we explain separately how to find a solicitor or other appropriate adviser.

If you need legal advice about a social welfare issue like employment rights, immigration and welfare benefits, and can’t afford to pay a lawyer, a law centre could help. You can find out more on their website. 

We also have a list of useful organisations to know about, for help with employment issues, such as trade unions and the state enforcement bodies, on our Starting work as an employee page. 

You might also need to get help from a qualified financial adviser on some things. One example would be when thinking about putting money into, or taking money out of, a pension. The MoneyHelper website provides some guidance on how to find a financial adviser.