The Council have refused to take it back, we've tried. As I said, I wasn't aware it had got this far until now, hence me now tring to get it under control. I'm aware we will need to pay the £235 charge and that's not an issue, trying to sort an affordable repayment is what I want. I have £100 spare now, should I pay this direct to the Council? I have no doubt BS will refuse my offer anyway, will they refer it back or keep trying? I can really do without that, as I am going to be working away for the next few months getting the business properly going now it's beginning to pay off. I have no intention of letting BS Bailiff in, just worried my daughter will unintentionally ( I thought the age was u18s couldnt grant them access, its now u16s? As she is 16, this concerns me, as she will have deemed to grant them accessby opening door? He has asked her age and she said 16) TIA xx

OK, a little background. We worked for a pub managment company for roughly 4 years until last Feb (2016). We were basically his "go to" people for most of that time, i.e. if another Manager did a runner, we'd cover that pub at an hours' notice and frequently did. In that time we actually worked together less than 25% of the time. Fine, no issues. He was, however, cutting costs all over (basicall going under), and we had foreseen this to an extent, and started looking around just prior to Xmas 2015 as we could see what was happening. By this, I mean that the gas and electric was due to be cut off in the pub and was only stopped due to the fact we lived on site with children. Bailiffs almost daily for our gaffer, etc. Anyway, he promised us it was all paid, and Mum fell ill and died Jan 2016, during which time we still kept the pub going. Despite everything, we were THE top performing pub out of the 20 or so he had. He promised us the corner was turned and that our efforts had helped. A week later he sent us a text giving us 48 hours notice to get out. Gobsmacked! Anyway, the Council put us a priority homeless, but only if we squatted, as we would make ourselves "intentionally homeless" otherwise. We had to forfeit almost £2k owed to us as he refused to pay it back, but had no choice or the Council would not help. We had an extremely difficult 2 months with him breaking in, (was reported), and repeatedly putting pressure on us. The council backed us all the way, not least because he did nthing legally. My husbands health suffered to the point that he had panic attacks, severe depression and, eventually, agoraphobia. We were offered a house mid April 2016 which we accepted. A Veteran's charity helped us with furniture. We had not received any income for 2 months by this point, our tiny savings had paid for Mums funeral, plus we owed a bit for this too. Husband gets 218 + 316 pcm pension from Army and Post Office. We are ineligible for any benefits except tax credits. No HB etc. Our priority was obviously getting back on our feet. Dad lent us £3k to set up our own business, which is just now starting to break even. (It took him time to get cash together and he cannot help us any further). We have paid the rent without fail every week, often going without food just to keep cashflow going in the business. Council tax has been a struggle, along with everything else. Husband promised me he was dealing with it, we had a visit from BS just prior to Xmas, handwritten posted letter. Husband had hidden other mail ( head in sand and still suffering depression and now also diagnosed with COPD). The hidden letter demanded £107 a week (debt is just under £1600 with fees) I tried to ring Bailiff, no answer. Eldest daughter has answered door to him twice (she is 16) and he has gone away. I had an operation 22nd Dec and have been unable to deal with anything since. (On Tramadol and Morphine so not exactly lucid). Came off it a week ago. Bailiff back 2 days ago, again not answering phone. Help! We can afford £100 1st payment and then £30 week maximum. I cant negotiate if he wont answer the phone. I have instructed daughter NOT to answer door anymore (she is 16) and to keep it locked always. Do I start paying council direct? Are we classed as vulnerable because of husband's mental problems? What do I do if I offer Bailiff a payment and they dont accept? Ive been told they try 3 times and give up before passing it back? I do not dispute we owe the debt, and really want to sort it. I cannot pay what I dont have though, and had not realised it had got to this stage until the 1st visit. I'll add that I have now taken control of fnances, and will continue to do so. Our car is a workhorse estate that we paid £350 for and SSAFA helped us with (MOT and work), our furniture is either 2nd hand or begged, bar the sofa, beds, washer, tv and fridge that was paid for via SSAFA and grants due to our situation.

A little bit of a complex one this but I am really hoping that someone can advise! We are managers at a pub. We work for another company who hold the tenancy, deal with all of the utilities etc and organise the TV. Basically, we are responsible for the day to day running with no responsibilty or say so on finances, contracts etc We get paid for this (self employed basis), along with our accommodation as part of the deal. We organise TV, broadband and 'phone for the private acommodation only. As we are only managers, we have to abide by our gaffers decisions and rules or be out of a job and home. We've had Sky for years in various pub jobs around the country and the varied private accommodations that go with that. Our gaffer chooses to use an alternative supplier for the commercial areas and here the problems begin. A Sky inspector visited and saw a match being allegedly being screened (we were not aware of this until a week later when our domestic Sky TV service suddenly ceased without warning late one evening). We rang Sky the following day and were initially told that we had telephoned them and cancelled it. As we had not, we told them this. Several people later we were told of the above and that it had been passed to the Business Compliance Team and that broadband and 'phone was going to also be disconnected on 3rd March, and that Sky had also cancelled our direct debit as we have broken terms of the contract by using a domestic card in a commercial setting (which we haven't). At this point we were also told that the inspector had seen our viewing card number on the screen in the bar. This is 100% NOT the case as our cards have not moved out of the boxes and our gaffer, whatever our thoughts on the matter, has chosen to use an alternative provider. We have informed Sky that we do not deal with the commercial side, and that it is absolutely incorrect that the card # was on screen, and that we will refute this all the way. We've also informed them that we have a letter from our employer stating that we do not control the TV supplier and that if we refuse to show what we are instructed to that we will lose both our job and home. They are not interested. The broadband and 'phone was eventually cut-off on 2nd March ( a day earlier than it was supposed to be) and we have now had various letters and calls from them, mostly asking why we have chosen to leave and asking if there is anything to do to keep us as we are longterm customers!!!!! Also 1 letter demanding payment of £97 outstanding (despite THEM ancelling the DD that fell due 2/3/15 and despite the fact that no adjustments have yet been credited to the account. The advisor early in the row told us that next month, when the computers caught up, credits would be applied to the account to reflect the fact there was no longer a service being supplied, confirmed that Sky had cancelled the DD and told us we didn't owe anything). We this morning got a signed for letter from Acumen Investigation Services. It states "One of our enforcement officers has attended the above premises and witnessed Sky Exclusive Programming being shown in commercial areas that are accessible to the public. " Then the bumpf about the relevant legislation then it continues "may result in a criminal conviction, fines of up to £5000 per offence, legal costs and forfeiture of your personal license. Our clients also have the right to take civil action against you. Previous civil actions have resulted in payments of up to £65000 being made. Our client requires that you do one of the following within 14 days: 1. Enter into a pubs and clubs agreement which permits the broadcasting of [sky] in the commercial areas of your premises 2. In the event that you do not wish to continue to broadcast [sky] ...you are required to complete the enclosed cease and desist form and return it to us or 3. Return any and all Sky Domestic viewing cards being used to facilitate these broadcasts. (Sky's viewing cards remain the property of Sky at all times). We will continue to monitor your premises and will also be sending an enforcement agent to speak with you about copyright theft. If we do not hear from you within 14 days we reserve the right to take further action without further notice to you" The cease and desist form and various bits of bumpf including a Sky contract was pubs was enclosed. Now we are a bit stuck here. At no point has our domestic Sky been used in the commercial area and we have no say in what the supplier is nor what is broadcast in the commercial area. We've lost all of our domestic Sky services. If we refuse to broadcast what our gaffer says, we will be chucked out of our job, and our home with it, along with our kids. He is the one who controls the tenancy, finance, contracts etc and has told us to continue broadcasting, using equipment supplied by someone he has contracted, as it's him that Sky should go after, and it's his risk. He has given us a letter stating that it is him who controls it and that we will be terminated if we disobey direct orders. Sky simply aren't interested and have chosen to go after us instead. We can't sign a commercial agreement as we do not have the authority (and doubt the gaffer will sign one, though the paperwork will be given to his agent on Monday), we are unable to sign the cease and desist notice (part of the wording is "not to assist any person to use any apparatus or device not authorised by [sky]") as we have to turn the TVs on daily and would obviously then breach this and we cannot return any Sky cards "being used to facilitate" as none have been! (Obviously we will return the Sky cards without this proviso, but are not going to at present as it then looks like we have used them commercially!) Obviously doing none of the 3 leaves us open to prosecution, but equally we could be without a job and home if we disobey our gaffer. HELP!

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear, he gets drunk infrequently but when he does it's a problem cos of his temper. He did drink off duty, out of here, but again, not often something we were not aware of until fairly recently. When he did though, on duty, it's "whoa get out of his way". He can go months, hence we were not aware of a problem. We have tried to be understanding. He was "homeless" when we put him up, he moved in with his girlfriend, who is at her wits' end. We have employed him for 15 months, and he has (prior to us knowing these problmes) covered for us having a week away. That means he had keys, cash, had to bank etc etc. All was well. All acounted for, no problems, . It is recent it has come to the fore. I am merely trying to help him live i.e. eat. He is staying at his ex GF for now, cos he has no where else to go, and we are, between us, trying to sort him out. He can't claim HB cos no home.... "I'm a bit bemused by your 'he's a cracking employee' comment, sounds like a liability to me and someone with an alcohol problem behind a bar isn't ideal" Please be aware, he wasn't a liabilty, to begin. And, no offence, if everyone who did wrong got judged, we'd all be in a bit of a mess. To start, had you read my post, he passed with flying colours, and worked for about a year with no probs. Everyones' circumstances change. Do you wish to know what set him off? Fine. His son stayed with us, and said staff member at weekends, and YES it's not just absent fathers who are the problem, always, sometimes its the other way round ( and yes, I have also had both before you judge). The Mum had a new BF which, bearing in mind meant she neglected her son ( and yes I saw it), and then denied the Dad ( my staff member) access, kind of pushed him over the edge. I came on here asking advice, and seem to have been judged (wrongly) by 1 person. Apologies for actually trying to do the correct thing as a "gaffer". Should I just sack folks next time and worry later? I am just trying to gain an ex employee some help and cash. He has recognised a problem, sought help, has got help, ongoing, and is now being kicked down by the system. I am not trying to kick him when down, merely get him help. He is a DAMN hard working person, I would NOT be advocating him otherwise. I am not sure whether the alcohol is the problem or the temper., for him. One sets the other off, and vice versa. It's regular but not regular enough that we saw it in the 1st 12 months. I know there's other issues, all were well under control, and were confided in me after about 8 months of him working for us. Hence the leeway. Not asking for judgement, fk knows he has done that himself, merely help on any benefits please?

Hi, I'm in a real quandary here. We, unfortunately, had to dismiss an employee earlier this month. I'll give a bit of background, so the whole story is out, and we can be judged from there. We manage a pub which we took over Jan 2011. We kept all employees on, but made it clear that, as it was a change of ownership, it was totally new and a trial period. We let 1 employee go, for being late ( literally every sihft, despite warnings repeatedly and faiing completely to turn up for 2 shifts with no contact then breezing in 3 days later with no explanation....we still gave her pay/hol pay to date and paid her a week in hand in lieu of notice....trying to be reasonable to her). The other 3 we kept on. The cleaner was given notice 4 months later, and worked and was paid that, and hols, despite failing to do as asked, repeatedly. Her heart was there but she was that ingrained with basically doing not a lot that we were paying her to drink coffee to 2 hrs a day. (she was a fixture if you like at the pub she had been there that long). We then did the cleaning ourselves (twice as fast and in half the time lol, but she had been given more than the required notice and despite her failings, it seemed fair to us as it allowed her time to find an alternative without dashing her down). Now, we had 2 bar staff, both of whom passed the trial period. Both got complacent, and informal words were had ( basically, they at quiet periods sat and read or played on phones etc rather than simple tasks like unloading glasses that had been washed, part of job description). No problems for ages, then 1 bar staff got drunk on the bar one night.....whilst serving. This would've been about last sept. Again, words were had and that was that. Happened again 2wks later. Turned out the guy had home probs, and he ended up homeless the day after ( chucked out). We actually put him up, on the proviso that he do an odd hour here or there unpaid. All was fine, his little lad stayed with him at weekends, and he did around 6 hours per week unpaid, in return for bed, board, etc etc. About a week before Xmas, he moved in full time with his new girlfriend, and all was well until about the 2nd week in January when we caught him drunk on the bar again. Again, words were had, an informal warning was given. The next weekend, he hit a customer who had "offered him out" for a fight. This was a weekend night, our employee was in a bad mood anyway (girlfriend rows), the customer was spoiling to be fair. Having said that, the employee came out from the bar to hit the customer, with no warning. he didnt press the panic button that we had installed (which wouldve got us in situ in literally 20 seconds), from witnesses he also made no attempt to defuse and himself admitted afterwards that he "saw red", and had carried on serving the guy in the 20 minutes this developed. We had a meeting after, our employee admitted that there had been a grudge for years. We pointed out that we were 20 seconds away (upstairs, and had installed a button for employees to press and we also monitor cctv). We employ staff on fri/sat night in order to be able to watch cctv and moitor stuff arising ( sometimes easier to see stuff on multiple cameras and deal with quick than to put an extra burden on staff to serve/watch/diffuse). We circulate every 30 mins also. Anyway, we bought both bar staff in for a meeting, poiunted out that we were there, if something was brewing, just hit the button. We also told both, again, that getting drunk behind the bar was not an option. The employee concerned accepted another warning, both for drink and the hitting of another. The staff meeting took place in our place, not the pub, a few minor things were brought up, there was lots of laughter, and the team seemed to gel again, it's always been a friendly atmosphere, more like mates than "a job". (and no, this isn't gonna end how you think!!!) All was, fairly, well until earlier this month. Saturday night. It's busy, so I am on the bar with said staff member, it's about 10.0pm. He'd had a pint, told me, showed me the receipt from the person who bought it ( as per practice). We were short on pound coins and our machines were not accepting notes. I had been to the local shops, none had spare. By 10.15pm we were desperate and had been using 50ps. I asked bar member to go to the next door pub to ask for £1 coins. Around 11.20pm he returns. Obvious he has had a drink, but the pub is packed, so he get's to doors shut at 12midnight. I have a quiet word with him, he denies drinking. I resolve it's no use reasoning with him now, tomorrow's the time. His mate of 20 yrs is there, sober. Doors shut, so I start cleaning the toilets. I come back, he's finished work, he pours and pays for shots for him and his mate and 2 other regulars. As I am mopping the bar, I am aware of a commotion. He has headbutted his mate at the back door. 6 times. I still do not know why. In the commotion, he pushed an innocent bystander, albeit a friend, down the steps. She ends up in hosp[ital with a cracked open head and cincussion. Long story short, he went crazy, at the ambulance, us, mates, everyone. It turns out that when he went to get change, he sunk 5 jaegerbombs (pints with a jaeger shot). I don't pay him to drink. He also admitted to sinking several shots on the bar ( ie on duty), against our express instructions. OK, here is the odd bit. He was sacked for gross misconduct, what can he claim? I say that cos he HAS ADMITTED AND GOT HELP. He has gone and got help for both his anger and his drinking. He can quit drinking for a bit ( and went on a pub crawl with big drinkers to prove to himself and drank OJ). It will not last, but I do not want to see him down and out, I want to help. I cannot employ him, but we had to sack him for gross misconduct which precludes him from benefits, which is gonna be a hard circle for him. Cos he is sacked, he cant get benefits, etc etc. He's a good guy, he just needs help, which he has sought and is getting. Does he qualify for something other than job seekers? does the fact he is seeking help qualify him for somethibng else? Apologies for the long post, just trying to give background so anyone who can advise can do so knowing circumstances. I am hoping he can claim ESA or similar now he has admitted anger management issues ( not sure if he has told GP about alcohol). Thanks in advance and sorry for long post. p.s. We've also told him once tyreated to come talk to us, I just want to make sure he is able to eat at present, and from the "guff" they have given him, he is entitled to NOTHING for several weeks from benefits, as he has "willingly" put himself out of a job. yes and no. Yes he had warnings, and accepts that, which ended his job. But, I know he has admitted anger problems at least ( he knows he has an alocohol problem iei when he has it his anger intenitifies....) Please, he is trying to help himself, it's a start. How can I also help him? He's a cracking employee just needs help.