With B&S. It is a recurring payment and it is being taken. I do have a car but it is on HP and is always kept in my locked garage. The part on the notice where it refers to fees charged has been crossed through.

not been back for a while as I thought I had it sorted. Set up a recurring monthly payment. A week ago got a call from them saying not happy with payment and want full payment etc. Said they would be coming to remove goods in 48 hours. Today they have been and put a notice of enforcement visit through my door saying my goods are now bound No knock on door. Can anyone advise. They have not entered my property.

thank you very much for that. I will pay the Council direct so I dont have to deal with them i am paying by DD. the arrears accrued because they took away my 25% single person discount without notice or reason and I argued with them for over 2 years and just paid the amount less the 25%..

I have Council tax arrears of just on £1,200 and B&S now have the account from the Council. The attended a few weeks ago and as there was nobody home they pushed a letter through my door. i contacted them to try and make arrangements to pay in instalments but they were having none of it. kept saying had to be paid all at once and the usual threats to come and remove items etc. I contacted the Council and they told me to make a payment with B&S so i logged into my account and made a payment which is a recurring monthly payment. they have continued to text and email me i have just taken a call from them saying they are not accepting instalment payments and demanding the whole amount. I said tough this is what the council told me to do and he said the council had told him to come and remove items (doubt this is true) and they will be round in the next few days. not sure what to do so i would really appreciate some guidance.

Thanks. Yes i have gone back and more or less said what you advised. TBH I am really surprised the case is still ongoing after all this time as it was a straight forward case but I will see if they come back to me.

Thanks that is really helpful and what I thought x

No. I just wanted to be careful with what I said. Was going to say that without adding anything except that I was surprised it has taken 10 months for fee earner to question where file was. Maybe that part is not a good idea and just keep it simple !

So, just a quicky. Garden leave has gone smoothly and I start new job next week. However, on Friday evening I received a couple of very abrupt text messages from the partner who runs the department I used to work in regarding a file which I started off but then transferred to another fee earner 11 months ago. I have had no dealings with this file since however client has made a complaint and partner is asking me to provide details of things I have no knowledge of. After 11 months she is actually asking where the file is and where certain documents are !! (the case has been completed so the fee earner dealing has clearly been able to progress the case) I understand I have to be helpful as I am still employed but I want to be careful how I respond as I have no information or knowledge

☹ thanks lol x

Just one last thing before I leave you guys alone. I mentioned this morning to HR lady when I was handing over passwords that I may spend a week or so with my sister who is abroad to get some head space. She text me earlier saying she was jealous blah blah and had I booked a flight. ( i havent) I then get my letter confirming dates etc for garden leave with a paragraph stressing that if I book a holiday I am in breach of the terms of my contract of employment ! My contract has no " gardening leave" clause and the handbook makes no reference to gardening leave. Are they being petty or is this an implied term when you are on garden leave. Would have loved to go away for few weeks if flight prices were not so horrendous and don't want to rock boat when I got outcome I am happy with Thank you again

You are spot on unclebulgaria67. I got an email form director this morning to say they were happy to agree to reduce my notice period and I am on garden leave for next 3 weeks . Within hour of that email my laptop was shut off and all equipment collected from my home. Felt like it was me who had done something wrong but I understand this is common practice.

I went better and asked them to pay me 1 month and any leave due. This was at the beginning of the week and nothing back. I have found out this evening that they have replaced the secretary who left today (leaving secretary told me) apparently all staff know except me . I will be chasing up partner again tomorrow but is there anything else I can do to force the issue, it doesn't seem right or professional!!! Thanks again guys

Ohh I have spent the weekend stressed, crying and angry. I have no work and even the files transferred to other lady will complete soon. We all work from home with a rota of 1/2 days to go into office each week and for past 3 weeks I have not been on the rota. I can only see my options as either sit it out for 3 months with no work or leave with no pay , neither of which are great. I know they are trying to get out of paying me PILON but they will be paying me anyway if I am sitting on backside at home doing nowt

So I finally had an email yesterday from another director apologising, saying I should have received notice date sooner blah blah. Official notice date is 30th October but "its a long time isn't it so if you can do without a salary for 3 months we are happy to let you go early " They have no idea I have another job and I have given new firm the date of end of October to start with them and they have got a locum in 3 days a week until then. Now I know they interviewed and offered my job to someone last week and all of my files are ready to be transferred so I literally have no work. Just a rant as they know they have to give me 3 months notice yet they are happy for me to leave early with no pay and making out they are doing me a favour . Rant over

They have a HR lady but she has to run everything through MP. It is only a small practice. My issues for leaving have been made clear and my resignation has been accepted so can't understand why any discussions they need to have with this other lady has anything to do with me or my notice period. I have asked for a shorter notice period because of the circumstances so a yes or no is all I am asking for Thanks HoneyBee

So just a bit of advice needed. The MP has not yet come back to me with date of notice period. She has been saying she wants to meet with me about issues I raised and also with this other lady ( i just want to go asap) She has gone on holiday and have seen in our department diary that she and other director have a meeting with other lady when she gets back in 2 weeks! Not sure what to do. Surely I am entitled to be given a date! Thanks all

Update. Notice handed in fab new job secured. They know my possible notice period and this is not a problem. Have had a few e-mail discussions with MP (she is on holiday) and she told me she was shocked by resignation and had no idea about meeting or threat of dismissal and we have agreed to meet when she gets back. She said she had to read my email twice ! This other lady has not yet completed her 3 month probation period ! Thanks again guys for advice and even just listening, it means a great deal

So. I haven't posted as had lot going on. I sent an email to MP and Director monday outlining everything, calmly and professionally. No response or acknowledgment to date. I have spoken to both on a number of occasions this week as I am dealing with pro bono work for family members of both that are in court tomorrow and they have been perfectly pleasant (Maybe laughing assassins ). I have a job offer from a firm I have had 2 interviews with this week. I have been fully upfront about my reasons for leaving and i have accepted the job. My concern is that my notice period is 3 months and again I have been upfront about this although not ideal as I cannot work with "her" so it will be a toxic environment . My 2 year employment period ends in around 2/3 weeks, they may move to dismiss before then ( i know she has been speaking to recruitment agencies but not sure if this is my job or secretary's) so if they do then I can leave as soon as or just hand notice in and hope they tell me they won't expect 3 months notice. Many thanks

She does not have authority according to the handbook which I have checked. No procedure was followed, i was never informed that out usual weekly meeting was a disciplinary, still haven't. It says that any disciplinary action or dismissal will be given by the MP following an investigation and a disciplinary hearing. Many thanks

This is what I propose sending to MP Dear xxxxx I trust you are aware of the distressing and frankly shocking meeting with xxxxxx on Friday. I was given no notice of this meeting and will be requesting a reason for this. I will be asking xxxxx for a copy of her contemporaneous notes but in the meantime could I ask you to confirm/clarify if you gave xxxxx authority to threaten dismissal

Thank you. You know when it is time to move on but my worry is that I am dismissed, I have been there 3 weeks short of 2 years and never in my 20 odd years in this job have I had a formal complaint ( had lots of client moans but that comes with the job ) Would it be ok to post up a draft email to MP for you guys to have a look over before I send. Again many thanks

When I was i private client we all had same target which was met usually over and above. When I started the new department they accepted that it was going to be some time before I would even reach target and in the 16 months that I ran it on my own there were no issues raised and I got bonuses along with other departments when firms targets were reached. I have worked closely with managing partner since i started and did and still do a lot of pro bono work for her. I have a feeling this new one has spoken to the managing partner and she has probably suggested trying to talk it through and have a gut feeling she never gave her the authority to threaten dismissal as she is the compliance officer and is hot on anything that doesnt comply with guidelines and procedure. I have made the decision that whatever happens I can not work with her so I am actively looking for another job. As a side, this new one today told me the secretary who was taken from other department to work with us handed her notice in yesterday. She has worked for firm for 8 years and was secretary to managing partner. Spoke to her this evening and she told me this new one has made her work life difficult so she is going . My intention was to ask this one for a list of the issues so I can respond but in the meantime ask the MP if she gave her authority to threaten dismissal based on (in my opinion) nothing . Many thanks for your time

Thank you so much

I have been a paralegal for 24 years and worked for the same firm for 20 years before the partner retired and the firm closed in July 2020. In August 2020 I started working in new firm in private client department and after about 6 months the partners asked if i would be interested in starting up a family department as this is my speciality area. I have worked building up the department on my own to the point where I had no assistance or support and was close to breaking point. They eventually agreed to take on a secretary from another department and a new solicitor who became head of department. She has been there 7 weeks. Anyway we have a weekly dept meeting which was today as I had just come back from holiday. Well you could have blown me down when she said need to go over some issues that could mean dismissal Had no idea what she was on about and she went through issues like not meeting billing target in June (because she took my high billing files over and billed less than me) a potential negligence claim whilst I was on holiday for a client who had not instructed us and she should have dealt with. Gobsmacked is an understatement. Oh and not doing enough marketing. We employ a marketing manager and never done it and never been asked to do it !! She said she will now go back to MD with my responses (what limited ones I could give her) I have no idea what to do

Thank you for the advice. I do get an annual inspection and the agents have come back to me to say the landlord had been notified that I said it was now fixed. Incorrect as all repairs are logged on a portal and the last message was that landlord has been notified of repair required and he is getting some quotes. I agree with you about the repairs and I have decorated the majority of the house which I know is not my responsibility but I want it to look nice. I am waiting for them to come back once they have spoken to landlord so I will update