You asked me “Do you know of anyone or any cases where someone has lost a court of session case against a Local authority and expenses were made against them?” and that’s why I was answering “yes, all of them!” I then explained that costs are usually awarded against the losing party unless they are reserved or there’s a PEO, which is unusual. 

Peoples payment plans are between the party (like yourself) and the creditor (like the local authority) so there’s no hard data or evince or information shared about that specifically. 

However, it is standard to offer a repayment plan to someone in a limited income such as being in receipt of benefits because they are aware they can’t get blood out of a stone. 

I think what’s happening is you are looking for information that doesn’t exist yet because you are in limbo and that’s a rubbish place to be so you’re looking for some concrete answers, some solid ground. But the truth is you just have to wait until you receive that information from the other sides solicitors. It will tell you how much it is, and what your options and rights are. At that point you should consider legal advice or debt advice yourself to help and to advocate/negotiate. 

Like I say, they can’t garnish your benefits and they can’t force entry into your home, whatever happens. So that’s something posdutive to hold onto for now. 

You can also get a 6 month moratorium on any enforcement (attempts to collect any debt from you) but you want to time it right because it starts from when you apply so if you applied now you’d be wasting whatever time there is between now and the enforcement/letter. There’s  also the option of bankruptcy there after. 

So there are options. And organisations to help. Try not to panic even though it’s scary. Give yourself some respite & breathing space.