To be fair, no system is perfect and i can imagine there is a large amount of admin and IT involved in doing this.

What just bugs me a bit is the lack of information. By definition this payment is important, so let people know when realistically they can expect it, at least what monthly pay packet they should budget it for etc.

Agree on band E issues. Council tax bandings are beyond imperfect, but my understanding is they are using it because its a quicker (!!) way of getting money out and obviously there is a strong if imperfect relationship between income and council tax banding