Consultation on changes to Council Tax Support

Contents

• How we currently calculate Council Tax Support
• Our proposals for change
• Why we are proposing these changes
• What our proposals may mean for you
• Have your say

Why we are proposing these changes

We have a number of reasons for proposing changes to the way that we currently offer Local Council Tax Support (LCTS).

Select any of our aims below, to read more detail about what we hope to achieve with the proposed changes to the scheme.

Responding to local feedback

We have asked stakeholders in the LCTS scheme to tell us their opinions of the current scheme arrangements. We've talked to:

• Local residents
• The local branch of Citizens Advice
• B&NES council staff who work with Council Tax and benefits

Some of them have suggested that we shouldn't count the Housing Costs Element of Universal Credit as part of weekly household income, because this element exists to pay rent. It is set at, or below, the actual amount of rent that people have to pay. So there is no option to use any of it for other living costs, such as paying Council Tax. We recognise that paying rent is a priority living cost, and so we are proposing that this money should be 'ring-fenced' for that purpose.

Providing more support for the poorest

The introduction of 100% bill discount for households with the lowest income will ensure that the poorest households receive more support. We hope this will reduce the chances of these households falling behind with bills and risking involvement with enforcement agents or the courts.

The 100% discount band will remove a lot of instances of very poor households being unable to pay their Council Tax bill. From the point of view of enforcing unpaid bills, giving the very poorest households a full discount will free up council staff to concentrate on working with individuals who won’t pay their Council Tax, rather than those who can’t pay.

Reducing support more gradually as income increases

Setting the income bands in line with the basic amount of Universal Credit would also mean that the income ranges are closer to the actual income of the households who receive this benefit.

The new discount amounts would reduce at a more gradual rate, as the income of these households increases. This should avoid the 'cliff edge' in the current scheme, where some households move from a 50% reduction rate to zero.

Re-aligning support across households with different circumstances

There may also be some imbalance in the way that the current LCTS scheme provides support. Households with higher rental costs, such as those in private sector accommodation, may receive less Council Tax Support than those who rent from a housing association (such as Curo), or those who own their own homes. Our proposals aim to change this.

Supporting parents into work

The high cost of childcare can make it difficult for parents who receive benefits to afford to get into work. The Childcare Element of Universal Credit is designed to pay back some of those childcare costs that households have already paid out, so that parents can work.

Counting this as part of your weekly household income allowance (and therefore possibly reducing the amount of Council Tax Support) would undermine the purpose of this part of Universal Credit: to help more parents into work.

Offering equal support for people in different accommodation

We're also proposing to stop counting Housing Benefit for supported accommodation tenants as part of the weekly income allowance. As with the Childcare Element of Universal Credit, this is money that is 'already allocated' for rent costs, so it cannot be spent on other things, like other income can.

Aligning more closely with what other councils are doing

Most councils who have an income-banded approach to their Council Tax Support schemes already remove housing costs from their income calculations. Our proposals would bring B&NES into line with this.