Agenda item

To consider a report on the new local Council Tax Support Scheme.

Members of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Social Well-Being) have been invited to attend for the discussion on this item).

(Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources was in attendance for this item).

The Panel gave consideration to a report by the Head of Customer Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) providing an update on the progress made on the implementation of a new Council Tax Support Scheme. Members were informed that the new scheme had to be in place by 31^st January 2013 and that a consultation exercise with customers and stakeholders was scheduled to finish on 14 October 2012. Members’ attention was drawn to the principles which had been adopted towards the design of the new scheme and an analysis of the Council Tax Benefit caseload which gave a breakdown of where the changes were likely to be experienced.

Although the legislation had not yet been passed, Members were informed that the Government would reduce the funding which it provided to Councils to meet the cost of Council Tax support and it was estimated that this would equate to approximately £1.3m in 2013/14. Whilst some of the recipients were protected, Members were of the opinion that the whole reduction should not be passed on to the remaining recipients of support and that the Council should make up part of the difference.

Having been advised of the responses which had been received during the consultation to date, comment was made on the fact that not all Council Tax payers’ views had been actively sought and it might have been more widely distributed. In response, Members were advised of the efforts which had been made to promote the consultation and the Head of Customer Services emphasised the need to ensure that those affected were consulted to enable the Council to complete an impact assessment. Officers were requested to take these comments into account when the responses were analysed.

On behalf of the Social Well-Being Panel, Councillor S Criswell expressed the view that he was satisfied that the Council was taking steps to minimise the effects of the changes as far as possible and that if the Council was to make up the whole of the short-fall it would have to find an extra £1m in savings. In terms of the consultation exercise, he reiterated that the Council would have to take a decision of behalf of all Council Tax payers on the basis of the consultation responses received.

During the course of the ensuing discussion it was suggested that the Council might take steps to help those affected to move to properties in a lower Council Tax band. However, Members were informed that this already took place through the housing list and that Registered Social Landlords had a number of schemes to help their tenants to move. Comment was also made about the potential impact of the changes on the staffing resources within the Housing Team and Members noted that provision for additional resources to meet the additional demand had been included within the Financial Forecast.

Having noted that under the new scheme payments would be made on a monthly basis rather than weekly as had been the case in the past, comment was made that this could cause budgetary difficulties for some recipients. The Panel was assured that the facility would be made available for some payers to pay their Council Tax over twelve months and that this would  not cause the Council any cash flow problems. Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

that the contents of the report be noted.