Issue - meetings

Following on from the earlier discussions regarding the Borough response to the cost-of-living crisis, the Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement introduced a report on the proposal to amend the Council’s Council Tax Support (CTS) Scheme for future years as a way of helping low-income residents in most need of financial support.

By Minute 59 (26 January 2022), the Assembly had approved the CTS Scheme for 2022/23 which set a minimum Council Tax payment threshold of 25% for qualifying, working age claimants.  In light of the cost-of-living crisis, the Council had brought forward a review of the CTS scheme and it was now proposed that, for 2023/24, the minimum payment threshold be reduced to 15%, thereby giving qualifying claimants up to 85% relief.  Furthermore, the intention was to move away from the centrally defined default CTS scheme for 2024/25 and replace it with a scheme that addressed discrepancies between the old and new (Universal Credit) benefits systems.  It was noted that due to the requirement to consult on changes to the CTS Scheme, it was not possible to introduce the 15% change for the current financial year and the work needed to move to away from the centrally defined default CTS scheme had an implementation timetable of approximately 18 months.

In welcoming the proposals, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services pointed out that, in the past, qualifying residents were eligible for Council Tax Benefit and could receive 100% relief from Council Tax.  However, the Government changed the rules, which meant that every individual had to contribute, irrespective of their financial situation, and the costs associated with the CTS scheme fell directly on the Council.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Support the proposed Model 2 for the 2023/24 CTS scheme, which would reduce the minimum payment applied within the CTS scheme by 10% to 15%;

(ii)  Note that the above proposal shall be subject to public consultation and formal approval by the Assembly in due course; and

(iii)  Support the proposal to replace the current CTS scheme with a new ‘banded’ scheme for 2024/25 and authorise the Director of Support and Collections to commence consultation and the modelling process to enable the replacement CTS scheme to be implemented for 2024/25.