Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 16 (12 July 2022), the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services introduced a report on the outcome of a detailed review of options for a new, statutory local Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme for working age recipients for 2024/25.

The Cabinet Member explained that the current CTS scheme retained many of the core components of the former means-tested national Council Tax Benefit scheme and was aligned with Housing Benefit (HB) administration.  The Government’s welfare reforms, which included the introduction of the Universal Credit (UC) system to replace HB, Income Support and other benefits / tax credits, meant that the current CTS scheme had become far less aligned with HB administration.  The welfare reforms also meant that many more individuals became liable for paying towards their Council Tax and the amount of support given to local authorities, to help those on very low incomes with their Council Tax bill, had been cut by approximately 10% by Government.

The Cabinet Member referred to the detailed modelling of various options that had been considered for implementation from 2024/25 and advised that the preferred option continued to be an ‘income banded discount’ scheme, described as Model 1 in the report.  Such a scheme would be more aligned with the new benefits regime, easier for the Council to administer and, most importantly, simpler for claimants to understand whilst being less reactive to changes to their individual circumstances. 

The Cabinet Member advised that the next steps would include a comprehensive public consultation on the preferred model and alternative options, prior to the Assembly being asked to agree the final CTS scheme for implementation from 1 April 2024.

Speaking in support of the proposed new scheme, Members highlighted the importance of the public consultation being clear about the reasons for the transition and the Council’s intentions to provide additional support measures to mitigate the impact for those disadvantaged by the new scheme.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)   Endorse, subject to the outcome of recommendation (ii) below, the recommended ‘income banded discount’ CTS scheme (Model 1) as set out in sections 2.10 to 2.13 of the report, as the Council’s draft proposed replacement CTS scheme for 2024/25;

(ii)   Agree to the commencement of public consultation on the proposals to replace the current CTS scheme for 2024/25 with an income banded discount scheme; and

(iii)  Note that following the public consultation, the final proposed CTS scheme for 2024/25 shall be determined by the Assembly in early 2024.

The Chair advised that the report had been withdrawn to enable further consideration to be given to technical aspects of the system requirements.