Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme consultation

Residents and stakeholders are being invited to have their say on Stratford District's Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

This is the scheme funded by the District Council to assist those members of the public who are financially unable to pay their council tax.

Government changes in 2013 meant that local authorities had to introduce their own council tax support scheme as Government funding reduced by 10%.

Stratford District Council's own support scheme has largely stayed the same with no change for current claimants and continuing to protect households on the lowest incomes as well as retaining all of the existing protections and providing additional support for war pensioners.  The District Council has mitigated any loss in funding by introducing changes to discounts and exemptions for second homes and long term empty properties.

The Government has announced that it intends to further reduce the cost of welfare support budgets in the coming years, which will result in further funding reductions for the District Council.

As a result the District Council has agreed to undergo an informal consultation exercise based on reduced support levels of 5%, 10% and 20% and other changes such as restricting the backdating of claims to 4 weeks.  The results of which will go to The Cabinet in September and then be subject to a further consultation once a recommended options emerges.  The Final scheme would be decided by the Council in December 2015.

The consultation starts on Friday 14 August and runs for six weeks ending at 5pm on Friday 25 September.  All the information is available on the District Council's website www.stratford.gov.uk by following the front page link to the online survey.

Cllr Maurice Howse, Enterprise, Housing and Revenues Portfolio says: “We have a statutory obligation to ask people's views on the scheme and I would encourage people to take this opportunity to review our proposals and let us know what they think. Once the consultation closes at the end of September, we will consider all the responses received before finalising the scheme ready for 1 April 2016."