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.

Stratford District Council's own 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 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 the following:

• Reducing the maximum level of support for working age applicants from 100% to 80%.
• Removing the Family Premium for all working age applicants
• Reducing the period for which a person can be absent from Great Britain and still receive council tax reduction to 4 weeks
• To remove the element of a Work Related Activity Component in the calculation of the current scheme for new Employment and Support Allowance applicants
• To limit the number of dependant children within the calculation for Council Tax Reduction to a maximum of two
• To remove entitlement to the Severe Disability Premium where another person is paid Universal Credit (Carers Element) to look after them

The results of which will go to The Cabinet in November with the final scheme going to Council in December 2016.

The consultation started online on Wednesday 17 August and runs for eight weeks ending at 5pm on Wednesday 12 October. 

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.

In addition, all claimants under 65 will receive a questionnaire in the post to be completed by Friday 30 September.

Cllr Dave Riches, Enterprise 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. Our aim with these options open to consultation is to align the scheme with the current Housing Benefit Scheme.  Once the consultation closes, we will consider all the responses received before finalising the scheme ready for 1 April 2017."

Background information

• What is Council Tax Reduction?
  Council Tax Reduction is a discount for Council Tax. The level of discount is based on the income of the household. Currently the maximum discount is 100% of Council Tax for working age households and up to 100% for pensioners.
• Why is a change to the Council Tax Reduction scheme being considered?
  Until April 2013 there was a national scheme called Council Tax Benefit. The Government made local Councils responsible for replacement schemes from 1 April 2013 and reduced funding to support the schemes. Since then, funding has further reduced. The District Council also need to make amendments to keep the Council Tax Reduction in line with Housing Benefit which it also administers to keep administration costs low.
• Who will this affect?
  Working age households in the District who currently receive or will apply for Council Tax Reduction. Pension age households will not be affected as Central Government prescribed the scheme.