changes to Council Tax Benefit

sarahlouise28

Murphymycat wrote: »

After perusing mid Devon's website I noticed that more than half of the recipients of CTB are pensioners. This may be because lots of people retire here (or I could be talking a load of rubbish and most councils do the same). This means that there is a smaller pool of people to make up the 10% cuts that the council has to make.

Yes, pensioners are always protected but your right if you have a higher population of pensioners its going to be harder for the council to save its 10%.

nannytone_2

i wont scream and shout ... it isnt in my nature lol

but im sure that there will be a lot of people knocking on the councils door, ranting and raving when they realise how much they could be losing.

as i said previously .... on paper its a good idea that would free up many family sized properties. but it could only work if the smaller properties were availavle.

sarahlouise28

Murphymycat wrote: »

:T:T:T

Another thought, how many councils would not protect pensioners if they had a choice?

That is a really interesting thought.

I have thought about this a lot. For example you could have a little old lady living in a three bed housing association property that she has lived in for 30 years .

Her income is Guarantee pension credit (GC) - she qualifies for this as she only has a reduced state pension, she could also have £50,000 in the bank, but even with the tariff income from that capital she is still under her applicable amount she is topped up with GC and immediately entitled to full HB/CTB.

Under the new changes she is not effected in anyway - she will remain entitled to having both her rent and council tax paid in full. She is also taking up a property that is in high demand that she no longer needs.

Yet it is clear that she could afford to make some contribution - is it fair, when you could have a single working age person having been made redundant being asked to pay 25% of their Council Tax bill . Bearing in mind their income is only £71 per week Job Seekers Allowance.

I don't know - the system needs to change but are the right changes being made ??

Mersey_2

It's a shame this arbitrary cut got through the House of Lords. Remember the proposal to cut benefits by 10% after unemployed for 12 months? That was defeated and then dropped.

Zombies

Hi

Does anyone know how benefits are calulated

I am self employed, new business in 2010 and was entitled to CTB first year, 2nd year I paid it in full, having moved recently I feel I could do with some help on this
what will the council see as not needing benefit income wise?

cheers

fluffymovie

There is a lot of confusion and things still to be ironed out with regards to the Localisation of Council Tax and it does depend on the elected councillors in an area as to how / what changes are made.

The rules we were given when told to create a scheme were as follows;

1 = Pensioners excluded (46% of my caseload in my LA)
2 = Must protect families with children
3 = Must provide an incentive to work
4 = Must provide protection for the vulnerable

So this means that only those without children and who are not disbabled or pensioners are those who are expected the carry the 10% cut in funding.

Worth mentioning to the OP, that it is not the salary of the high paid Council officers that make a difference, For every £1 spent on Council Tax Benefit at present, £1 is refunded to the LA by Govt subsidy. Under the new rules, we will be given a fixed grant with a cut of 10% from our usual spending so in my Council, we have to find £600,000 from somewhere!

As some posters have said, there used to be a restriction to a Band E but that was gotten rid of some years ago so that isn't a new idea.

However, in my LA, Councilllors have said No to using Child Benefit in the calculation, No to using maintenance in the calculation, No to a total maximum cap, No to lowering the capital limit from £16k to £6k. It really leaves us with very little option.

It is not the Council officers who are having the final say, it's the memebers we all elect at our Council Elections. If you feel the consultation you will all receive, is wrong, then it's them you need to contact.

The picture is different in some areas than others due to the variery of unitary and non unitary councils meaning that in some places, the decision is being made by the County Council and others, it is the individual councils.

I have worked in benefits for over a decade and this is the longest period of sustained change I have seen. I feel it is an attempt by the Govt to pass the blame for when things don't work out onto Local Councils prior to the next election but that's just my personal view.

sarahlouise28

I agree Fluffymovie, I do think that local authorities will be seen as the 'bad guy' when all of these changes take effect- yet we have no choice but to implement the changes from above.

Thank you for the correction - you forget over time, but yes it was a band E that Council Tax Benefit was restricted too.

In my local authority the initial suggestion is that we are only protecting families with children up to the age of 5 years old.

It is important that local people feed back on any consultations in their area.

Very difficult time ahead.

WashingTime

fatbelly wrote: »

No significant changes for those who live in Dudley!


Council Tax Benefit in Dudley

That's a pretty simplistic way to look at it.

What's been said is that for one year only the extra cost will be stumped up by Dudley's council taxpayers (or other services will be cut even more).

After that ...

sunnyone

nannytone wrote: »

everyone will be effected to some degree. seems really unfair .... it all depends on hosw your local authority veiws things.

we already know the .bedroom tax' is happening. so if there are no 1 bed properties you will lose 14% of entitlement. and now the disvretion over council tax.....
i have heard nothing as of today .... but id the charge of 25% is adopyed, i will have to pay £21 a week. not a huge amount. but when my weekly applicable amount is £140 .... then its a\ lot!

youre talking £21 a week out of an income of £140.
i would dearly love to work ..... but show me an employer that would take me?

i have a 2 bed property.... not choice.... butt availabilty.

in mu experience, the 1 beds are reserved for vulnerable tyoung people. and thats great. but i need a property in the area that i know and that has the support that i need.

by all means, hit the workshy and lazy.... but this move hits the disaled terriby.

i have an income of £560 every 4 weerks( just under)

my additional outgoings will be £80 a month.
if i were in a position to better myself then id accept it. but im not

No not everyone, we will still be paying our council tax in full every month alongside many other households who do not claim CTB.

nannytone_2

obviosly it only affects those that claim ctb.
the only people within this group that will be unaffected are [pensioners.