Local Council Tax Support

Own_My_Own

I am not looking for help, but did receive a letter from our local council today laying out the elements of the new scheme.

I thought you might like to see them-


All working age claimants will have to pay at least 10% of the Council Tax liability.
(net of 25% Single Person Discount and/or TCouncil Tax Disability scheme if applicable)

Include all household income including non-dependants but excluding disability living allowance, child benefit and war pensions.

25% reduction in support for those who have been in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) for more than 3 years.

Remove backdating of claims

Remove underlying entitlement

Remove second adult rebate

Include income from child maintenance payments

Include all child minder income

The LCTS scheme keeps the current Council Tax Benefit allowances and premiums in the calculations to reflect the basic needs of claimants.

The scheme also includes a residency criterion so those moving into the District after 1 April 2013 will not be eligible for council tax support but will become eligible for support after living in the district for 5 years.

The scheme fully protects the pensioner age group.

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Not surprised by any of it, but I wonder how many people in our district opened the letter this morning and are now panicking.

Must say I wasn't expecting the bit about living here 5 years, although it does seem a good idea.

cockaleekee

Seems pretty balanced to me - if people are taken by surprise when they receive this letter, I would question where they have been for the past six months, and why they did not contribute to the consultation!

sammyjammy

I think the three or more years unemployed is good but I think the 5 years living in the District is a little unfair - it's not like people will move to receive the support!

BigAunty

Wow. I've been following the discussions on change to the council tax discount schemes so I know they vary from place to place, but wow, some of that seems harsh.

I'm happy if they count all household income including tax credits and child maintenance. Since the local councils budgets decrease by 10%, I'm not too surprised that they are seeking this sum off virtually all claimants, bar a handful of vulnerable social groups.

This is the first time I've seen a policy where newcomers to the area must pay full council tax. I know in some areas, they won't give a discount to those in certain higher council tax bands.

Are they actually saying that someone who moves into the area on JSA (perhaps £71 a week) must pay their complete council tax? How can they possibly to that? Also, they are seeking the long term unemployed to pay more council tax.

Are they trying to reduce benefit claimants from moving into the area?! And trying to encourage the long term unemployed to move out?!

Gentile

As the pot gets smaller and smaller and as the credit based economy shrinks every year the amount of money the government can borrow will shrink further. Pretty soon there will be money to borrow only to finance capital expenditure. At that point people who have been on JSA for years and single mums who have spent all their life shopping will get a huge shock. Benefits are not guaranteed and will end soon.

Own_My_Own

We do have a large number of long term unemployment in parts of the district.

What I was wondering was, how someone moving here would know they couldn't get help with their CT until it was too late and they were already here.

spacey2012

They had better get building new prisons and dont stop.
Hundreds of thousands will be in breach of liability orders just because they have no money.

cockaleekee

spacey2012 wrote: »

They had better get building new prisons and dont stop.
Hundreds of thousands will be in breach of liability orders just because they have no money.

Very very few people go to prison for not paying CT. That is only likely to happen if they outright refused to pay, as opposed to making a payment arrangement to cover their debt.

BigAunty

Own_My_Own wrote: »

We do have a large number of long term unemployment in parts of the district.

What I was wondering was, how someone moving here would know they couldn't get help with their CT until it was too late and they were already here.

Generally, the fewer job opportunities there are and the more deprived the area, the higher the rate of JSA claims - is this the case in your area? I don't believe in spontaneous mass outbreaks of laziness - unemployment is generally tied to the economy of the area.

I think despite the hoo-ha over long term JSA claimants, the actual number of people claiming it after 2 years is very small? Does anyone know the figures?

And yes, I expect many people moving to a new area would not check the CT discount policy but I guess they will need to now - at best, people check the CT banding of a property before moving into it.

Some of my working friends have decided against renting particular properties because of the high CT so I guess people will start to apply it to particular areas as one of many factors they review ahead of any move.

jobdone1

What if some one has to move to another area to get employment, So they do the right thing get the low paid job but need support with council tax, So they get themselves off JSA pay taxes and get diddly squat. I can see this ending up in a court case. What is happening to this country for goodness sake

cockaleekee

jobdone1 wrote: »

What if some one has to move to another area to get employment, So they do the right thing get the low paid job but need support with council tax, So they get themselves off JSA pay taxes and get diddly squat. I can see this ending up in a court case. What is happening to this country for goodness sake

On what grounds would it end up in a court case? I agree that it may make it difficult for those on a low income to move (which is likely to be the reason for the restriction), but I cannot see grounds for a legal challenge.