Decision details

The report at the Individual Executive Meeting confirmed that the award was intended to cover the full loss, although this would be capped at £150.00 Payment will be direct to the household subject to application or automatically allocated to the council tax account if no application is made.

As the council tax reduction scheme anticipated a loss to some households, a de-minimis amount has been added to the scheme. A minimum award value of £20.00 (minimum loss of £20.00 as a result of the changes to the CTR scheme) will be required to trigger eligibility for households impacted by the changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme from 1 April 2022 (criteria 1 under Phase 2).

Eligibility will also be extended under Phase 2 to council tax payers otherwise eligible to the Council Tax Energy Bills Rebate, but for the fact that their new build property was not awaiting an official banding from the VOA on 1 April 2022. An award of £150 will instead be made under the Discretionary Scheme.

Analysis of the range of loss incurred from the Council Tax Reduction Scheme change undertaken after the Discretionary Fund scheme was set showed that some council tax payers were affected by only small amounts and as the scheme anticipated that some losses would be incurred a de-minimis amount will be applied.
A number of dwellings were identified as completed and occupied prior to 1 April and provisional banding applied after that date. As the council tax charged remains due, despite the later billing of council tax than could have been arranged, including the small additional number of discretionary awards would not substantially affect the principal aims of the scheme whilst eliminating what could be seen as an artificial distinction introduced under the government’s core scheme.

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