Agenda item

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance submitted a report for Executive’s consideration which sought approval of the Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme for 2023/24.

From 1 April 2013, the Government replaced the national Council Tax Benefit scheme with a new CTS scheme to be designed and administered by Local Authorities. The Government passed this responsibility to Councils with a 10% cut in the grant funding and prescribed that pensioners must have been no worse off under any local scheme. This translated into an effective reduction in funding for working age claimants of 20% and meant that some residents, many of whom had previously been required to pay nothing, now had to pay at least 20% of their Council Tax.

Middlesbrough’s scheme was approved by full Council on 9 January 2013 and remained unaltered (apart from some minor legislative changes) until 2018/2019 when the scheme was amended to bring it in line with the current Housing Benefit scheme regulations, whilst also increasing the amount of support provided to 85% for working age residents. This, therefore, meant non-pensioner residents claiming CTS had a minimum 15% of the Council Tax charge to pay as opposed to the previous 20%.

A Member queried if a single point of contact existed for residents should they require any financial assistance. It was suggested that, if a contact existed, it should be circulated to all Members.

OPTIONS

The Council could have retained its current income bandings, which would have reduced the amount of support awarded for those applicants subject to increases in their working age benefits that resulted in a band change. However, as indicated earlier in the report, the Council recognised the financial challenges placed on residents due to the Cost of Living and Energy crises and was therefore proposing that the level of support was maintained.

In addition, the Council was not in a financial position to consider awarding additional support through higher discounts or different income ranges without affecting other Council services due to current budgetary pressures. If this was to be considered, a full consultation exercise would also need to be carried out which had not taken place during the current financial year.

ORDERED

1.     That Executive approve the Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme for 2023/24; and

2.     That enquiries be made with the relevant Service Area to establish if a single point of contact existed for residents, should they require financial assistance.

REASONS

The proposed banding changes would have maintained the current simplified scheme and maintained assistance for low-income households, supported the collection of Council Tax, whilst also fulfilling the obligations on Local Authorities to support the roll out of Universal Credit.

As the only changes to the scheme were minor income banding adjustments to reflect inflation benefit increases set by Central Government and provided for within the existing CTS scheme, no stakeholder consultation had been carried out. Similarly, these proposals had not been examined by the Overview and Scrutiny Board or by a Scrutiny Panel due to the scheme remaining the same.