What is this about?
Changes to our Council Tax Support scheme for the financial year 2025/26 for working-age residents.

What is Council Tax Support?
Council Tax Support (CTS) 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 if they are in a protected group, and 90% for the majority of households. Pensioners can also receive up to 100% CTS as their scheme is determined by Central Government.

Why is a change to the Council Tax Support 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, our scheme has broadly followed the principles of the old Council Tax Benefit scheme. This is a complex scheme which makes it difficult for customers to know what level of support they may be entitled to.

The continued roll out of Universal Credit, with its rolling reassessment of entitlement, means that many CTS applicants receive multiple Council Tax demands each year. This is leading to confusion for applicants, changes in Council Tax liability, and a significant increase in the administration that has to be undertaken by the Council.

Who will this affect?
Working-age households in the Borough who currently receive or will apply for CTS. Pension-age households will not be affected as Central Government prescribes the scheme for these households.

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