Tackling changes to council tax
benefits in County Durham
Members of Durham County Council’s
Cabinet will hear next week (September 12) how the authority could tackle the
major changes the Government is proposing regarding council tax benefits.
Like all local authorities, the county council
must introduce a Local Council Tax Support System ready for April next year to
coincide with the abolition of the current national council tax benefit scheme.
The new system will replace benefit payments with discounts to those who
qualify, but will see the Government’s grant to local authorities to fund these
discounts reduced by 10 per cent.
In addition Whitehall has set out a
number of criteria which include ensuring that all pensioners entitled to
council tax benefit are fully protected. Currently 50 per cent of the people
entitled to council tax benefit in County Durham fall within this category.
As a result it is proposed that,
subject to consultation, members agree to protect the county’s most vulnerable
residents by continuing with the current level of payment to those entitled to
the benefit for an initial one year period.
The Cabinet member for resources is
Cllr Alan Napier. He said: “In the current economic climate we face many
extremely difficult decisions but this is potentially one of the toughest yet.
“Despite the very tight timescales
considerable work has been undertaken to see how we can protect many of our
most vulnerable residents. If we choose to recoup the lost grant by reducing
benefit entitlement for people of working age we could leave some people even
worse off and ourselves with increased difficulties in collecting council tax.
“Therefore I am suggesting we stick to
the current level of support for a one year period and find other ways to
generate income to bridge the spending gap.
“It could be that this approach is not
sustainable in the longer term but I think it is important that we try this
initially, while we learn more about the wider changes planned for Welfare
Reform and learn from experiences elsewhere.”
One way the authority could potentially
make up the £5.5m shortfall would be to utilise planned changes in the law
regarding the right of local authorities to cut, and in some cases remove,
council tax reductions on certain empty homes and unfurnished properties.
It’s estimated that these changes, to
be introduced by Government in April 2013, could mean that the council could
collect greater amounts of council tax from a range of long term empty and
second homes, which would also help to bring these houses back into use.
Cabinet members will consider the
report and its recommendations at a meeting at Green Lane in Spennymoor on
September 12. The council is obliged to have designed, consulted on and agreed
its Local Council Tax Support Scheme by January 31, 2013. As such members will
be asked to approve the start of a public consultation exercise on the proposed
scheme to start on September 13. Details on how to take part will be available
from that date on the council’s website by clicking the ‘Have Your Say’ option.
The full paper is available to view on
line at