Localised Council Tax Support Scheme

What do the changes mean?

Currently the Council receives funding from the Government to cover the cost of the CTB scheme.  Under the new scheme, this funding is being cut by 10% which means that Broxbourne will receive around £750,000 less in 2013/14.

Less money means that we have had to make difficult decisions about who gets financial support and how much we can afford to give them.

State pension age claimants will still have a CTS scheme set nationally and will not have their benefit reduced under the new scheme.

The Government has also specified that a local scheme must ;

• encourage people to find work and,
• that consideration should be given to the most vulnerable when designing the scheme.

You can use our Council Tax Support Calculator to work out how you will be affected by the changes.

Consultation

The Council’s public consultation process on its proposals for a localised Council Tax Support Scheme ran for an eight week period from 3 September 2012 to 29 October 2012.  A comprehensive programme of communication and engagement took place and a residents' survey formed the principal means of gathering responses to the consultation process.  Following analysis and consideration of the results of the consultation, two amendments were made to the proposed scheme:-

• The capital limit for claiming Council Tax Support will be £16,000, as at present, and not be reduced to £6000.
• The taper used in the calculation of Council Tax Support will be 25% and not 30% as originally proposed.

All other proposals made received general support during the consultation and, as such, have been incorporated into the final scheme.  The final Council Tax Support scheme received approval from full Council on the 18 December.

You can read a summary of the scheme on the Council Tax Support Scheme Page