The new 2013/14 Council Tax Support Scheme

The next full meeting of Nottingham City Council (NCC) takes place on Monday, 28th January

At the meeting the Deputy Leader of the council, Mr Graham Chapman (shown here), is recommending that the meeting agrees to adopt the new Council Tax Support Scheme (CTSS) in full, which was also the recommendation of the Executive Board meeting in December.

In summary, the Local Government Finance Act 2012 states that each billing authority in England must adopt a council tax reduction scheme no later than 31 January 2013; and the first financial year to which that scheme relates must be the year beginning with 1 April 2013. The 2012 Act also inserts a new Schedule 1A into the Act; it provides that for each financial year, each billing authority must consider whether to revise its scheme or to replace it with another scheme.

It is being recommended at the meeting that in the light of the consultation feedback last year, NCC takes the opportunity to reduce the financial burden on some of our most vulnerable citizens for 2013/14 by adopting a CTSS that enables NCC to access the transitional funding available from the government for one year only. It is also recommended that the City Council adopts the Council Tax Support Scheme 2013/14.

In order to comply with the criteria set out by the government to access the one-off transitional funding, the 2013/14 CTSS will include the following elements:

1 Putting a maximum limit on the amount of council tax support that can be paid to all working age people, so that working age households who get 100% help with their Council Tax bills now can receive a maximum of 91.5% help in 2013/14;

2 All working age households will pay at least 8.5% of their Council Tax bill in 2013/14

3 There is no sharp reduction in support for those entering work.

It is also recommended that the following additional elements are included following consideration of the findings of the council’s formal consultation exercise:

1 The second Adult Rebate is removed

2 Backdating is retained

3 Setting a minimum award level of 50p.

In order to comply with government regulations, the 2013/14 scheme also includes a guarantee that low income pensioners will see no change to the help they currently get with their Council Tax bills.

The current National Council Tax Benefit system is a means tested benefit system and when calculating the amount of Council Tax Benefit, the amount of money the household has to live on is taken into account. There are certain sources of household income/benefits that are not taken in to account. Under the 2013/14 CTSS this will not change and the following households will continue to be recognised:

1 Households with Children – Child Benefit will not be taken into Account when household income is calculated

2 Households with a disabled person – will continue to receive Benefits such as Disability Living Allowance and other allowances towards living costs.

3 Households with a carer – will continue to receive an additional Allowance towards living costs

4 Households with a war widow or disablement pension – War pensions will not be taken into account when household income is calculated