Have your say on Council Tax Reduction Scheme
News release issued:
Residents are being invited to have their say on whether more Council Tax support should be given to low income working age households.
Wyre Forest District Council is considering changing its Council Tax Reduction Scheme. The current scheme sees all working age households paying Council Tax. The amount depends on their household income but everyone has to pay at least 20%.
Almost 8,000 households in the district receive Council Tax reduction. More than half of these are working age households. The total cost of the scheme is £7.6 million. This is spread across all the organisations who receive a share of the council tax. These are Worcestershire County Council (70%), the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner (12%), Wyre Forest District Council (11%), Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority (5%) and Town and Parish Councils (2%). Any change to the scheme would impact on the budgets of all these organisations.
If the council decides to make changes to the scheme, it will not affect pension age households. The scheme for pension age low income households is set out by the government and means that eligible pensioner households do not have to pay any Council Tax.
Councillor Mary Rayner, Wyre Forest District Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Portfolio said:
“Approximately 4,600 working age households in the district are benefiting from a reduction in their council tax at the moment. With the cost of living crisis we want to find out whether people feel we should offer more support. We have set out all the information in our consultation, including the financial impact that any changes would have on the authorities. We welcome views from residents and groups working with our communities. We are asking people to read the background information before completing the survey.“
In the current scheme, a single person with an income below £90 a week, or a couple with two or more children with an income below £270 a week, would be entitled to 80% off their Council Tax.
The consultation runs until 5pm on Monday 10 October 2022.