Showing posts with label Council Tax Support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Council Tax Support. Show all posts

Monday 1 June 2020

Brent Council to give households on Council Tax Support £150 towards their bill

From Brent Council

Today Brent Council is implementing a scheme that will provide over 7,000 households in need of emergency financial support with a one-off payment of £150 towards their Council Tax bill.

The credits will be made to accounts of working-age Council Tax payers who are eligible for Brent’s Council Tax Support scheme. The emergency funding will also apply to eligible new claims made for Council Tax Support from 1 April 2020 until 31 March 2021.

These households will shortly receive an updated Council Tax bill, showing reductions in payments totalling £1.3 million.

The money that enables the council to do this was made available by the Government and is ring-fenced for this purpose.

Councillor Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, said:
Households across Brent have been hit extremely hard by this pandemic. Already, over 750 additional households have joined Brent’s Council Tax Support scheme, which just goes to show that money is a big worry for lots of people at the moment.”

This Government grant makes it possible for us to help out that little bit more. The economic and emotional costs of the pandemic are huge and growing and I look forward to working with the Government to find other ways to support Brent’s residents.”

The Coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the deep rooted economic insecurity and inequalities our residents face. Earlier this year, I launched an independent Poverty Commission and, through this work, we are exploring what else needs to change to make a difference.”

I also want to reassure all residents that if your circumstances have changed or if you’re struggling and you need financial support, please look to us for help – visit our website or get in touch and we’ll let you know what options are available to you.

Visit our website for more information about the financial support available to residents during the Coronavirus outbreak or to apply for the Council Tax Support Scheme.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Brent won't revise Council Tax Support Scheme despite 3.99% CT rise in 2017-18


Brent Council Tax Support caseload

A report LINK going before the next Brent Cabinet recommends that the Council Tax Support Scheme should not be revised to support vulnerable residents despite another expected 3.99% rise in the tax in 2017-18.

The report points out the impact of the Universal Credit Scheme:
The greatest potential impact upon the future level of Brent CTS expenditure arises from Universal Credit (UC) roll-out. This is because the existing Brent CTS scheme provides for a maximum CTS entitlement of 80% of Council Tax liability where a claimant is in receipt of certain benefits  including Universal Credit. Tax Credits, which are to be incorporated within Universal Credit in the future, are currently subject to a means test for CTS purposes and consequently generally result in a lower level of CTS award than the 80% referred to above for Universal Credit claimants. 

Consequently, when recipients of Working Tax Credit transfer to Universal Credit, they will, under the current CTS scheme arrangements, become eligible for the maximum 80% CTS entitlement rather than the lower level of award that they would currently get as a consequence of the means test applied. The pace and timing of UC roll out is set by the Government and is currently available only to single jobseekers making new claims in Brent although it includes couples and families in some other parts of the country. 

If Brent Council were to revise the scheme the changes would have to be be made by Full Council by January 31st 2017.

Saturday 25 January 2014

Brent's 2015-16 budget gap could still justify council tax referendum

Reflecting on Muhammed Butt's declaration yesterday that there were 'no plans to change course' on freezing council tax for the 2014-15 budget, I wonder what his plans are for 2015-16. In October the Council forecast a deficit for that year of  £34m (see below) a huge amount that on the council's own reckoning will put essential services at risk.

As political parties are deciding their manifestos for the May local elections surely they should be saying something about this crisis waiting for them in their first year of office.

In that respect a manifesto pledge to have a referendum on increasing council tax would make sense. Rank and file Labour party members and the wider public could than have a say and it could provide a launch pad for similar moves by other local authorities.  I do not think increases in council tax are the answer to the huge cuts in local authority funding, that of course requires the restoration of adequate funding, but a national debate post May 2014 leading up to the General Election in 2015 could feed into that demand. It will certainly put the future of local government on the General Election agenda.

The referendum debate in Brent, unlike in Brighton and Hove, may be closed in terms of the 2014-15 budget but should be very much a live issue for 2015-16. The electorate need to know how the competing parties would tackle the issue.

Meanwhile on February 4th the Budget Finance and Overview Scrutiny Committee will be discussing the draft budget for 2014-15. No details are included on the agenda except for the following statement:

The Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss and make recommendations on the draft 2014/15 budget. Councillor Ruth Moher, Lead Member for Corporate Resources and Deputy Leader of the Council, will present the draft budget and answer questions from members. While the committee will lead the discussion, this meeting is intended to give all non-Executive members the opportunity to participate in the budget scrutiny process and raise any questions or comments they may have on the draft budget.
These are the figures published on Wembley Matters in October 2013 LINK that signalled the upcoming crisis:
 

  2014/15
 2015/16   
2016/17

£m
£m
£m




Budget Gap at Council Feb 2013
20.4
17.1
17.3




Reductions in Revenue Support Grant
2.0
13.0
1.0




Business Rate Top-Up
-0.1
-0.4
-0.2




Additional Council Tax Freeze Grants
-1.0
-1.1
2.1




Business Rates - share of growth from baseline
-1.9
-0.7
-0.6




New Homes Bonus
0.5
2.7
-0.1




Collection Fund Surplus
-2.4
2.4





Council Tax Base
-1.3
-0.2
-0.3




Other Grants
-1.1
0.8





Capital Financing
-2.0






Latest Budget Gap
13.1
33.6
19.2

Monday 23 December 2013

Brent Council ignorant of how many of their contractors pay below London Living Wage or use Zero Hours contracts

Brent Council's commitment to paying the London Living Wage was very welcome but as pointed out in previous postings that is problematic because the Council has very few directly employed manual and service  workers now that so many of its services are contracted out. The same caveat applies to zero hours contracts, also opposed by the Council, but when some out-sourced Civic Centre security staff are employed on a zero hours basis.

The Council has urged local schools and private businesses to pay the London Living Wage and the new Public Realm contract includes a requirement that  Veolia  pay the LWW. The Council in a November press released stated:
We have also agreed to build LLW considerations into our procurement process for contracts and, over a three-year period, will review the bulk of contracts with a positive view to applying LLW.
Again this is welcome although the continued emphasis on 'best value' (often the lowest bid) introduces a tension at a time of massive funding cuts. There is increasing recognition that by lifting local wages the Council will eventually be better off as families are lifted out of poverty and thus less reliant on benefits, including Council Tax Support.

Given all this I was surprised to receive a negative response from Brent Council to my  Freedom of Information request asking for details of how many of the staff employed by the Council via contractors and sub-contractors are on zero hours contracts and paid less than the London Living Wage. After they refused the request I asked for a review and now have a response (below) - which amounts to another refusal .

What concerns me is that if the Council is concerned about the London Living Wage and poverty among Brent residents, it is surely their responsibility to ensure that those employed on their behalf have decent wages and conditions. In terms of budget planning it is also essential to know the cost of bringing those workers up to the LWW and that can only be done through  knowing how many people are involved.

If there is to be evidence based forward planning and decision making it is essential to have high quality information. I had a similar experience regarding school places when the Council refused my request for the number of pupils on Brent school waiting lists who were duplicates - i.e.the same child on waiting lists for several schools.Again essential information on assessing unmet demand and potential school expansions.

Here is the Council's ruling on my Zero Hours/London Living Wage request:
We have reviewed the decision to refuse your request for information under The Freedom of Information Act. Your request related to information that would establish how many staff who work for or on behalf of the Council through a contractor were employed on a zero hours basis and how many were paid the London Living Wage.

That request was refused as the information requested was not held by the Council. You were dissatisfied with that request on the basis that the Council had been critical of such arrangements and would not use a zero hours scheme with its own staff and had made a policy position that the London Living Wage should be paid to all Council staff as a minimum. We have now reviewed the decision to refuse the request and I can inform you of the outcome.
  

It is correct to say that the Council does not hold this information and as such can not readily supply it to you.  It may be possible to contact all of the contractors that the Council engages with but when the number of those contractors are considered and the time involved in obtaining the information you have requested is taken into account this would be a major exercise.
  

The Council would have to identify all current contracts on which staff are employed by the contractor which would, in effect, be nearly if not all of the contractors that are used. This in itself is an enormous piece of work. Once identified contact would have to be made with all of those contractors which would be hundreds of individual contacts. This again would be an enormous piece of work to accurately undertake. Collating the information would also take a significant amount of time.
  

Our view is that the time involved in obtaining the information would be in excess of 18 hours of officer time. Under the Act a request can be refused in the event that the cost of complying with it would exceed the cost limit set out in legislation. The applicable regulations provide that in assessing whether the cost limit has been reached officer time should be assessed at £25 per hour and the overall limit of cost being £450.

Given that the cost here would require in excess of 18 hours of officer time it is clearly over the cost limit set out in the Act. The Executive has taken the decision that any request that breaches the cost limit should be refused.
If the Council is to conduct a 3 year review as their November press release stated then this is precisely the information that will be needed.  Meanwhile, as residents, we have no way of knowing how many of the workers providing our services are on zero hours contracts with little or no pension or sick pay rights, or employed on rock bottom wages.

Friday 6 December 2013

Council Tax Consultation extended after complaints

The Brent Council consultation on Council Tax Support due to end today,  has been extended for a week after a posting on this blog, Twitter campaign and an official complaint that it had not been widely enough advertised.


Wednesday 4 December 2013

Council Tax Support: 3 days to respond to Brent's 'hidden' consultation

I wrote a little while ago about the hidden away Brent Council consultation on Council Tax support in which the council indicates it wants to continue the present scheme despite the furore over vulnerable residents unable to pay  receiving summonses to Willesden Magistrates Court and incurring extra court charges as a result.

An official complaint is being lodged on the grounds that the consultation has not been well puiblicised (not even to the Citizen's Panel), that it is on-line only making it less accessible to those who it affects because they are less likely to have access to a computer at home, and the very short consultation period. The consultation ends on Friday December 6th.

As one activist said: 'It is almost as if Brent Council doesn't want anyone to respond.'

You can access the consultation here LINK

Meanwhile Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (ZK2 ) LINK has made a response to the consultation.  ZK2000 started as a Christian organisation campaigning against the poll tax.It is s a London-based charity addressing poverty issues caused by unfairness in the law, legal and benefits system.

ZK2000 blogged:
As we have explained previously Z2K is totally opposed to the abolition of Council Tax Benefit and the government’s 10% funding cut, but we also think that local authorities that have tried to make up this funding shortfall by introducing a minimum payment are simply heaping further misery on their poorest residents.

In Brent the minimum payment has led to over 3,500 residents who formerly paid no council tax at all being taken to court with threat of almost £100 in legal fees being added to their debt. In our experience these people aren’t refusing to pay but simply can’t. We believe this just the beginning and expect that many more will start to fall into arrears as rising energy and food prices make their budgets unmanageable.
Here is their submission to the Council's consultation questions:
 
1. With reference to the 6 key principles listed above, please indicate how important these are to you? (Please rank each area according to importance: 1 being most important and 6 being least important)
Please click the options below in order of preference.
 Principle 1: “Everyone should pay something”
 Principle 2: “The most vulnerable claimants should be protected” (from the minimum contribution)
 Principle 3: “The scheme should incentivise work”
 Principle 4: “Everyone in the household should contribute”
 Principle 5: “Better off claimants should pay relatively more so that the least well off receive greater protection.”
Principle 6: “Benefit should not be paid to those with relatively large capital or savings”

We will rank Principle 2 as number 1 and leave the rest blank.

2. To what extent do you agree or disagree about Brent proposing “No Change” in its CTS scheme for 2014-15, except for including an additional group to be classed as vulnerable (see question 3)?

Z2K strongly objects to Brent’s proposal for maintaining its current CTS scheme. We believe, and our experience supporting Brent resident’s shows, that the minimum payment required by the scheme is pushing some of Brent’s most deprived resident’s further into poverty.

Benefits are supposedly calculated on the basis of providing the minimum necessary to live on, yet they fall far short of Minimum Income Standards (the amount required for a minimum acceptable living standard, for more information see http://www.jrf.org.uk/topic/mis). For a single person over the age of 25 the £71.70 weekly Job Seekers Allowance is only 38% of their minimum income standard and for a couple with two children their benefits only provide 58% of what is required for an acceptable standard of living.

This already insufficient income level is being further eroded by the government’s programme of welfare reform. In Brent 1,688 residents have had their housing benefit reduced by the ‘Bedroom Tax’ while 1,177 claimants have been hit by the Benefit Cap. Overall Brent is the local authority worst affected by welfare reform in London and research by Sheffield Hallam University has shown the cuts will result in residents losing £150m.

On top of this councillors have decided to introduce a minimum council tax payment that is amongst the highest in London, only Harrow is charging more (22.5%) and three other boroughs are charging the same amount (Ealing, Hillingdon & Newham). For the vast majority of CTS claimants this minimum payment has to come out of benefits which are already insufficient to provide for the basics of life, and in many cases have already been reduced by other welfare reforms. This means that just under 25,000 Brent residents have been placed in the impossible situation of trying to cut down their food, utility bills or other house essential costs in order to pay their council tax.

Unsurprisingly many have been unable to do so, resulting in almost 3,500 Brent residents being issued with court summons for non-payment of council tax so far this year. Our experience providing advice to some of those summonsed to Willesden Magistrates Court on 5th November and others over the summer demonstrated they are not ‘refusing to pay, regardless of support offered’, as the authority has previously claimed. We found a number of very vulnerable individuals and families who simply couldn’t pay, several of whom were in a state of serious anxiety and visibly distressed by the threat of legal action.

In our opinion these 3,500 summonses are just the beginning. We expect that many of those who have hitherto been managing to meet the minimum payment will start to fall into arrears as rising energy and food prices make their budges unmanageable, particularly as utility bills increase  with the onset of winter and the need to heat their homes. We are also concerned that those claimants who have previously been summonsed will not manage to pay off their arrears before the end of the financial year, creating the potential for a cycle of debt when they receive their 2014/15 bills.

As such we question the councils assumed collection rate of 80% of the minimum payment, upon which rests the supposed financial neutrality of the scheme. Given that the 80% target was not based on proper modelling and is effectively a guess, as well as the failure to take into account the costs of enforcement to the council, we question the financial viability of the minimum payment in making up the cut government funding.
Indeed any assessment of whether the proposal to maintain the current system for 2014/15 is correct should be undertaken on the basis of the fullest possible information. It is important the council takes into account the experience of the first year using evidence on arrears rates, cost of collection and impacts such as any increase in homelessness. Without providing this information the authority has prevented Brent residents from making an informed decision in their consultation responses. We can only hope that such evidence is provided to councillors in a thorough going impact assessment of the 2013/14 scheme before they make the decision for next year.    

Ultimately although we understand that financial pressure of the 10% funding cut has placed Brent in a difficult situation, we still believe it is possible to find a way not to pass this cut on to your poorest residents. As we have pointed out previously, six London authorities have maintained 100% council tax benefit while a further four have made changes to their scheme but have not implemented a minimum payment. 

We note that not all the boroughs that have chosen to retain 100% benefit are ‘affluent’ as is sometimes claimed by local councillors. Tower Hamlets for example is the 3rd most deprived local authority in the country and has a similar number of CTB claimants to Brent, yet councillors there have chosen not to pass the cut onto their residents and found the money elsewhere.

In light of this we call for Brent to abolish the minimum payment and reinstate 100% council tax support, as well as joining the campaign against this iniquitous policy.

3. To what extent do you agree or disagree about Brent proposing to protect customers on Lower Rate Incapacity Benefit and Higher Rate Incapacity Benefit by classing these customers as being a vulnerable group in its CTS scheme for 2014-15?

While we believe that only the abolition of the minimum payment will create a fair and just Council Tax Support scheme we welcome any expansion of the exemptions to the minimum payment. In this regard, we agree with the authority’s proposal to class Lower Rate Incapacity Benefit and Higher Rate Incapacity Benefit claimant’s as a vulnerable group and thereby exempt them from the minimum payment from 2014-15 onwards.

However we note that in response to our highlighting the issue of Incapacity Benefit in regards to a client of ours the council agreed to apply the exemption to their 2013/14 account and waive their summons costs. We believe it would be unfair to not apply the same decision to other Brent taxpayers in the same situation as our client, whether they have been hitherto meeting the payments or struggled to do so and received a court summons and incurred additional costs. 

4. With reference to Principle 2 set out above, please give details of any other groups that you believe should be protected apart from those already proposed and give reasons why.

It is our belief that any individual or family that is forced to rely on state benefits is by definition vulnerable, particularly in a financial sense, and should therefore be exempt from paying council tax. That is why we argue for the abolition of the minimum payment. However if the council continues to refuse to do so, there are a number of particular vulnerable groups that could and should be protected.  

First among these are Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants. We note that Brent has previously stated that it is not necessary to exempt ESA claimants as disabled people are already covered under the DLA and disability premium exemptions.  However, this fails to take account of the fact that not all ESA claimants also claim DLA. 

Indeed the council has already recognised the need to exempt those in receipt of Incapacity Benefit meaning it would be inconsistent not to extend this exemption to ESA claimants. This is because Incapacity Benefit is in the process of being abolished and replaced by ESA. There are no new claims for Incapacity Benefit allowed and claimants are gradually being migrated to ESA. This means that if an Incapacity Benefit claimant is migrated to ESA and doesn’t also receive DLA or a disability premium they will then lose their exemption to the minimum payment, although their circumstances will have otherwise remained unchanged. Such a situation is surely inconsistent with the principle of exempting those on Incapacity Benefit and should be remedied immediately.


Tuesday 19 November 2013

Brent Council wants to leave Council Tax Support unchanged despite summonsing 3,300

The demonstration outside Willesden Magistrates Court
Some Brent Council consultations get more publicity than others. This one on the Council Tax Support Scheme seems a little hidden away so I thought I would bring it to your attention. The present system resulted in 3,300 people being summonsed to Willesden Magistrates Court by the Council for non-payment and a demonstration outside the court which received wide publicity. Some of those summonsed incurred extra court charges of £90 or more on top of the amount owed.

This consultation started without fanfare on November 11th and ends on December 12th.

Now believe it or not the Council, with minor changes, wants to keep essentially the same scheme despite Muhammed Butt vowing that Labour would protect the vulnerbale at last night's Council Meeting.

Below is an extract from the Council website. You can see the full consultation portal and submit your views HERE

Sunday 14 July 2013

Does this report REALLY tackle Brent's housing crisis?

Click on image to enlarge
A report going before the Brent Executive on Monday July 15th lays bare the extent of Brent's housing extent and how it has been exacerbated by the Coalition's changes to benefits.

The graph shows that Brent has been much more affected by landlords ending tenancies than our neighbouring boroughs. 47%of homeless acceptances in 2012-13 were homeless due to the ending of a private letting in the wake of the changes in the Local Housing Allowance. The private rented sector itself continues to grow with 31,784 households living in private rented accommodation in the 2011 Census, compared with 17,043 in 2001. The sector accounted for 28.8% of Brent households.

Unmet demand for housing assistance stands at 10,366 households. This excludes those on Band D who are assessed by the Council Allocations Scheme as having no housing need.

Current demand on the Housing Register, including the homeless in temporary accommodation and those on the Transfer list is just over 19,000 households. In contrast the Council expect to make just 844 lettings of permanent social housing tenancies by the end of 2013-14.


These are allocated thus:

Looking ahead the Report notes the pressures that will be experienced:

1. Local Housing Allowance changes will continue to impact and make it harder for the Council to procure private rented accommodation as landlords will be unwilling to 'engage with tenants in recipet of benefits'.
2. The changes in LHA payable to single people under 35, which limits payment to a single room in a shared house, will mean they will find it increasingly difficult to find accommodation in the private rented sector.
3. From 12th August 2013, over a five week period, the Overall Benefit Cap will limit the total amount of benefit payable to a non-working couple or a single parent to £500 per week, and £350 per week for a non-working single person. The OBC was expected to impact on 2,700 Brent households, but some have taken measures so as to be exempted and the DWP assesses the total as 2,267 now. The bulk of these are in temporary accommodation or the private rented sector.
4. The Bedroom Tax will reduce benefit for rent  for social housing tenants by 14% (average £17.50 pw) with one 'spare room; and 25% (average £32.66 pw) for those with two 'spare rooms'.
5. Many households will be making a minimum contribution of Council Tax for the first time when they are also faced with  financial pressure from other welfare reforms.
6. The DWP is predicting that approximately 40% of claimants currently receiving Disability Living Allowance will not qualify to receive the replacement Personal Independence Allowances. The report notes: 'these claimants will be a high priority for receiving support from the council to cope with changes in circumstances' as receipt of DLA by a member of a household previously exempted them from  the Overall Benefit Cap and Council Tax charge.

The consequences of all this, the report says, is that families are likely to live in over-crowded and poor quality accommodation in the borough rather than move out to cheaper and better quality accommodation outside Brent. 'Unscrupulous' landlords may take advantage of families affected by Welfare Reform by refusing to deal with disrepair issues, knowing that the families will be reluctant to report them for fear of losing their accommodation. Brent Council has therefore drafted a Private Housing Action Plan to deal with these issues.

The report confirms actions already approved by the council including:

1. The introduction of fixed term tenancies by the council with partner housing providers determining their own policies as long as they are 'broadly consistent with the council's priorities'.
2 To use Flexible Tenancies (fixed term tenancies at either social or affordable rent) on the same basis as approved for other social landlords.
3. Introductory or starter tenancies of 12 months will be used for all new tenants in concert with fixed-term tenancies as relevant, 'Five years normally but with shorter and/or longer periods for specified groups/circumstances'.
4. Changes in the Allocation Scheme which means the residence qualification is established through living in Brent at the time of application and continually throughout the last five years. (NB this is a tightening of the previous proposal of living in Brent for three of the last five years).
5. The definition of 'living in unsuitable accommodation', which gives priority under the Alllocation Scheme will be tightened so that 'households with only minor disrepair issues are not being given priority for rehousing'.
6. Households who are over crowded by 'just one room' should not automatically be given priority in the new scheme - each case will be considered 'on its individual merits;.

The Mutual Exchange scheme, originally aimed at providing an incentive to 'under-occupiers' to downsize as as a result of the bedroom tax, will be extended to cover for example those over retirement age who are not affected by the current benefit changes.

The maximum payment for someone wishing to downsize would be £1,000 plus assistance wit removal costs and access to a handyman service. Full payment would be made for a 'perfect fit' exchange and pro rata for others.

It does seem to me that while the Private Housing Action Plan to protect private rented tenants is welcome much of the report is really fiddling while Rome burns. Changing definitions and tenancy arrangements is not dealing with the underlying issue which is a shortage of social housing and the failure (cf Quintain Wembley Regeneration, Willesden Green Library development, Queensbury development, and the Bridge Park/Unisys development) to build truly affordable housing.

The full report can be found HERE

Friday 7 December 2012

How the poor will be hit by Council Tax Support scheme

The Special Meeting of Brent Council on Monday will be making decisions on the new Council Tax Support scheme that will leave many residents worse off. This follows the Coalition handing implementation of the schemes to local councils whilst at the same time reducing the money available by at least 10%.

The overall result in Brent is that residents who used to receive Brent will now generally  have to pay double the contribution to Council Tax that they used to pay.   These residents will also be hit by other benefit changes including the Housing Benefit cap and the Universal Benefit cap. 24,604 residents will be affected by the changes which can only have the effect of pushing more people into poverty.

The following table gives an overall picture but the full document needs to be read for detail on excemptions and the means-testing involved.
 
Description of deduction
Amount of weekly deduction 2012/13
Proposed weekly CTS scheme deduction
Annual change
in 2013/14
Adult in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit or savings credit

Nil

Nil

Nil
Adult in receipt of employment support allowance (income related) main or assessment phase

Nil

Nil

Nil
Adult in receipt of job seekers allowance (contribution based) or employment support allowance (contributed based)


£3.30


£6.60


£171.60
Gross income of adult  in remunerative work is less than £183

£3.30

£6.60

£171.60
Gross income of adult in remunerative work is greater than or equal to £183 but less than £316

£6.55

£13.10

£340.60
Gross income of adult in remunerative work is greater than or equal to £316 but less than £394

£8.25

£16.50

£429.00
Gross income of adult in remunerative work is greater than or equal to £394

£9.90

£19.80

£514.80
Adult in receipt if job seekers allowance (income based)

Nil

£6.60

£343.20
Adult in receipt of income support

Nil

Nil

Nil
Adult working less than 16 hours per week or is on maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave

£3.30

£6.60

£171.60
Any other adult not included in the above descriptions

£3.30

£6.60

£171.60

There are likely to be difficulties concerning collection of council tax where resident are already financial pressed or where they have not paid anything before.

A second decision that the Full Council will have to make is on changing the amount of tax paid on empty properties. Owners of such properties will now have to pay more Council Tax and in the case of long-term empty homes this could be a 150% tax after two years.

These are the proposals set out in the report:
 
• Class A empty properties (requiring major repairs or undergoing structural alterations) – reduce the current 100% exemption to 50% discount for the first twelve months.

• Class C empty properties (vacant and substantially unfurnished) – reduce the current 100% exemption to zero so that the owners of such properties pay 100% of their Council Tax liability with immediate effect from the date of vacation.

• Second Homes – Remove the current 10% discount so that owners of such properties pay 100% of their Council Tax liability

• Long term empty properties – charge a 50% premium after they have been empty and unfurnished for 2 years so that the Council Tax liability for such properties is 150% (after two years).

This is the full report:

 





Sunday 14 October 2012

The ramifications of Council Tax Support proposals

Brent Council Executive will discuss proposals for the Council Tax Support scheme which replaces Council Tax Benefit next year. It will go to full council for approval. The shift includes a 10%  Coalition Government cut in funds available for the support.

Brent's extensive consultation received only 184  residents' responses. 97 online and 87 paper. This represents 0.5% of the benefits caseload. In addition there were submissions from Citizens Advice Bureau, Mencap, Capita, GLA, Network Housing, Catalyst Housing, Brent Children and Families and Brent Partnership and Improvements.

The response on how the Key Principles outlined in the proposals should be prioritised were:

These are the proposals::
5. The Council’s Proposed Council Tax Support  scheme
5.1 The Council undertook consultation concerning its proposed draft scheme which comprised the key principles and features set out below for working age claimants:

Principle 1: “Everyone should pay something”
All working age claimants (unless defined as protected) shall be required to pay a minimum contribution towards their Council Tax – set in the draft scheme at 20%.

Principle 2: “The most vulnerable claimants should be protected”(from the minimum contribution)
Claimants shall be protected from the 20% minimum contribution if they or a dependant in their household are entitled to a disability premium, enhanced disability premium, disabled earnings disregard, Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment, Disabled Persons Reduction for Council Tax purposes, War Disablement Pension and War Widow’s Pension.

Principle 3: “The scheme should incentivise work”
Incentives to work are achieved by letting claimants who are working keep more of what they earn (before means-testing) – the recommended scheme proposes an increase of £10 per week in the earnings disregards for Single Person, Couple and Lone Parent earnings (currently set at £5, £10 and £25 respectively). In this context, a disregard means the amount of weekly earnings that may be ignored when calculating entitlement to Benefit.

Principle 4: “Everyone in the household should contribute”
Other adults in the claimant’s household (“non-dependants”) should contribute more proportionately to their income – the recommended scheme proposes doubling the existing rates of non-dependant deductions from those in place in 2012/13 and replacing the current nil deduction for other adults in the claimant’s household receiving Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) with a deduction of £6.60.

Principle 5: “Better off claimants should pay relatively more so that the least well off receive greater protection.”
The recommended scheme proposes that the taper used in the Benefit calculation for those above the means-test (i.e. where the claimant’s income exceeds their needs) should be increased to 30% from the current 20%. This is the rate at which Council Tax Support reduces where weekly income exceeds basic living needs and will be 30 pence in the pound rather than the 20 pence currently applied for CTB.

Principle 6: “Benefit should not be paid to those with relatively large capital or savings”
The recommended scheme proposes reducing the current savings cut off limit applied for CTS claims from £16,000 at present for the purposes of CTB to £6,000.
Commenting on feedback from consultees the report states:
In summary, (the responses) appears to indicate a clear distinction as to whether principle 1 is fair based upon whether the respondent is in receipt of Council Tax Benefit or not, principle 2 was agreed as being fair by the majority of both sets of respondents, principle 3 was agreed as being fair by the greater majority of both sets of respondents, principle 4 was agreed as being fair by the greater majority of non Benefit respondents than in the case of Benefit respondents, principle 5 was not agreed as fair by Benefit respondents but had an equal split of non Benefit respondents considering it unfair and principle 6 was considered unfair by a greater majority of Benefit respondents than non Benefit respondents
The scheme recommendations are:


Appendix C to the report sets out the implications for the budget ion the future and the impact of various Council Tax rises: LINK

Any increased revenue from a higher Council Tax will be reduced by 25% as more become eligible for Council Tax Support.


The report anticipates difficulties in Council Tax collection:
Additional challenges are anticipated in collection arising from the implementation of Council Tax Support and difficulties in achieving full collection on the accounts affected may result in an overall collection rate that is less than the 97.5% currently built into the Council Tax Base. The assumed collection rate used in the Council Tax Base setting for 2013/14 will need to be given careful consideration as any anticipated reduction in future Council Tax collection rates would have the effect of increasing the Band D Council Tax unless a corresponding reduction in Council expenditure were to be provided. An overly optimistic collection assumption could lead to a need to declare a deficit on the Collection Fund in later years. Consideration will also need to be given to the other potential financial effects of the proposed scheme on the Collection Fund to prevent a deficit position from occurring (i.e. the scheme would need to raise sufficient additional Council Tax revenue).
The report recognises that Asian families will  be disproportionately  hit by a reduction in entitlement because they are more likely to be of working age, have more dependants (22% have 3-4 children compared with 10% in the 'white group), live in larger houses and have more adults living in the household. The 18-24 age group  are most likely to be affected by an entitlement loss of £3-£5 a week. The report states that claimants aged 55 to 60 are proportionately more likely to have a difference in their entitlement of £8.00 to £30.00 per week than the younger age groups. For example, in the £8 - £15 category they are represented by 11% rather than the 6% average. One factor for this variance is because claimants aged 55 to 60 are more likely to live in larger properties. For example, 15% live in Band E properties compared to 3% aged 18 - 24 and 6%aged 25 - 34 than the younger age groups. They are also in proportionate terms more likely to have more non-dependants living in their home.