Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Finance submitted a report inviting Members of the Corporate Business Scrutiny Committee to comment on the draft scheme of Council Tax Support.

The Director of Internal Services advised that the Executive was seeking Members’ views on a scheme of Council Tax support to replace Council Tax benefits from 1 April 2013.  Members were referred to Essential Reference Paper ‘C’ for a template for consultation regarding the proposed changes and those who were most likely to be affected.

The Director of Internal Servicesstated that if the Authority did nothing and kept the rules the same for everybody then council tax payers in general would see a £700,000 increase in their tax bill because East Herts, the County Council and the Police Authority would be forced to put up the rate of Council Tax if other services were not to be reduced.

Members were reminded that the Government wanted to see a 10% reduction in spending on support for Council Tax and was therefore contributing only 90% of the existing cost towards the new scheme.  The Director of Internal Services reminded Members that East Herts Council was committed to not increasing the Council Tax and would therefore need to change the rules for working age claimants.

In response to a number of queries from Councillor N Symonds, the Director confirmed that the benefits system would still support claimants as now but, under the proposed scheme, the maximum grant anyone of working age could get would meet 90% of the cost of the council tax relevant to their particular ‘band’ of home.

Councillor G Jones stressed the importance of writing to all benefits claimants to articulate what the changes would mean in respect of Council Tax support.

In response to a comment from Councillor D Andrews, the Committee requested that Members be kept informed regarding the timing of any letters that were sent to residents.

The Committee agreed that there should be an article in Link magazine as well as wider consultation in respect of the draft scheme of Council Tax support.

The Director of Internal Services acknowledged the extreme sensitivity of the letter that would be sent to recipients of Council Tax benefit and stressed that such a letter would only be signed off at the very highest level of the Authority.

The Committee received the report.

RESOLVED – that the Executive be advised that:

(A)   if there were any changes in respect of the draft scheme for Council Tax Support, considerable care should be taken regarding the consultation letter sent to current benefit claimants and it was essential that the letter should include a number of illustrative examples;

(B)   Members be informed of the nature of the letter and the date for when they were due to be sent to current benefit claimants; and

(C)   Corporate Business Scrutiny Committee supports the inclusion of an article in Link magazine as well as wider consultation in respect of the draft scheme of Council Tax support.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 264