Agenda item

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) submitted a report inviting Members of Overview and Scrutiny to consider the latest available information around the current local Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme at East Herts and to comment on the proposal that there be no change for 2026/27.

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that the department’s caseload varied, and that he was pleased that it had increased this year following a take up exercise and the simplification of the application process.

Members were reminded that the county council and the police were preceptors, and they had no problem with the existing scheme being extended into 2026/27.

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that this was the culmination of an extensive piece of work and officers wanted to ensure that no one lost out following changes to the scheme and also ensure that, wherever possible, the scheme was cost neutral.

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that there was a lot of consultation required so that the scheme was well publicised and any issues had been discussed. He said that extensive business modelling was not sufficiently complete to introduce a scheme for 2026/27 and there had also not been time to embark on the necessary consultation.

Councillor Buckmaster said that he appreciated that attempts had been made at alternative ways of doing things, and his instinct was that it was too late for the coming financial year, and it would be safer to keeps things as they were for 2026/27.

Councillor Nicholls asked if a new scheme could be trialled as a dry run or test before it was used by a local authority that took the place of the district council. The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that the scenario of a dry run had formed part of the business modelling carried out by officers looking at the feasibility of a new scheme.

Councillor Horner expressed disappointment that the council was not yet at a point where a banded scheme could be looked at. He said that he very much took the point about the timing of this and going into Local Government Reform (LGR). He also noted that there had been some increase in the number of claimants under working age and he asked if the figures presented in the graph were year to date figures and were Officers expecting this figure to increase between now and the end of the financial year.

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that the figures were year to date figures, and he did expect there to be an increase in the caseload. He said that Officers had already seen the main impact of the take up work that had been undertaken and the number of new cases was starting to slow down.

Members were advised that in respect of devising a banded scheme, the network of Hertfordshire Benefit Managers had been surprised by the impact of universal credit where working age people started to receive this. Officers did not envisage the complexity of the impact of universal credit on council tax support claims.

The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that he had been in contact with his colleague at North Herts to discuss the scheme that was in operation. He said that there were always complex issues to consider in terms of benefits and council tax support.

Councillor Marlow asked if officers knew whether the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had looked at this in terms of trying to make the system easier and whether officers had approached the DWP in that regard.

The Shared Services Manager said that all local authorities liaised with the DWP and officers always tried to explain issues to the DWP and network with them. He said that the council was left to work out its own council tax support scheme within the rules around universal credit.

Councillor Swainston asked if officers could explain why the pensioner claim caseload had gone down. The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that the pensioner caseload tended to be more stable. He said that the established caseload of pensioners tended to diminish due to the nature of claimants themselves.

Members were advised that Officers had noticed an increase in caseload this financial year as there had been effort to simplify the claims process. The Shared Service Manager (Benefits) said that the council did not want pensioners to struggle with completing applications. He said that officers were always looking to increase the caseload for pensioners and to make the process as easy as possible.

Councillor Nicholls proposed, and Councillor Cox seconded, a motion that Overview and Scrutiny Committee had commented on the proposal that there be no change to the local council tax support scheme for 2026/27.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that Overview and Scrutiny Committee comment on the proposal that there be no change to the local council tax support scheme for 2026/27.