Decision

That a temporary revision to the Council Tax Arrears Incentive Scheme for years 2024/25 and 2025/26 be agreed with a review at the beginning of 2026/27. The details of the proposal are set out in the Part 2 Appendix to the report.

Reasons for the decision

The collection and recovery of both in year and arrears are proving more challenging this year. This is mainly attributed to the economic pressures that many residents may be facing, arrears accrued during the pandemic, the change in the Council Tax Support scheme and the increase in the Empty Home Premiums from 1 April 2023.  Given the exceptional circumstances arising from the pandemic, its impact on collections and the ongoing economic impacts being experienced in the UK which are also adversely affecting our ability to collect debt in year, it is proposed that there is a variation to terms of the incentive scheme for 2024/25.