Purpose

The government provided
£100m of additional funding to local councils to support the
most vulnerable households in England in 2023/2024, through a
scheme called the council tax support fund. The council was awarded
£130,851.
 
This funding is designed to
allow councils to provide additional financial support to
households already receiving council tax support and gives councils
some flexibility to determine a local approach to support
vulnerable households in their area.
 
On 28 February 2023 Full
Council approved an award of up-to £50 to households
receiving local council tax support (LCTS), comprised of the
mandatory sum of up-to £25, plus a discretionary top-up of
up-to £25 or the customer’s full bill amount (whichever
was the lowest). This was included in the annual bills issued 7
March 2023.
 
The total sum awarded was
£65,466, leaving £65,385 to distribute, proposals for
which are detailed in this paper.

Decision

 

 
The
Cabinet Member for Finance and Commissioning approved:
 

1.1. 
The updated council tax support fund policy
2023/2024 (see appendix 1 of the Cabinet Member Report), which will
see the remaining council tax support funds distributed as
follows:
 

·      
An additional £150 council tax reduction will
be awarded to local council tax claimants who were in receipt of
the limited capability to work element in their universal credit on
the 1 April 2023. This is in recognition of the fact the
council’s new local council tax support scheme for 2023/2024
does not take this benefit payment into consideration, and so such
claimants received less financial support this year through the
council’s main work-age council tax reduction scheme. This
would benefit approximately 228 residents and award
£34,200.
 

·      
Any customers who submit a new claim for local
council tax support during the 2023/24 financial year will receive
the same up-to £50 reduction as those who were claiming it on
1 April 2023, until such time as the funding is exhausted. It is
anticipated that sufficient funds would remain to allow for 623 new
applicants for council tax support to receive the
funding.
 

1.2. 
That the funds are distributed using the
council’s discretionary powers under S13A(1) (C) of the Local
Government Finance Act 1992.