Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: No

Date of Decision: December 16, 2025

Purpose: Seeking permission to conduct a public consultation on the proposed changes to our Council Tax Reduction Scheme from 1 April 2026

Content: CTR was a scheme designed to assist residents on lower incomes or in receipt of certain benefits in reducing their Council Tax charge. Levels of support for pension-aged households were determined nationally by the DWP, with local authorities having had discretion since 2013 to design and implement their own local schemes to support working age households. The current harmonised scheme currently provided support to 13,980 working age households with Council Tax receipts of £19.7m forgone by the Council per annum.   Proposals have therefore been developed for the introduction of a banded CTR from April 2026 with a view to:   i.                    Reducing volatility in CTR awards where households saw changes in income levels, enabling households to better anticipate levels of support and budget accordingly. ii.                  Simplifying calculation of CTR awards, enabling households to better understand support being provided. iii.                Supporting more efficient processing of claims as the Council was no longer reliant on cross-referencing with Universal Credit applications made to the DWP – this was expected to reduced processing times for new applications from 29 days to 10 days.   This would target CTR to the lowest income households more effectively than the current scheme which would reduce non payment by £0.4 million per annum from 2026/26; reduce the level of savings at which households were no longer eligible for awards from £16k to £6k from 1 April 2026, which was estimated to result in additional Council Tax receipts of circa £0.4m and harmonising the levels of income at which households were no longer eligible for awards over a three-year period from 1 April 2026, which was estimated to result in increased Council Tax receipts of circa £0.7m by 2028/29.   Overall, the proposed CTR scheme would therefore increase income available to support local services by £1.5m, with £0.3m of this sum attributable to Thames Valley Police and the Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire & Rescue Service and £1.2m available to support Buckinghamshire Council services. In addition, efficiency savings arising from streamlined administration were expected to deliver a further £0.2m benefit to Buckinghamshire Council from 2026/27 onwards.   In 2026/27, 10,412 or 75% of households currently in receipt of CTR would see their award either maintained or increased, reducing the risk of non-payment of Council Tax within this cohort. 3,500 or 25% of households would see reduced CTR awards, with 772 or 5.5% of households no longer meeting the criteria for CTR awards in 2026/27.   In order to help households transition to a banded CTR scheme there would be  in changes in levels of support provided to individual households, and it was proposed that a form of transitional protection be provided to those households seeing larger reductions (i.e. more than £10 per week) in their CTR awards. There would be year 1 transitional protection so with households with less than £6,000 this would limit reductions to £12.50 per week or £650 per annum. Modelling indicated transitional protection would be provided to 1,720 households at a cost of £0.8m in 2026/27.   The proposed scheme would maintain provision for an exceptional hardship fund, recognising that there would be individual household circumstances which could not be fully reflected in the banding scheme assessment. No changes in administrative arrangements for applications to this fund were proposed.   Of 3,500 households the average impact would be £538 per annum (£10 per week) in year 1 with the transitional relief rising to £777 per annum (£15 per week) by year 3. The single largest impact was £3,661 per annum (£70 per week) which related to a household in a Band F property previously in receipt of CTR which was in excess of £6,000. A total of 45 households in Year 1 would see losses of £40 per week which was £2080 per annum. Households should be enabled to better understand support being provided and anticipate levels of support and budget accordingly and it should bolster lower income households reducing the risk of them falling into arrears.   Should proposals ultimately be adopted as currently drafted this would secure an additional £1.5m of Council Tax income to the Council by 2028/29, which would contribute towards meeting the growing costs of “Critical Five” such as Children’s and Adults’ Social Care.   Public consultation was required ahead of Cabinet considering proposals in February 2026 which would enable an amended CTR scheme to be adopted from 1 April 2026 (subject to approval by Cabinet and Council). If approved, consultation would be launched from 17 December 2025.   RESOLVED that a six-week consultation from 17 December 2026 with local taxpayers and other key stakeholders on proposals for amending the Council Tax Reduction Scheme from 1 April 2026 be approved.   This decision has been taken under the special urgency procedure. In order to fulfil the statutory requirement to carry out a consultation, and to ensure that the public and stakeholders have a proper and reasonable opportunity to respond, it was determined that the consultation should start on Wednesday 17 December and run until 2 February. This would then enable the Council to meet the relevant steps and deadlines towards the setting of council tax.  Cabinet would meet to consider the outcomes on 10 February 2026 and would make recommendations to Council on 25 February.