Issue - meetings

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its appendix and to make the following resolution namely that:

That the Head of Finance and Governance Services be authorised, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance Services, to prepare and consult upon a draft 2018-2019 council tax reduction scheme options as proposed in appendix 1, to be brought back to Cabinet in November 2017 for recommendation to the Council.

RESOLVED

That the Head of Finance and Governance Services be authorised following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance Services to prepare and consult upon a draft 2018-2019 council tax reduction scheme options as proposed in appendix 1, to be brought back to the Cabinet in November 2017 for recommendation to the Council.

The Cabinet received and considered the agenda report and its appendix (copies attached to the official minutes).

In the absence of Mrs Hardwick the report was presented by Mr Dignum.

Mrs Rogers was in attendance for this item.

Mr Dignum said that the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Local Government Finance Act 2012 abolished the national council tax benefit scheme and put in place a framework for local authorities to create their own local council tax reduction (CTR) schemes from April

2013 for working age claimants. Pensioners would still receive support based on national rules, so local schemes applied to working age claimants only. Since its introduction CDC’s local scheme had broadly followed the rules of the pre-April 2013 CT benefit scheme and the current housing benefit (HB) scheme. Accordingly applicants were being supported as much as they had been under the previous scheme arrangements, which was unlike a significant number of local authorities which had amended their schemes so that most CTR claimants had to pay some CT. CDC’s CTR scheme had remained unchanged since April 2013, apart from the annual uprating of applicable amounts and state benefits in line with the HB scheme. Consequently people on the lowest incomes in Chichester District were being protected and could still claim a reduction to cover the full cost of their CT. In 2013 Universal Credit (UC) was introduced in pathfinder local authorities and after a very slow implementation the full roll-out in CDC for all new claimants was scheduled for April 2018. This would necessitate dealing with possible monthly adjustments to recipients’ benefit income, which would in turn affect their CTR entitlement. Since this would cause CDC’s administrative costs to increase when the government’s contribution to those costs had been cut, officers proposed using a banding scheme. This would make CTR changes for minor income variations unnecessary and keep the cost of administration to a minimum while providing maximum support for those on the lowest incomes. The Cabinet was now requested to approve a consultation on the existing scheme and the proposed banded scheme.

Mrs Rogers did not wish to add to Mr Dignum’s introduction.

In the Cabinet’s discussion members welcomed the roll-out of UC but also emphasised the importance of the banded scheme to ensure that there would be no significant losers in the community and to achieve administrative simplicity to assist claimants.

Decision

The Cabinet voted unanimously on a show of hands in favour of making the resolution set out below.

RESOLVED

That the Head of Finance and Governance Services be authorised following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance Services to prepare and consult upon a draft 2018-2019 council tax reduction scheme options as proposed in appendix 1, to be brought back to the Cabinet in November 2017 for recommendation to the Council.