Chichester District Council
Issue

Issue - meetings

Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2018/2019 - Approval of Scheme

Meeting: 21/11/2017 - Council (Item 7)

Determination of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2018-2019

The report is at item 5 of the agenda for the Cabinet’s meeting on Tuesday 7 November 2017 and its three appendices are in the first agenda supplement.

 

The Cabinet made the following recommendation to the Council at this meeting:

 

That the proposed Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2018-2019 be approved.

Minutes:

The Council considered the recommendation made to it by the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday 7 November 2017 as set out on the face of the Council agenda, the details in respect of which were contained in the Cabinet report on pages 8 to 12 and its three appendices on pages 1 to 52 of the agenda supplement for that meeting.  

 

Mrs Hardwick (Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance Services) formally moved the recommendation of the Cabinet and this was seconded by Mr Dignum (Leader of the Cabinet).

 

Mrs Hardwick said that CDC had maintained the same level of support for its communities under the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) since the localisation of the CTRS for working age people in 2013. The full implementation of the roll out of Universal Credit (UC) would start in Chichester District in April 2018 and as a result CDC had undertaken a review of its CTRS in order to ensure it was up-to-date, well-targeted, minimised disincentives to work and provided the best value for money for the benefit of all tax payers. The revised CTRS would continue to provide the all-important safety net for those on low incomes and retain important protections for war widows’ and widowers’ pensions and war disablement pensions and offer earned-income disregards and a taper for removing support. The main change was a proposed new Class F category for claimants in receipt of the new UC. By introducing banding, the administration would be simpler, more economic and as straightforward for the claimants as possible. The consultation on the review had received broad support. The major financial impact of the CTRS was the resulting deduction from the tax base. In the 2017-2018 financial year the scheme was costing in the order of £6.9m overall in terms of tax base deductions having remained fairly constant since the local scheme’s introduction in 2013.  It was recognised that wider economic downturns and welfare reform might raise CTR demand. The cost of the local CTR was shared by all the precepting authorities. CDC’s share was approximately 9% with the rest being funded by West Sussex County Council, Sussex Police and parish councils. The revised scheme had to be approves by the Council by 31 January 2018. She acknowledged the work done by Mrs M Rogers (Benefits Manager) on the CTRS.

 

Mrs Hardwick, Mr Dignum, Mrs Rogers and Mr Ward (Head of Finance and Governance Services) responded to members’ questions and comments on points of detail such as (a) what impact, if any, the proposed changes to the scheme and the consequent effect on the council tax base of customers joining or leaving the CTR scheme might have on parish councils; (b) whether housing associations had been involved in the consultation, since their tenants were likely to be recipients of the CTRS (a question raised at the Cabinet earlier in the month and subsequently answered by Mrs Rogers); (c) clarification of paras 9.2 and 9.3 in the community impact and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7


Meeting: 07/11/2017 - Cabinet (Item 429)

429 Determination of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2018-2019 pdf icon PDF 77 KB

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its three appendices and to make the following recommendation to the Council:

 

That the proposed Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2018-2019 be approved.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RECOMMENDED TO THE COUNCIL

 

That the proposed Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2018-2019 be approved.

Minutes:

The Cabinet received and considered the agenda report and its three appendices in the first agenda supplement.

 

The report was presented by Mrs Hardwick.

 

Mrs Rogers was in attendance for this item.

 

Mrs Hardwick said that Council Tax Reduction (CTR) had been localised for working age people in 2013 and the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) applied to them but not to pensioners, who continued to receive support via national rules. Although the CTRS was initially funded out of the central government grant (albeit reduced by 10%), since 2014-2015 government support for CDC’s local scheme had been subsumed into the overall government revenue support. Unlike many other local authorities, CDC had protected its CTRS recipients from that funding cut and instead broadly maintained the same level of support to its communities (Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) had done likewise). Universal Credit (UC) was due to be rolled out for CDC’s working age residents as from April 2018. In the obligatory CTRS annual consultation (approved by the Cabinet in July 2017) in August and September 2017, CDC consulted on some possible changes to the 2018-2019 CTRS, namely (a) introducing a new category (class F) for claimants in receipt of UC and (b) continuing to support lowest earners (including via discretionary hardship assistance) while ensuring the administration would (i) be as simple and cost effective as possible, (ii) well targeted, (iii) minimise disincentives to work, (iv) provide the best value for money and (v) be as straightforward for the claimants as possible.  There continued to be important protections for war widows, widower pensions and war disablement pensions as well as maintaining work incentives in the form of earned income disregards and a taper for removing support. The full details were in the appendices. Although to date the cost of administering the CTRS local scheme had been funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, as pointed out in para 6.3 of the report, that funding for administration had fallen by 4.6% to £115,000 for 2017-2018 and the trajectory was likely to continue.  It was incumbent on CDC to react to welfare reforms in a way that mitigated the effects of increased costs. Save for the element of administration, the cost of the CTRS benefit paid to recipients was shared by all precepting authorities (CDC’s share was around 9%). In 2017-2018 the CTRS benefit cost around £6.9m overall.  It had remained fairly constant since 2013 but economic downturns and widespread welfare reform might raise the demand for the CTRS. There were 71 consultation responses and opinion was broadly in favour of the new banded scheme for Class F and the continuation of the discretionary hardship fund. The report proposed to base the CTRS 2018-2019 on the appended draft.  The CTRS needed to be approved by the Council before 31 January 2018, which it was hoped would happen when the Council met on 21 November 2017. This would in turn assist in setting the tax base in December 2017.

 

Mrs Rogers did not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 429


 

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