Minutes:
Question
When the Council Tax Reduction scheme first replaced the Council Tax Benefit in 2013, expenditure on the scheme was £4.6m. This fell significantly in the ensuing years. These new proposals for 2021-22 are to spend £4.17m, which is just £6k more than the ‘do nothing’ position. Adjusted for inflation this represents a drop of at least 16% in the funding for this scheme since its introduction in 2013, with many fewer residents helped by the scheme.
As the report notes, we are still seeing the impact of Covid on low income residents – so why has the funding for this scheme fallen so significantly, when we know residents are struggling?
Answer
Initially in 2013 the Council Tax Reduction Scheme was funded by government and schemes were written to reflect this. The funding for this was withdrawn from 2015 and was then incorporated within the Revenue Support Grant, which was reduced to zero in 2018 for WBC.
There is therefore no set budget provision for the CTR Scheme; it effectively reduces the level of Council Tax we are able to collect and therefore the money available to provide vital services for the community. Our CTR scheme and its costs need to be designed in this context.
For 2021 we are however seeking to enhance the scheme by not taking Carers Allowance into account in the calculation of the CTR award and are proposing not to make any scheme reductions.
It should be noted that in addition to the CTR scheme the council is doing what it can to assist those in hardship which includes:
· £150 Hardship Payment for each CTR recipient paid against their council tax
· Test & Trace Support Payments for those on low income who have to self-isolate
· Winter Grant
· Council lead voluntary support for the vulnerable
· Local Welfare Provision
· Discretionary Housing Payments
· Section 13a Discretionary Scheme.
Supplementary Question
I appreciate that you are enhancing the scheme, or proposing to do so, but that increase is only £6,000, which is tiny compared to the size of it. We know Council Tax is a regressive tax, and I think that it is as important as ever that a Council Tax reduction scheme does whatever it can to make sure that residents who are in financial hardship can receive the financial help that they need. So, in light of the reductions to the scheme made over several years, and the current extremely difficult circumstances in which people find themselves, as part of your role in this Committee in scrutinising this scheme, would the Committee consider tonight proposing an increase to the funding for this scheme. If you look at the detail as to how this is calculated, there are a number of different levers that you could pull to increase the funding for the scheme, is that something that you could consider this evening?
Supplementary Answer
It is a difficult one in that regard, as all we can do is make a recommendation. Now, what we can do is effectively ask for more data on this, as in terms of the scheme itself and the values that have dropped or the inflationary figures, I do not have those numbers in my head. It could be a case that the scheme numbers have reduced because the numbers of people that have claimed it have reduced. Now, has that reversed in the last twelve months because of Covid, I do not know. But, it is something that we need to ask questions about, and do the proper Overview and Scrutiny of, in order to drill into that detail and see if the amount being proposed for the budget in February is the appropriate and correct amount, as that is the role of Overview and Scrutiny.
At this point, further discussion was had about this topic.