Agenda item

The Committee gave consideration to a report presented by the Revenues Manager, seeking to adopt a Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2025/26. It was explained that the Local Government Finance Act 2012 placed a legal requirement on every billing authority to adopt a Localised Council Tax Support (LCTS) scheme. Since the inception of the LCTS scheme on 1 April 2013, relatively minor changes had been made which had enabled claimants to receive a similar level of support each year and enabled the council to maintain an annual council tax collection rate of around 98%.

In 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government awarded a grant to all local authorities for a payment to be paid to all working aged council tax support claimants. This was paid directly to council tax accounts and it also permitted the use of any surplus to support economically vulnerable people and households. No such grant had been made available for 2024/25 and therefore those struggling financially had not had this assistance during the current financial year. A significant change to the LCTS scheme for 2025/26 was likely to have a negative impact on the collection rate and reduce the yield over the year. It was explained that Full Council must approve and adopt the finalised LCTS scheme by 31 January 2025 at the latest.

Members heard that some potential changes to the current scheme had been modelled but the only group of claimants affected were those on the working age scheme. Many of those people fell into the vulnerable group so were therefore unaffected. When modelled the changes were also found to be more expensive than the current scheme, and, with the budget constraints moving forward, this was not considered appropriate.

Consultation had taken place with the Citizens Panel, via the website, with Lincolnshire County Council, and the Lincolnshire Police & Crime Commissioner. The majority had voted in favour of a no change scheme apart from to apply any new legislative changes and increase the Department for Works and Pensions annual upratings in accordance with their annual increases. It was also suggested that a full Universal Credit claim, received via the Department for Works and Pensions, be accepted as a claim for Council Tax Support. This would avoid the requirement for those claimants to apply separately for Council Tax Support and would ensure financially vulnerable residents received any entitlement to which they were due which, in turn, should improve the council tax collection rate.

Members of the Committee expressed their support for the paper and thanked the Manager and team for their work. It was noted that the scheme had proven successful to date, and therefore Members were content to continue as detailed.

Having been moved and seconded, the Chairman took the vote and it was

            RESOLVED that

a)    the contents of the report be noted; and

b)    the adoption of Option 1 of the report for the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for West Lindsey District Council for 2025/26 be recommended to Full Council. That being:

·         to make no changes to the current council tax support scheme apart from to apply any new legislative requirements and the uprating of the non-dependent charges, applicable amounts, and household allowances and deductions, used in the calculation of the reduction in accordance with the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) annual ‘up-ratings’;

·         to apply any additional changes to government welfare benefit regulations during the year which were intended to increase the income of benefit recipients to avoid unintended consequences to customers; and

·         to accept a Full Universal Credit claim received via the Department for Work and Pensions as a claim for Council Tax Support.