North Yorkshire County Council says it aims to end a “postcode lottery” of benefits facing residents and also provide extra support to households on the lowest incomes.
The council’s executive member for finance Councillor Gareth Dadd said while he believed everybody should have a stake in council tax, that ideology has been superseded by pragmatism to ease the pressures facing the county’s lowest income residents, particularly during cost of living crisis.
He made the comments as the authority’s executive approved launching a consultation over introduding a single set of council tax policies from April next year to replace the various policies of the county’s seven district and borough councils.
A meeting of the executive heard while the council tax proposals would see the amount of council tax relief extended to 100 per cent, they would only affect working age applicants.
It could mean a bonus of hundreds of pounds for some residents as three of the existing districts still require working age applicants to pay a minimum amount of up to 12.5 per cent of a total council tax bill.
As the proposals would see several districts move from offering means-tested relief to income bands, they would generate “winners and losers”, the meeting heard.
Initial modelling shows that 16,601 working age claimants will receive either the same or more support than under the previous schemes. There will be up to 2,594 claimants who may receive less support than previously.
Although the scheme had been designed to protect the most vulnerable, those losing out would be encouraged to apply for an exceptional hardship payment, the meeting was told.
It has been estimated the improvement on some of the schemes available in districts such as Hambleton, Craven, Scarborough and Harrogate will cost £38 million annually, some £2.3 million more than is currently being given in council tax relief.
The support for low income households will largely be funded from the proposed £2 million of extra charges for empty properties and second homes be used to largely. The council believes the proposals would also lead to significant savings in administration.
Officers highlighted that while the principle of all working age households paying something towards their council tax liabilities was initially thought to be vital, the reality is that, since its introduction, low-income taxpayers and the
poorest households, have often been unable to pay the balance.
This has resulted in additional collection costs for councils, court, and enforcement action and, in some cases, the amounts demanded
have been written off as uncollectable.
Officers said the cost of enforcement action no longer made it economically viable to collect outstanding payments from those receiving relief, notwithstanding the negative effects to those poorest households.
Coun Dadd said: “This really does highlight one of the benefits of unitary because it’s a bit of a postcode lottery in terms of benefits gainable by residents across the county.”
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