Agenda item

The Council considered a report, presented by the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, which sought approval of the proposals for the Localised Council Tax Support for 2019/20.

It was reported that from 1st April, 2013 Council Tax Benefit was replaced by Local Council Tax Support (LCTS).  Under LCTS, billing authorities had to decide for working age claims, who was eligible for a reduction in their Council Tax and what level of support they should receive.  Support for people of pensionable age and other aspects of the scheme were prescribed by regulations and the Council had no discretion in relation to these matters.

Members were informed that approximately 24,200 households currently received a reduction in their Council Tax from Doncaster Council’s Local Support Scheme; of these 10,760 were of pension age and 13,440 were of working age on a low income.

It was noted that the Authority was required to consider whether to revise or replace its scheme on an annual basis.  Local changes to the scheme were proposed from 1st April, 2019 to make it easier for people on Universal Credit to claim support and to disregard some additional income and earnings when working out support in a small number of cases. 

Further changes to the scheme had been applied based on matters arising from The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 which were laid before Parliament on 14th December, 2018 and came into force on the 14th January, 2019. Some of the rates and allowances used to work out support for claims from those of working age, had also been uprated in line with the Government rates that applied to Housing Benefit.  The Council’s LCTS scheme had stipulated that the Authority would apply this uprating on an annual basis since it was introduced in 2013.

In conclusion, the proposed LCTS scheme from 1st April, 2019, continued to provide 100% support to the poorest households in receipt of ‘passported’ benefits such as Income Support and most unemployed people on Universal Credit which remained a priority for Doncaster Council.  It was noted that this Authority was one of only a ‘handful’ of Councils in the country that continued to provide maximum support to those on the lowest income levels.

RESOLVED that

(1)      that the requirement for people claiming Universal Credit to make a separate Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTS) claim to the Council where they have indicated on their Universal Credit claim, that they also want to claim LCTS and this information has been passed to the Council by the Department for Work and Pensions, be removed;

(2)      the information provided by the Department for Work and Pensions for someone claiming Universal Credit about their income and personal circumstances, be used to work out the person’s LCTS rather than the claimant having to provide separate information to the Council;

(3)      the LCTS claim period be extended to six months so that claimants do not have to reapply for support following a short period of non-entitlement, for example, following a one-off or short-term wage increase which can occur frequently where the claimant receives Universal Credit;

(4)      the Bereavement Support Payment be disregarded when working out how much support someone is entitled to which would align the treatment of this income with the Housing Benefit scheme; (This proposal would only affect a very small number of claimants (3 currently) at minimal cost);

(5)      an additional prescribed amount (currently £17.10 per week) from the earnings of a couple where one of the partners is disabled, regardless of which partner is working to align the treatment of earnings in these circumstances with the Housing Benefit scheme, be disregarded; (This proposal would only affect a very small number of claimants (around 200 nationally) at minimal cost);

(6)      it be noted that any increase in Council Tax liability for the Council, its major preceptors and local parish preceptors, will increase the cost of LCTS; the assumptions used in the cost of the scheme for 2019/20 are an overall increase of 4.99% for Doncaster’s Council Tax;

(7)      the public consultation outcome summarised at Appendix 1 of the report, as part of the decision making, be noted;

(8)      the Equality Analysis and Due Regard Statement attached at Appendix 2 of the report, as part of the decision making, be noted; and

(9)      the revised scheme linked at Appendix 3 of the report, which incorporates the proposed changes at (1) to (5) above, and which has also been amended to take into account The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, be approved; these amendments in the main are to increase certain figures which are used in calculating whether a person is entitled to a reduction and the amount of that reduction. These increases relate to pensioner claims and most of the rates used in the calculation of working age claims have been frozen in line with the rates for Housing Benefit.  The Regulations were laid before Parliament on 14th December, 2018 and come into force on the 14th January, 2019 for application in the Council’s revised local scheme from the 1st April, 2019.