Agenda item

The Council considered a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which sought approval for the continuation of the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS) for a further year into 2018/19 (for copy see file of Minutes).

In Moving the report, Councillor Napier, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance, informed the Council that this was the fifth year of the Council supporting the Scheme and he hoped it would receive unanimous support of Members.

Despite years of austerity borne by local government there was a need to protect the most vulnerable in society as this was how society was measured.

Durham was one of few Councils who were proposing an unchanged LCTRS.  Austerity was hitting the residents of County Durham hard and benefits had been frozen until 2020 despite inflation running at 3%.  The discredited Universal Credit scheme, which was morally wrong, was being rolled out despite there being cross party support for a moratorium on this.

Continuation of the Scheme for a further year would continue to protect 34,000 low income families within the County, would award 100% Council Tax support where eligible, and would also protect 26,000 pensioners.  Durham was only one of two Local Authorities in the region to continue to offer this level of support and only one of a dwindling number nationally.

In those areas which did not provide a 100% LCTRS evidence showed that there had been a stark increase in the issuing of summonses for Council Tax arears which caused those most vulnerable to spiral into debt and also resulted in the collection of funds not being achieved.

In Seconding approval of the Scheme Councillor J Brown, Portfolio Holder for Social Inclusion informed the Council that it provided support to the most deprived communities which had suffered an onslaught of welfare cuts. She was proud that the County Council, which had worked hard to protect the Scheme, was one of a few Councils to continue to support such a Scheme.  There was evidence that in areas which had drawn back from such level of support Council Tax arrears had increased and bailiffs used which added costs of £400 for a relatively small debt.

Councillor R Bell informed the Council that he supported the continuation of the Scheme and there was a strong pragmatic case for doing so.

Councillor A Hopgood also expressed support for continuation of the Scheme, which she had done so each year, as there was a strong moral case for doing so.

Resolved:

(a)  That the current Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme be continued into 2018/19, which would retain the same level of support to all working age council tax payers on low incomes;

(b)  That the extension to the Scheme be initially for a further year only and be kept under continuous review with a further decision on the Scheme to apply in 2019/20 to be considered by Cabinet in July/September 2018 and Full Council by January 2019.