What is this consultation about?

Council Tax Support is a scheme to help some people pay their council tax. The amount of support people can get will depend on their income and personal situation.

Each year the city council must decide whether to change its Council Tax Support scheme for working age residents. 

This year the council is considering a proposal to make a big change to its Council Tax Support Scheme for working aged people from 1 April 2025, so that it:

  • Provides more support for households on the lowest incomes;
  • Makes the scheme easier for people to understand and apply for ;
  • Provides greater stability to those who receive financial support by reducing the number of changes to their council tax bill as their income changes;
  • Makes the scheme work better with Universal Credit;
  • Is better able to manage rises in demand; and
  • Reduces the cost to the council to run the scheme         

The possible changes have no impact on the Council Tax Support scheme for pensioners. The council can only make changes to the working age scheme as the Council Tax Support scheme for pensioners is set by the government. 

If you require this as a paper form, or you need help completing this survey you can call 023 9230 6910

What is Council Tax Support?

Council Tax Support is a discount some people can get on their council tax bill. The level of discount is based on a household's income. 

Currently the maximum discount that working age households can receive is 80% of their council tax bill. This means even the lowest earning households are still currently required to pay 20% of their bill.

Why is a change to the Council Tax Support scheme being considered?

Councils are required to review their schemes each year and decide if they want to make any changes. Before any changes can be made, they must hold a public consultation to ask for people's views. 

All feedback through this consultation will be carefully considered before the city council decides if any changes are needed.   

The possible changes explained

The changes being considered would: 

  • Introduce a new banded scheme where individuals and families would get a discount based on which of the five income bands they are in. This would replace the current Council Tax Benefit scheme used since 2012 (Part 1);
  • The change would see those on the lowest income given a 90% discount instead of the current discount of 80% (Part 1);
  • Remove the current banding restriction which limits Council Tax Support to the equivalent of a band C property, even if a person lives in a higher banded property (Part 2);
  • Reduce the Council Tax Support discount by a set amount where a person has non-dependant adults living with them who can contribute to the household income (such as adult sons or daughters) (Part 3);
  • Ignore the Housing Element of Universal Credit in the assessment of household income (Part 4);
  • Replace the current earnings adjustment (an adjustment to assessed earned income to incentivise work) with a standard £25 adjustment for all applicants where they are in paid work (Part 5);
  • Remove the Extended Payment provision to align the scheme with Universal Credit (Part 6);
  • Calculate all new claims and changes of circumstances from the day a change/claim is made. This would be in line with the council tax discount rules, rather than the current (benefit-based) weekly basis (Part 7);
  • Protect disabled people by not counting Personal Independence Payments or Disability Living Allowance in the assessment of income. It would also provide a further adjustment of £115 per week where the applicant or their partner is disabled, to reflect the additional living costs for disabled people (Part 8);
  • Protect carers by fully ignoring any Carer’s Allowance and the Support Component for those who receive Employment Support Allowance, in the assessment of income. (Part 9);
  • Remove the second adult rebate from the working age scheme (Part 10).