Have your say on proposed changes to council tax benefits

9:33am Monday 10th September 2012 in News

Wiltshire residents are being asked to have their say on a new locally-run Council Tax Support scheme.
 

Council tax benefit is a national scheme which people can receive if they pay council tax and their income and savings are below a certain level.
 

From April next year, the Government is stopping the national council tax benefit scheme and asking councils to introduce and run a new discount scheme.
 

Wiltshire Council has set up a consultation to explain the changes and ask residents for their opinion on the new Council Tax Support scheme. The consultation is now open and closes Wednesday, October 30, 2012.
 

Wiltshire Council spends around £27 million on council tax benefit and this is currently funded in full by central government. When the new scheme is introduced, the amount of funding available will be reduced by about 10-14 percent (approximately £2.7million-£3.5m). The final funding figure should be available by December 2012.
 

John Thomson, cabinet member for housing, said: “With the reduction in Government funding, we will have to make some tough choices about who gets help and how much. In coming up with these proposals we have looked carefully at the potential impact on everyone and we are aiming to be as fair as possible. These proposals ensure the elderly are protected, everybody pays something, people are encouraged to work.
 

“It is vital that all residents, whether or not they receive council tax benefit, look very carefully at the proposals and let us know what they think.“
 

It is anticipated people of pensionable age will not be affected by these changes but households with working age residents may be affected.
 

To view the proposals www.wiltshire.gov.uk/counciltaxsupportscheme or to request a paper copy call 0300 456 0100. The council is also on hand to help and support those who think they may be affected by the changes.

Comments(3)

Yer Tis says...
12:12pm Mon 10 Sep 12

Ah I see a problem here, based on previous Wiltshire Council Consultations. No matter what we say the Council Tax Benefit which cost the council the most will be withdrawn, that is the benefit paid to the unwaged/unemployed, the disabled who cant work, the mentally ill people who cannot work, the genuinely ill people who cannot work and basically any and everyone they can legally stop paying.

For example, a person on Long Term Sick Pay with Cancer, will have to pay full council tax, if not then court action and the bailiffs will be sent in.

Now that is the sort of consultation we will get, as has been proved in the past!

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Yer Tis says...
1:29pm Mon 10 Sep 12

I am also disgusted by the fact it is a Yes / No / Dont Know type questionnaire, where there are times that a qualitative answer is needed, such as in back dating, as there are sometimes when back dating should be allowed, for example in a case recently where a council member TOLD a person they were not entitled to CT Benefit. It turned out they were entitled to it and had it back dated by 6 months. (Age UK took this case up and made representation, but as per usual Wiltshire Council ignored it). In this instance under the new rules she would have lost all that, thanks to a misrepresentation,

But as I say the council are already decided, though I would love the chance to publicly discuss this with them!

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mazzer76 says...
4:39pm Thu 13 Sep 12

Creating jobs encourages people to work! Do you think I enjoy living on crappy benefits when I was earning over £21k, hopefully the Bowyers developers will win their appeal and we can get a bit of real job creation going --remind me how many workers Jane Scott and her cronies make jobless!

Not forgetting loss of jobs at Vodafone, Virgin, Norian Beds, Wilts Wholesale and loads more. Plenty of charity shops in town but no wages!!

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