Council Tax Support to be reduced by City Council...

[dutchman]

Thousands of the city’s lowest earners are set to be hit with an additional annual bill of up to £391 as Coventry City Council looks to cut council tax support.



Officials say the authority is being forced to shrink its council tax support scheme after central government reduced funding by 10 per cent.

The means-tested support scheme subsidises annual council tax bills for the lowest earning households in the city. Currently, 33,500 homes in the city benefit from a reduction - and 16,000 pay no council tax at all.

But officials now say they must reduce the £27.6million annual cost of the scheme by £3m before 2016/17.

The council’s preferred option to address the budget shortfall is a 15 per cent cut in support for all recipients.

For those in the average Band D property, that would mean an extra £235 to fork out every year. Those in the top Band G category will be hit hardest with a £391 rise, while the smallest Band A homes will pay £156 more a year.

Coun Ann Lucas, Labour council leader, said during a council cabinet meeting on Tuesday that this would not be the end of the cuts.

She said: “This is not something we want to do, this is because of government funding cuts.

“I wish I could say this is the first and last we will have to make, but no organisation could sustain a £200 cut for every man, woman and child in the city since 2010 and continue to fund all of the services. The government spending review in Autumn may make matters even worse.

“We can’t continue to give the level of support to those people we have been able to in the past.”

Pensioners will be shielded from the cuts as their funding will continue to be received from central government. But that still leaves approximately 20,650 households in Coventry which will be hit by the changes.

A report into the planned cuts showed the scheme is already costing the council £5m more than the available government funding. In 2015/16 Coventry was one of only 42 councils, out of 326 nationally, to protect council tax support scheme from cuts. The average cut for those who did reduce support was 20 per cent.

A ten week public consultation into the changes will start on Monday.

Saw this one coming although the timing surprises me!

More information about receiving Council Tax Support can be found here: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/counciltax

[rebbonk]

You can't get blood out of a stone. All this will do is criminalise people for being poor/sick/out of work.

This council is being complicit with the Government in helping to demonise the sick and the poor.

There was a little chap with a funny moustache carried out a similar style campaign in Germany in the early 30s. The parallels are truly frightening.

[dutchman]

It's clear to me that the council have already decided to impose a 15% cut across the board which would mean that the very poorest households will have to pay a minimum of £3 per week in future:

http://democraticservices.coventry.gov. ... spx?ID=128

[rebbonk]

Reading that, it does rather look like another done deal doesn't it? Once again, this council that promotes democracy, carries out a sham of a consultation.

By God, the city of Coventry really has got an appalling council. I truly hope that come the next local elections the electorate turn out in force and rout this shower.

[dutchman]

As predicted...

Hard-up Coventry families set to pay more council tax

People in Coventry struggling to make ends meet are set to see their financial woes worsen because of plans to cut council tax support.

Bosses at Coventry City Council say they can no longer afford for 20,331 people in the city to get either council tax discounts or not pay at all.

About 16,000 people don’t pay any council tax at all because they are on such low incomes.

They would have to pay 15 per cent.

The others, on slightly higher incomes, pay various amounts all less than the full cost.

They would have to pay 15 per cent plus an extra amount calculated by their circumstances.

Council officers have recommended the changes are approved and the authority’s cabinet is likely to vote in favour of the increases on January 5 before final approval is given by full council on January 12.

Once approved, the changes would come into effect from April 2016.

The proposed changes to the council tax support scheme are part of a range of cuts and savings currently being drawn up by Coventry City Council.

Labour Coun Damian Gannon, cabinet member for strategic finance and resources, said: “It is a difficult decision but I don’t think there will be any other option if we are to protect vital front line services.

“We have been talking to our partners in the local advice services including Citizens’ Advice Bureau about the consequences of introducing a 15 per cent contribution and I think that they understand the dilemma that we face.”

“We want to make sure that we have good communications with the residents affected because it is important that low-income homes can access advice.”

A spokesperson for Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau said: “Citizens Advice Coventry understands the City Council plans to go ahead with its preferred option of reducing council tax support by 15 per cent across the board.

“We fully understand the financial difficulties that have led the council to make this decision to reduce council tax support.

“We also understand their logic of making this an across the board cut.

However, as an organisation that deals on a day to day basis with those in financial difficulty we are acutely aware of the potentially damaging impact of reducing support to those who most need it.”

[rebbonk]

Gannon worries me when he talks about vital front-line services. I wonder if what the council think are vital and the electorate would agree?

Why haven't they reduced the bin collections?

What about the dreadful expense on back-office services? Couldn't these be shared with other local authorities or cheaper suppliers sought?

There are many avenues open that I don't believe have been explored properly. I still think this lousy council are making political capital, rather than looking after the electorate.

I foresee rather a lot of problems once they introduce this 15%, just as Maggie found when she brought in the Poll Tax. You can't have what people haven't got, and despite the media trying to portray all those on benefits as irresponsible and greedy scroungers, it usually isn't the case at all.

[dutchman]

Coventry council agrees hard-hitting cuts totalling £5.2m

Hard-hitting cuts totalling £5.2million were agreed during a Coventry City Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The Labour leadership blamed the Conservative government, and an estimated £130m cut to its annual grant by 2020 compared to 2010, as it agreed a series of changes which will hit some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Plans to reduce council tax support for the poorest residents in the city moved a step closer as cabinet gave them the nod. Councillors aim to reduce the annual cost of the £27.6m scheme by £3m.

It will mean thousands of the city’s lowest earners are set to be hit with an additional annual bill of up to £391 from April as the amount the city’s lowest earners must pay increases by 15 per cent.

The means-tested support scheme subsidises annual council tax bills for the lowest earning households in the city.

Currently, 33,500 homes in the city benefit from a reduction - and 16,000 pay no council tax at all. But council officers said the effect could be softened with hardship grants issued on a case by case basis.

Labour Coun John Mutton, who led a scrutiny meeting into the plans, said he feared the changes would add to the woes of the city’s poorest residents.

He said: “The big concern is that those people who are going to lose out on money through universal credit will also now be forced to pay extra council tax. It’s a double whammy.

“We will be looking closely at the end of the year to see the impact it has had on the most vulnerable people in Coventry.”

The plans are expected to be given the go-ahead at a full council meeting on January 12.

[rebbonk]

Mutton: “We will be looking closely at the end of the year to see the impact it has had on the most vulnerable people in Coventry.”

Yeah, I bet that really makes them feel better!

[dutchman]

The minimum payment is closer to £4 a week than the £3 a week predicted earlier for someone living in a Band A property.

For someone in a Group G property the minimum is closer to £10 per week.

[Melisandre]

I tried phoning the council about a different way of paying other than direct debit standing order or their pay point in the precient as I dont go into town nor use direct debit nor standing order . I got through to an answering machine straight off where you have to select which department I needed I was hanging on for 59 minutes first time 30 minutes the next time before hanging up tring all morning till 2 in the afternoon trying to get through then 20 minutes last I tried I got through no wonder people dont pay their council tax.

I complained about the length of time it took prior to them answering I also told them how much it s costing to hang on for such a length of time when there are people who are living off a pittance and not every one can afford the internet nor a mobile phone contract which lasts for near enough an hour waiting for them to pick the phone up and answer with out charging the earth for hanging on especially if your on pay as you go.
Crap service in my opinion at least the housing or housing benefit lines tells you where you are in the que but not the council tax.