COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION SCHEME

The Mayor having declared an interest in this item vacated the Chair, and the Deputy Mayor took the Chair in his place, for this item only.

The Corporate Director – Resources submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to provide Council with information regarding the implementation of the 2015 -16 Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTR), the requirement to adopt a CTR Scheme by 31 January 2015, together with the funding implications.

The report gave some background information, and confirmed that on 8 January 2014, the Council adopted the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2014-15 in accordance with the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013.

From the latest data, there were currently 14,898 households receiving CTR; 8,844 of these are of working age and 6,054 are of pensionable age. Out of the 14,898 households receiving CTR, 11,225 were entitled to full benefit.

The CTR Scheme in Wales she explained, was set by Regulations made under Schedule 1B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as inserted by the Local Government Finance Act 2012).

The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements and Default Scheme) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 had now been laid. Subject to approval by the Assembly, the figures used to calculate applicants’ entitlement to CTR will be uprated in line with Housing Benefit. These Regulations also incorporate additional amendments to reflect consequential changes related to social security benefits and other minor technical changes.

The Corporate Director – Resources advised that within the Prescribed Requirements Regulations, there was limited discretion given to the Council to apply discretionary elements that are more generous than the national scheme. These were outlined in Paragraph 4.7 of the report.

Consultation on the Prescribed Requirement Regulations was undertaken in 2013 and the results detailed in the Corporate Director – Resources’ Council Tax Reduction report to Council on 8 January 2014. This report can be found at http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/ web/groups/public/documents/agenda/111742.hcsp. As it was proposed not to change the discretionary elements, a further consultation exercise had not been completed.

The Corporate Director – Resources advised that it was proposed that the discretionary elements remain as those detailed in Paragraph 4.12 of the report.

The Council was obliged to make a scheme under the requirements of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations notwithstanding the fact that a default scheme would come into effect even if the Council failed to make a scheme. The obligation is a statutory duty and applies even if the Council chose not to apply any of the discretions available to it.

In terms of the adoption of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, the Corporate Director – Resources suggested that the Council adopts the provisions as shown in bullet point format included in Paragraph 4.21 of the report.

Paragraph 4.24 of the report detailed the recommended available discretionary elements of the Scheme, following which the Officer referred to the reports financial implications, which stated that the 2015-16 Final Local Government Settlement showed that the sum provided for CTR was at a lower level than 2014-15. Bridgend’s 2015-16 final settlement from Welsh Government included £12.551m to fund the CTR scheme, down from £12.625m in 2014-15. This amount did not take into account any increase in Council Tax charges or variations in caseload, and is distributed on a fixed rather than a demand-led basis.  

RESOLVED:   That Council:

(1)          Noted the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013, and the 2014 and 2015 amendment regulations.

(2)          Adopted the Scheme, the details of which are given in paragraphs 4.19 to 4.24 of the report.