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Council Tax Support Consultation
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Properties in higher Council Tax bands
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Under the current national scheme, people in any size and standard of property can get help with all their council tax if their income is low.
In England properties are given a valuation band between A and H based on their value, with A being the lowest value and H being the highest value. In Manchester nearly 60 per cent of all properties are in the lowest valuation band, band A, and 90 per cent are in the lowest three bands, bands A, B and C.
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Currently - Council Tax Benefit takes into account all of a person’s Council Tax, even if they live in higher-banded (more expensive) properties.
For example, if a single person rents a three-bedroom, band D property, they receive council tax Benefit based on the Council Tax for a band D property.
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Proposal - Under the proposed local scheme, the amount of Council Tax Support will be limited to band A properties (for single people and couples who need one bedroom) and band C properties (for larger households that need two or more bedrooms).
For example, if a single person rents a three-bedroom, band D property they would receive Council Tax Support based on the Council Tax for a band A property.
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1.
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Do you agree that people should have their council tax support based on band A if they need one bedroom, and no greater than band C if they need two or more bedrooms?
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2.
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Housing Benefit and means-tested benefits
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Housing benefit is available from the Council to help pay for accommodation. Means-tested benefits are benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance from the department for work and pensions (DWP) to help support people with low incomes. The rules for housing benefit and the main means-tested benefits from the DWP are very similar to those for council tax benefit. These benefits will continue after April 2013 and we will still be administering housing benefit. We believe that for 2013/14 we should, as far as possible, use the same rules for assessment of council tax support.
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Current position - The Council uses the same income assessment, needs allowances and other rules for Council Tax Benefit as we use for Housing Benefit and the DWP uses for its benefits.
Proposal - In general we should continue to use the same rules, as this will make it easier for people to understand and make claims.
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3.
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Do you think it is reasonable to use the same rules for Council Tax Support as those for Housing Benefit and DWP means-tested benefits?
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4.
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Vulnerable households - those with children, disabled people and caring responsibilities
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Currently - The rules for council tax benefit, housing benefit and DWP means-tested benefits have a scheme of allowances and premiums that take into account the make-up of the claimant’s household, including responsibility for children, caring responsibilities and varying degrees of ill health and disability. Also some types of income related to children or disability are not counted in assessing a claimant’s income.
The following examples show how this works in practice
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Households with children
When working out how much a household needs to live on, we add on extra money for each child in the household.
When working out the household’s income, we do not count Child Benefit or maintenance payments as income.
Households with disabled people or caring responsibilities
When working out how much a household needs to live on, we add on extra money if there is a person in the household that is disabled or a carer.
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When working out the household’s income, we do not count Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance and do not take a non-dependant deduction if there are other people living in the home of a disabled person.
Proposal - The Council should retain the present scheme of allowances, premiums and income disregards as the best way of recognising the particular needs of families, carers and people with disabilities.
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5.
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Do you agree that the present scheme of allowances and premiums and income disregards is the best and most practical way of recognising the needs of households with children, disabled people and people with caring responsibilities?
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6.
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The most council tax support we will pay
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As set out in the background detail, we know we will need to design a local scheme with less funding than is currently in place. The Council wants to do this as fairly as possible. We want to support vulnerable residents and ensure that we can support as many residents to enter into and remain in employment. We have a duty to mitigate the effects of child poverty, to prevent homelessness and to pay due regard to equality issues. People of pension age will be protected by law from the reduction in funding from the government.
The rules for council tax benefit, housing benefit and DWP means-tested benefits have a scheme of allowances and premiums that take into account the make-up of the claimant’s household, including responsibility for children, caring responsibilities and varying degrees of ill health and disability. Also some types of income related to children or disability are not counted in assessing a claimant’s income. The Council is proposing to keep this.
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Current position - Everyone’s council tax benefit takes their full council tax liability as a starting point, and the poorest claimants receive benefit for all of this.
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Proposal - The most any claimant of working age can get in council tax support will be 85 per cent of the amount they are liable to pay. People of working age will receive less benefit and no one will get council tax support that covers all of their council tax.
For example, if a person’s council tax is £1,000, we will work out their entitlement to council tax support based on £850 (85 per cent of the bill).
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7.
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Do you agree that all claimants of working age should have to pay some of their Council Tax themselves?
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8.
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Currently - Applicants and their partners can claim benefits and ask to have some types of savings or assets not counted in their benefits assessment because they do not consider it to belong to them.
For example, some people say that the money they have in their bank account is held for another family member. It can take the Council a lot of time trying to understand this and make a decision.
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Proposal - Money, savings or assets held in the name of the applicant or a member of the family will be used in the assessment of Council Tax Support.
This means that if money or assets are held in the name of the benefit applicant, we will assume that it is theirs.
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9.
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Do you agree that all money, savings or assets in the name of the applicant or family member should be used in the assessment of Council Tax Support?
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10.
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Currently - Some people who are self-employed claim benefits based on making very low profits from their business.
Proposal - People who are self-employed will be treated as earning at least the minimum wage for the hours that they work, even if they tell us that they make less than this amount. The current minimum wage is £6.08 per hour for people aged 21 and over.
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We will also use the number of hours that are declared for a tax credit claim even if they tell us that they work fewer hours than this.
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11.
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Do you agree that people who are self-employed should be treated as earning at least the minimum wage?
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12.
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Currently - There is no minimum amount of council tax benefit that a claimant can receive. The Council pays the full amount of council tax benefit which is the result of the assessment, even if it is only 1p a week.
Proposal - The Council does not pay council tax support if it is assessed as less than £1 a week.
For example, a person qualifies for 40p Council Tax Support a week. This would amount to £20.86 a year, but because the weekly amount is so small they would not receive Council Tax Support.
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13.
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Do you agree that the Council should not pay very small amounts of council tax support (entitlement assessed as less than £1 a week)?
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14.
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Currently - A resident who cannot get a single person discount because they have a person living with them may currently apply for a second adult rebate if the person living with them has a low income. The resident receives the benefit even though they could afford to pay all of their council tax. Only a small number of people can get second adult rebate.
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For example, a single person living in their own home and working full-time would claim single person discount. If an unemployed family member moved in with them, we would not pay the single person discount any more. However, the resident could claim second adult rebate, whatever their own income, because the person living with them was unemployed.
Proposal - The Council should not have Second Adult Rebate as part of the local Council Tax Support scheme.
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15.
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Do you agree that Manchester City Council should not offer Second Adult Rebate?
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16.
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The benefits rules do not cope with every possible set of circumstances, and the level of benefits paid can lead to hardship in less common situations. There are also some circumstances where the Council wants to provide additional, short-term support, for example when people are going back into work but are still on a low income.
Currently - Discretionary housing payments allow us to make a small number of extra payments to people who receive council tax benefit but still have difficulty paying their council tax, and to people who are starting work after being unemployed but remain on a low income. We receive government funding for this.
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Proposal - As Discretionary Housing Payments cannot be used to pay extra on top of Council Tax Support, the Council should have a small budget for use at the Council’s discretion to help residents who have particular difficulty paying their Council Tax or are going into work but remain on a low income. The budget will be set at a level that has no significant impact on the amount of Council Tax Support being paid.
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17.
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Should the Council have a small discretionary scheme to provide additional help outside the scope of its main council tax support scheme?
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18.
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Do you have any further comments?
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19.
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Tell us about your response
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20.
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Does this response represent the views of:
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Client and customer response
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21.
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Are you any of the following? (Please tick all that apply.)
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Only answer the following questions if you have completed this consultation as an individual.
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24.
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What is your current employment status? (Please tick all that apply.)
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25.
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Out of the following benefits, which are you claiming? (Please tick all that apply.)
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26.
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What is your annual household income? This includes earnings, pensions and benefits of all adults.
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27.
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What is your ethnic origin/background?
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28.
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Would you identify yourself as a disabled person?
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30.
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Do you have a faith or belief?
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