A recent local council notification re council tax

[eskimoman]

Hi, I received a very unexpected letter from my local council just recently regarding council tax.

 

I am a single father living in private rented property who has MS.

 

I am on ESA (support group) & PiP (Enhanced mobility & Daily living component).

 

The letter stated that as of now, due to council budgeting, the council could no longer afford to subsidize the council tax

& I was henceforth required to pay approx £200.00 (with offer of installments) to cover my council tax & presumably each year that follows.

 

Now, I am not disputing the money here,

what I am curious about is if this has happened in other council districts,

whereby the council tax has wavered/paid the tax for people

& also why I wasn't aware that this was the case previously.

 

The thing is, for the last few years, they always sent out a council tax bill showing lots of figures then an 'amount you owe=ZERO' at the bottom

so I always assumed I was somehow exempt due to my circumstances.

 

If they have been paying it for the public for some years,

then well yes this is very generous &, most certainly,

one would think would attract voters so a win win for the council.

 

I really do not wish to stir up any problems with my local council who, to be very fair, are very 'automated' in keeping the housing benefit coming

& I hardly hear from them at all, sometimes for years at a time.

 

I am just curious as to if anybody else has come across this recent state of affairs,

whereby the council was subsidizing fully the tax, then perhaps the notification that alas they cannot do that anymore for economical reasons.

 

One other question, is the £200.00 figure per year correct for a single person living alone such as I am in a privately rented accommodation?

 

thanks in advance, i always appreciate this site, it's very existence is like a permanent weight off my mind, you guys do a remarkable job.

[id6052]

prior to april 2013, you would have received council tax benefit - this was under a national scheme whereby central government would meet the cost

 

from april 2013, the government abolished council tax benefit - and told each council to create their own individual council tax support to replace CTB

 

the government claims this was about localisation - however the government also cut the funding provided to the council by 10%

 

so councils had a few choices as to how to meet the cut, such as: -

• cutting services
  
• making up the shortfall from the council's general funds
  
• reducing the level of assistance provided (where this happens, people normally have to pay a minimum of between 15% and 25% of the normal charge)
  

 

it sounds like your council did 1 of the first 2 options for the last 2 financial years, but going forward they are following option 3

 

some councils did option 3 right from the start, so you are luckier than them

other councils may still be doing option 1 or 2, so you are unluckier than them

[squirrelly Whirley]

I stay in Glasgow and have a Council Tax bill for £243. I receive both ESA and PIP

 

While I can't remember our local council paying my council tax bill, my rent on a LHA house has gone to zero (though until about 2012, I paid less than £10 pcm).

[antone]

I stay in Glasgow and have a Council Tax bill for £243. I receive both ESA and PIP

 

While I can't remember our local council paying my council tax bill, my rent on a LHA house has gone to zero (though until about 2012, I paid less than £10 pcm).

 

It can be a little different in Scotland because even those who receive full CT support generally still have to pay the water charge.

[eskimoman]

Thanks for clarifying for me guys.

 

I figured there would be some easy explanation for it.

 

I guess I was quietly kinda hoping it was a political coo & I could have stayed under the radar for a few more years lol. Perhaps not ): Oh well, at least I feel 'in the loop' now, albeit a little broker for it.

[Nystagmite]

Because each council has their own scheme, I can't tell you whether the £200 is correct. But does it include the single person discount?

[worried33]

Now days its a postcode lottery, each council does their own thing.

 

Personally I have never had all my council tax paid, when I got first moved to the local scheme I had a big increase in how much I had to pay, but after I corrected the council on which ESA group I am in they reduced it again close to the levelsI Was paying on CTB, so it seems in my area the support given between WRAG and SG is quite a bit different.

 

This surprised me as my income was the same in both groups.

[eskimoman]

@worried33 - Yup it seems it's pretty much an open field to who pays what depending on locale & council policy.

 

@Nystagmite - Yup I have the single person reduction taken off.

 

I think this topic is pretty much done for my query now, thanks all for the help.

Of course if anyone wants to add anything further please do. It is indeed curious though that a tax designed to assist in council budgeting & upkeep can be legislated so diversely in what is meant to be a fair system for the public in general.

 

They should simply abolish this tax, we did without it before it came along just fine, it just adds to confusion I think, especially when it is governed by seemingly separate factions.

That's not me being ungrateful for them paying it when they did of course but I am thinking of all those who had it differently & had to pay full on all the way down the line.

Surely anything assisting a governing body like the tax is supposed to do should assist all, not segregate certain joe public's because they live in different locales. Understandable perhaps in the U S of A but here in Britain? Perhaps we really are becoming the 53rd State after all.

[liverbird37]

My council Barking & Dagenham where charging us 15%, but this year, due to further budget cuts, have decided to hike it up by another 10% to 25% Next year they are planning another hike if their budgets are cut further, by yet another 10% to 30% We are all stuffed here. Whilst my neighbouring borough Tower Hamlets, is protecting all those out of work/sick & not charging, & this is one of the poorest boroughs in the country. Bemused how they can do it but others can't...or won't

 

The local residents were allegedly asked to express their preferred option of how to deal with the council budget crisis, with apparently, the vast percentage of people who replied asked that the working age be made to pay extra towards their council tax. It appears from their polls that very few working age people bothered to vote, & it was the protected elderly in the borough who inevitably decided.

 

I gave my opinion quite vociferously, and also passed my concerns on to my MP who being Labout too, completely ignored them. I have no idea how I'm going to pay this increase. We currently have many thousands in this borough in rent arrears due to this as well as bedroom tax & benefit cap. This is going to cause serious debt problems for so very many.

 

It makes me so angry that the ones who can least afford to pay, are being made to suffer in this way. But we have no choice but to pay, and the council knows that. They have us over a barrel and if it wasn't for the fact I had kids to look after, i would probably have finished myself off by now.

[2ltr16valve]

My council Barking & Dagenham where charging us 15%, but this year, due to further budget cuts, have decided to hike it up by another 10% to 25% Next year they are planning another hike if their budgets are cut further, by yet another 10% to 30% We are all stuffed here. Whilst my neighbouring borough Tower Hamlets, is protecting all those out of work/sick & not charging, & this is one of the poorest boroughs in the country. Bemused how they can do it but others can't...or won't

 

The local residents were allegedly asked to express their preferred option of how to deal with the council budget crisis, with apparently, the vast percentage of people who replied asked that the working age be made to pay extra towards their council tax. It appears from their polls that very few working age people bothered to vote, & it was the protected elderly in the borough who inevitably decided.

 

I gave my opinion quite vociferously, and also passed my concerns on to my MP who being Labout too, completely ignored them. I have no idea how I'm going to pay this increase. We currently have many thousands in this borough in rent arrears due to this as well as bedroom tax & benefit cap. This is going to cause serious debt problems for so very many.

 

It makes me so angry that the ones who can least afford to pay, are being made to suffer in this way. But we have no choice but to pay, and the council knows that. They have us over a barrel and if it wasn't for the fact I had kids to look after, i would probably have finished myself off by now.

 

I also live in LBBD, am disabled along with my brother and sister.

None of us were asked nor notified prior to the increase. No doubt IT was a "if you can find it" consultation as usual.

 

How about a pertition ? Surely there will be massive support. Maybe the council should cut some of the tops wages first !!!

[Nystagmite]

There might be an option to spread the cost over 12 month. My council allows us to do this if we're running into financial difficulty.

[2ltr16valve]

There might be an option to spread the cost over 12 month. My council allows us to do this if we're running into financial difficulty.

 

There is, my monthly payment has gone from £18.... Too £30 !!

 

Looking at £40 next year !

[lenny100]

in east durham mine has gone up to £66 per month,even though i my on disability etc, I belive its one of the highest rates in the uk

[Nystagmite]

I will have to pay £156 ish per year.

[goodatresearch]

I really do sympathise, please don't think I don't but when budgets are cut the money has to come from somewhere. This usually means people that aren't on benefits have to pay more. Do you think that's fair?

 

I'm unemployed and am no longer entitled to JSA as my husbands works, not entitled to WTC as just over the threshold which is quite low as our children have grown up( and no housing benefit at all). Our monthly CT is £129!!!!! On the other hand my daughter pays no rent and her CT is heavily subsidized despite, in real terms, having more money in her pocket every month.

 

 

QUOTE=Nystagmite;4709134]I will have to pay £156 ish per year.

[Nystagmite]

Your situation is completely different though. You're not single with a severe disability living on benefits.

[goodatresearch]

True and I did say I sympathise. However what I say stands, still can't afford it. What do you think the answer is? Keep increasing tax payers bills, some who are as short of money as those not working? I'm not being sarcastic, where do you think the money should come from?

 

 

Your situation is completely different though. You're not single with a severe disability living on benefits.

[eskimoman]

It is very staggered it seems & has gone so completely out of proportion from it's original 'intended' function as to be just now a puzzle for our pockets & brains to chew over.

 

Definitely needs some action I think but then it makes sense that if they are dividing locales/costs in such a way then not enough would be stirred up at anyone time to initiate such action (rather crafty, tactical gov move if looked at from that perspective).

 

Well, I am at a loss with the whole CT issue, as many of us are it seems.

If I had to define the enigma of politics & put it it in one short paragraph, the CT would be the obvious first choice I guess. Very interesting comments all, thanks for sharing.

[goodatresearch]

Iv always found it bizarre that you can live next door to someone who pays less than you, all because their house is slightly smaller. You don't get more for your money for paying more do you. Then there's the fact that we are increasingly receiving less services but ever increasing CT bills. I feel very sorry for people who have worked all their lives and paid a mortgage and now have to move because they can't afford their CT bill.

 

I can remember many years ago my parents dismay that water rates were no longer part of the CT bill, and a very small percentage as well. The powers at the time justified this by saying it wouldnt increase the amount paid. Off course anyone who now has to pay for water knows that this promise was rubbish. How many people now struggle to pay their water bill?