New Council Tax Scheme: Winners and Losers Revealed

Thousands in Reading could get lower council tax through a local support scheme for people and families on low incomes.

Reading Borough Council has hiked council tax by 4.99% for years, but thousands benefit from a council tax support scheme that trims bills for those on lower incomes.

A nationwide scheme was scrapped in 2012, Reading set up its own in 2013 and the current version dates from 2022/23. The council is now looking at a banded income scheme that would change how some households are paid.

In a May snapshot of 4,174 live claimants, 3,225 (77.2%) would see no change, 477 (11.4%) would gain and 472 (11.4%) would lose out under the proposals.

These figures come from a report by Darren Carter, the council's director of finance.

"All residents identified as losing out through these proposals will be contacted and invited to contribute to the consultation and invited to seek additional support to ensure they are maximising their income and offered debt advice."

"Access to the Crisis and Resilience Fund may be appropriate in some cases."

The proposed change was discussed at a policy committee meeting on September 16. Mr Carter said a reformed system would align with the managed migration of housing benefit, which concluded in June.

Ruth McEwan (Labour, Church), lead councillor for resources, said: "It aims to be cost neutral, easier for residents to understand, reducing processing times, and supporting residents on the lowest incomes to afford the council tax liability whilst also improving collection rates."

She added: "Importantly, this scheme aims to be easier for residents to understand, and with fewer bills, reduced administration costs, and an automatic reduction can be awarded if the resident is on Universal Credit, if necessary."

Councillor Rob White (Green, Park) warned: "Because the new scheme is designed to be roughly cost neutral, there are some winners and some losers.

"Importantly, 472 people, households or families would get less support.

"For some people, the amount they could lose is quite significant.

"Of those, 66 are in groups losing more than £500, within that, there is a small number of people who are going to lose out on £1,000.

"We're still concerned for those people, families or households that will lose it. I'm interested if there is anything more that could be done in terms of transition to help people with that.

"For the people that are losing a big chunk of money, that is going to be very difficult."

The council's policy committee unanimously approved the changes to go to a statutory consultation, which will be published on its Go Vocal website.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter