Decision details

In accordance with the attached Officer Decision Record, the Director (Resources and Property), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property, has made a decision on the implementation of the Council Tax Support Fund following the allocation of funding from Government.

Delegation has been given to the Director for Resources and Property, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property, to implement in full the Council Tax Support Fund, which is fully funded.

This power is being exercised through this decision in order to develop a Council Tax Support scheme in West Suffolk through which Council Tax bill reductions will be applied to eligible residents.

Specifically:

To use the following approach to reduce Council Tax bills for eligible households:

1.       To apply the required reductions of up to £25 to all current LCTS claimants to their 2023-24 Council Tax bills

2.       To maximise use of the fund by providing additional top up payments to all current LCTS claimants to their 2023-24 Council Tax bills

3.       To provide additional s13A(1)(c) Exceptional Hardship Payment (EHP) funding, and for that fund to be used by 31 March 2024 (or until the fund is exhausted) to:

                            a.        support new LCTS claimants with a similar one-off reduction to their 2023-24 Council Tax bills, and

                            b.        provide additional support to vulnerable customers via the existing EHP claim form route

4.       For the scheme to be administered by Anglia Revenues Partnership

•        Councils are required to implement the Government’s prescribed arrangements for distributing the Council Tax Support funding from Government

•        A decision is needed on how to allocate the discretionary funding

•        The decision was within the delegation given to the Director for Resources and Property

Options for alternative distribution of the discretionary element of the funding were considered. The above option was chosen as the best fit against the following objectives:

a.       ensuring the Government’s funding reaches the most vulnerable and those least able to meet the additional costs of Council Tax in 2023-24

b.       ensuring that customers who face hardship during 2023-24 are included (as opposed to only those who are already in receipt of LCTS on 1 April 2023)

c.       ensuring customers who are not in LCTS but nevertheless face financial hardship can access support (for example, those who are not eligible for LCTS, but for other reasons are genuinely facing hardship)

d.       designing a simple scheme

e.       keeping administrative costs low

f.       making payments as soon as possible