Our plans to change the Council Tax Reduction Scheme What do you think? 1
Contents Page Council Tax reduction 3 The Council Tax Reduction Scheme 4 Why we need to change 6 Options 7 Our preference 15 About you 16 Thank you 17 2
Council Tax reduction We are planning to make changes in the way we help people on low income to pay their council tax. Council Tax Reduction is the name of our scheme to reduce council tax for people on low income. This document explains: The way the scheme has been working Why we need to change The options for change We want to know what you think. Please read through this document and answer the questions that start on page 7. 3
The Council Tax Reduction Scheme This scheme helps people who: Are responsible for paying council tax, and Are on a low income, and Have less than 16,000 in savings Almost 37,000 people get council tax reduction at the moment. This costs Kirklees Council 28.8 million a year. 4
Protected Groups Certain groups of people gets more help from the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. These groups of people are: People who live alone with a child under the age of 5 People with a severe disability People who get a war pension Other ways to reduce council tax Kirklees council has other ways to reduce council tax for: Disabled people Young people People who live on their own There is no change to the national council tax reduction scheme for people of pension age. 5
Why we need to change Kirklees council is getting a lot less money from the Government towards the important services that it provides. Local councillors have to find ways to save money. We need to save 1 million a year from the cost of this scheme. 6
Option 1 No Change We could keep the scheme without change, for another 12 months. This would not save any money, and may mean that we have to raise council tax for everyone, or cut services more. Do you agree or with keeping the scheme as it is? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 7
Option 2 We would reduce the help we give to people in the protected groups by 10%. For example: Someone with a severe disability who doesn t pay any council tax will have to pay 10% of the normal council tax bill. This option would save the council nearly 1million. 8
Do you agree or that we should reduce this help by 10% for 1. Single parents with a child under age 5? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 2. Severely disabled people? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 3. People who get a war pension? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 9
Option 3 We would reduce the help we give to people in the protected groups by 20%. For example: Someone with a severe disability who doesn t pay any council tax will have to pay 20% of the normal council tax bill. This option would save the council nearly 2million. 10
Do you agree or that we should reduce this help by 20% for 1. Single parents with a child under age 5? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 2. Severely disabled people? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 3. People who get a war pension? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 11
Option 4 Reduce the amount of savings you need to have from 16,000 to 8,000. At the moment you only get this help with your council tax if you have less than 16,000 in savings. If we reduced this to only giving help if you have less than 8,000 we could save about 100,000. Do you agree or with this option? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 12
Option 5 Work to set up a new simpler way to reduce people s council tax. This could be based only on how much money you have coming in. It might not take account of how many children you have, or any benefits you get. 200,000 A new local council tax reduction scheme could save about 200,000. Do you agree or with this option? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 13
Option 6 Reduce administration costs. We could reduce how often we check to see if people should get a reduction in their council tax. If we reduce this to 4 times a year it would save some money in administration. Do you agree or with this option? strongly Not sure Disagree Strongly 14
Our preference We would prefer to have Options 2 plus Option 4 plus Option 6. This would mean: Reducing support for people in protected groups by 10%, Reducing the savings limit Reducing administration If you have any comments on doing this please write them here 15
About you Are you: A council tax payer in Kirklees Someone who receives council tax reduction in Kirklees A local voluntary / community group or organisation A local business A Kirklees Council councillor or employee Something else Are you... Working age Pension age 16
Thank you Please post your answers back to: Freepost Kirklees Council Council Tax Reduction Consultation (That s all you need to write on the envelope. You don t need a stamp) Please send it back by Sunday 15th October 2017 For more information If you have any questions or need more information please contact us on: Email: customer.enquiries@kirklees.gov.uk Tel: 01484 222001 Easy read by easy-read-online.co.uk 17