ABOLISH THE NEW COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION SCHEME THAT AFFECTS PEOPLE ON A LOW INCOME
- Target:
- DAVID CAMERON
- Region:
- United Kingdom
New Council Tax Reduction scheme - starting 1 April 2013
As a result of government changes, the existing council tax benefit scheme will end and be replaced with a new scheme from 1 April 2013. The new scheme is called Council Tax Reduction and will be a local scheme decided by Salford City Council. Council Tax Reduction is an amount of money deducted from your bill, meaning you pay less towards your council tax. The scheme was agreed at a meeting of the full council on 16 January 2013.
The government will give us a sum of money each year towards the funding of the scheme. As a result of a reduction in the government funding, we will now get less than before.
Who will be affected by the new Council Tax Reduction scheme?
Working age people who currently receive council tax benefit will need to pay more council tax from 1 April 2013 onwards. People who have not had to pay any council tax before will now have to start paying some of it. Council tax payers who are experiencing extreme financial hardship will be able to apply for some discretionary assistance.
These changes will not affect pensioners, who will be eligible for the same level of Council Tax Reduction if their circumstances stay the same. There may be some changes however, when the government introduces Universal Credit (scheduled for autumn 2013). The single person discount for households where there is only one adult is also unchanged.
Below we have listed the key changes. Council tax bills giving details of what every household will have to pay and Council Tax Reduction notification letters will be issued during March 2013.
The key changes for working age customers from 1 April 2013 are as follows:
1. Everyone who receives Council Tax Reduction will be asked to pay at least 8.5% of their council tax bill. Currently people can claim up to 100% council tax benefit but from 1 April 2013 this will change. Working age people will no longer be able to claim 100% Council Tax Reduction, they will need to pay at least 8.5% of their council tax bill.
2. Second adult rebate will no longer be available unless people currently qualify for 100% second adult rebate entitlement (the student only element). Second adult rebate is a form of council tax benefit that can currently be paid instead of the main type of council tax benefit. People may be able to claim second adult rebate if they have to pay council tax and they live with someone else, other than their partner/civil partner, for example a grown up son or daughter. The other person must be 18 or over, not paying rent, not responsible to pay council tax, and have income below a certain amount. From April 2013, people will no longer get second adult rebate unless they have student only entitlement.
3. Council Tax Reduction will not be paid where it would be is less than £1.00 a week. Some people currently receive very small weekly contributions to help them pay their council tax. Under this change, nothing would be paid to anyone who qualifies for less than £1.00 per week Council Tax Reduction.
4. We would increase the ‘taper' applied to calculate Council Tax Reduction for people of a working age from 20% to 25%. This means that for every additional £1.00 income a household receives above a set amount, they would need to pay an additional five pence towards their council tax bill from April 2013.
5. If a non-dependent deduction is made, this will increase by 50 pence per week (unless government legislation states a higher increase). A deduction is currently made from weekly council tax benefit entitlements for certain adults aged 18 or over living in the claimant's home. Under this change the Council Tax Reduction you receive will go down by at least an additional 50 pence per week for these non-dependants living in the claimant's home.
6. Backdated Council Tax Reduction will not be allowed. Currently where an applicant can demonstrate there was a good reason for making a late claim, their claim could be backdated. This is changing, and from 1 April 2013, no backdated awards will be allowed. Claims would only be paid from the date of receipt of the claim (salford.gov.uk)
See http://www.salford.gov.uk/ctaxsupport-consultation.htm
Basically I am asking you to sign and agree here if you think the new council tax scheme should be abolished.
As explained in this petition the new council tax reduction scheme is aimed at people on a low income and those on benefits have to pay 8.5% of the bill. Are you a one parent family? Are you on benefits? Do you normally get 100% council tax relief? Do you work and get some council tax relief? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, can you afford to contribute 8.5% towards your council tax bill?
If you cannot afford this you should sign and agree with this petition. The law states that people on benefits need a certain amount to live on see http://goo.gl/yot2h for 2012 rates however this is being revised for 2013 for a whopping 1% rise see http://goo.gl/icJDu here is an example used from the literature provided in the links: a lone parent aged 26 on income support lives in a band A category council property receives £71 per week income support which will increase by 1% to £71.70 per week (2013 rates) now has a burden of contributing towards her council tax of 8.5% per year, this works out at £65.16 per year but she also gets 70p per week rise on income support which works out at £36.40 per year. When you take 36.40 away from 65.16 she still has to find £28.76 per year. Is this realistic? The law says people have to have a certain amount to live on to prevent poverty.
I have prepared this E petition to abolish this extra financial pressure people are experiencing with the new council tax reduction scheme that affects individuals on a low income. It will be delivered to the government for abolishment on the grounds of financial unfairness and contradiction of the law social security.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The ABOLISH THE NEW COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION SCHEME THAT AFFECTS PEOPLE ON A LOW INCOME petition to DAVID CAMERON was written by DONNA MASSEY and is in the category Government at GoPetition.