Council agrees replacement for Council Tax Benefit

District Councillors have agreed a new scheme for helping low income households to pay their council tax – but Government funding changes mean that now around 2000 households will have to contribute towards their bill.

As part of the Government's welfare reforms, council tax benefit will be abolished from April 2013. Instead residents will be able to claim help with their council tax under a new locally agreed scheme.

However councils will receive around 10% less funding for the new scheme, meaning that Maldon District Council has had to reduce its benefit budget by approximately £518,000.

The Government has protected pensioners from the changes, and will still receive similar levels of help with their council tax bills. However this means that the changes will impact working age customers who will now be asked to pay at least 20% of their bill. Other changes include restricting the amount of help given to residents who live in a band E property or larger, and not offering help to those who have more than £6,000 in savings.

Cllr David Sismey, the Chairman of the Council's Finance and Corporate Services Committee, said of the scheme: "As a result of the national changes in council tax benefit, and like other local authorities across the country, the Council has had to make some difficult decisions about where to target council tax support. In making this decision the Council has been focused on making the scheme as fair as possible and offering the maximum amount of support affordable and consistent with the Government changes".

The results of a public consultation earlier in the year found that residents were generally in favour of the Council's proposals for change.
More information about the new scheme can be found at www.maldon.gov.uk/LCTS. Anyone who is worried about paying their council tax can contact the Council for help and advice on 01621 854477 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.