• Question and Answer Session

COUNCIL TAX & SUPPORT/BENEFITS:Viv O’Leary gave a presentation on Council Tax and Support/Benefits.  Council tax benefit is changing from April, 2013, it is being abolished and replaced by a local Council Taxsupport scheme.  Because of the changes, the Council is required to carry out a consultation exercise with Wirral residents, and anyone else who has an interest in the changes.  As part of the Localism Bill 2011 and the Welfare Reform Act 2012, the Government is abolishing Council Tax Benefit.  As a result, every council has to replace it with a new local scheme, this will be known as Council Tax Support, and will start from 1^st April, 2013.

Under the new local scheme, the Government will give the Council a sum of money that will be at least 10% less than is currently paid out in Council Tax Benefit. This means the shortfall in funding for Wirral Council is anticipated to be in the region of £3.2 million for next year, 2013/14. However any increases in claims during 2013-14 have to be paid for by Wirral Council. This was previously paid for by Government, so we will need to build in a contingency to meet these claims.  In real terms the cut will be greater than £3.2 million.

With the new scheme come some government guidelines that we must follow, such as we have to protect pensioners and vulnerable groups. The Council must decide who it considers vulnerable.  The impact of the changes will mean that all current claimants who are of working age are likely to be affected by the council tax benefit changes. This represents 50% of the current client base ofapproximately 19,000.

·  They are likely to have to paymore towards their council tax bill and in some cases have to pay Council Tax for the first time.

·  The £3.2 million cut in government grant will be spread across people who claim for help towards their council tax bill and as already mentioned that would only affect those of Working Age.

·  It means that there will be a reduced amount of financial support available for people and that people who previously received support may no longer do so.

A number of options have been looked at. Due to the tight timescales for the first year the new scheme will be similar to the current council tax benefit system with some changes; Some of the options we are proposing are:

• Financial support will only be given up to a maximum of 80% of a household’s council tax liability, currently benefit is awarded up to 100%.  This results in someone of working age having to pay something.
• Introduce a standard non-dependant charge – set at £9.90. This will mean every household which has adults living there will pay something towards the household costs.
• Second Adult Rebate where the claimant’s income is too high however the adult living with them is on a low income and they can currently claim up to 25% off the Council Tax bill. The proposal is to remove this altogether.
• We will stop backdating claims; therefore if people do not claim on time, they will miss out on some support.
• Anyone of Working Age with savings over £6,000 would not be offered support.
• Whether there should be a Discretionary Support Fund for those suffering genuine and exceptional hardship because of these proposed changes.

We intend to review the scheme in year one and may, based upon our experiences, propose a change for year 2 onwards.  If we do not design and implement a local support scheme by 31^st January, 2013, the Government will impose a default scheme on us, which will not offer up any savings, therefore we have no choice in making the £3.2 million savings ourselves by changing the current system; alternatively the shortfall in funding would have had to have been found in some other way.  We are legally required to consult on our new local scheme.

Consultation period: 3^rd September to 31^st October 2012.  To take part in this survey you can:

·  Do it on-line via the Council website.

·  Phone the Call Centre and a paper version can be posted out.

·  Visit your nearest One Stop Shop to pick up a paper version

·  Or your Local Library to use the Council website free of charge or pick up a paper copy.

Paper forms can be handed in to the nearest One Stop Shop or a Library near to you or returned in the post. Viv explained what will happen when the consultation period ends: The information gathered will form part of the formal reporting process to Members alongside our final scheme proposal - adjustments may therefore be made to the original scheme design.  Our new local scheme needs to be finalised by 31^st January, 2013. However the proposed regulations have still to be passed by Parliament.