Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer.

This report proposes changes to the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme in order that the scheme remains fit for purpose in response to cost-of-living challenges and the transition of most working age residents in receipt of welfare benefits onto Universal Credit.

The committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer whichproposed changes to the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme for Executive approval.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• The proposed change would mean that the Council Tax Support Scheme would pay up to 85% of the Council Tax bill leaving 15% to pay, compared to the current scheme of which paid up to 82.5% of the Council Tax bill leaving 17.5% to pay;
• It was also proposed toextend the CTS backdating period for working-age claims from 6 months to 12 months;
• A background to council tax in Manchester, including current and previous schemes;
• Costs of the proposed changes; and
• The approach, content and outcome of the consultation with precepting authorities.

Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• Welcoming the proposals and recognising the positive outcomes of the public consultation;
• Whether there was any aspirations to amend the CTSS to pay up to 100% of council tax;
• Whether costs of backdating council tax arrears were factored into the new proposals;
• That CTSS only applied to the Council’s portion of council tax and not precepting authorities and whether residents would still benefit; and
• The need for communication to make new Universal Credit claimants aware that they can apply for CTS.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources introduced the report and highlighted that the Council had committed to supporting residents through the cost-of-living crisis. He recognised that, whilst inflation rates were easing, residents continued to feel the impact of this.  He explained that extending the backdating period would help to clear more council tax arrears for those facing financial difficulty.

The Head of Corporate Assessments reiterated that the proposals had been subject to a public consultation and an Equality Impact Assessment, which supported the recommendations of the report.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer advised that the service had many aspirations but there was a need to balance affordability. There was a current focus on increasing investment into council tax support whilst protecting measures such as breathing space and debt collection.

With regards the backdating, the Head of Corporate Assessment explained that a review of backdating spend in the previous year had been undertaken but noted that it was difficult to model this with confidence because many cases did not require backdating for a full 12 months. He stated that the biggest benefit would be the ability to respond to cases where a resident had not claimed CTS when it was needed.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer explained that the Council had not modelled the wider impact of CTS as it did not want to pre-empt any preceptor decisions of other authorities, such as Greater Manchester Combined Authority. It was confirmed that the Budget report for consideration in February would include a breakdown of council tax by precept and what this would mean for residents, including those on CTS.

In response to a point about communication, the Head of Corporate Assessments recognised the importance of ensuring that eligible residents received CTS and stated that this would be raised with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the first point of contact for Universal Credit claimants.

Decision:

That the committee endorses the recommendations to the Executive.