Vulnerable protected in tax support change
Vulnerable residents in East Cambridgeshire are to be protected from large reductions in council tax support
Councillors have approved a new council tax support scheme after the Government abolished the national scheme for council tax benefit and reduced the money it gives councils to pay these benefits by 10 per cent.
The new scheme reduces council tax exemptions for people who own an empty property and removes it for those with second properties, which means extra revenue generated can be used to offset the reduction in Government funding and support vulnerable groups on low incomes.
A 50 per cent council tax premium will also be charged on properties that remain empty for more than two years to encourage them to be brought back into use.
Council leader Cllr Peter Moakes said: “When the Government announced it was abolishing the national scheme for council tax benefit – giving the responsibility to local authorities but cutting the funding we receive by 10 per cent – we knew we would be faced with some difficult decisions.
“We have designed the council tax support scheme to protect the most vulnerable people in our society as far as possible. For example, by giving less generous discounts to people with empty properties, we have limited the impact on people with low incomes.
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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