Council Tax Support scheme consultation
Proposed New Scheme
We are proposing using a banded scheme to calculate Council Tax Support. Entitlement will be based on which income band a claimant falls into:
|
Weekly Net Earnings Bands |
|||||||
|
Band |
% Support |
Single No Children |
Couple No Children |
Single 1 Child |
Couple 1 Child |
Single 2+ Children |
Couple 2+ Children |
|
1 |
100% |
Band 1 is for protected groups with no household earnings only |
|||||
|
2 |
90% |
£0-£110 |
£0-£160 |
£0-£160 |
£0-£210 |
£0-£210 |
£0-£260 |
|
3 |
70% |
£110.01-£140 |
£160.01-£190 |
£160.01-£190 |
£210.01-£240 |
£210.01-£240 |
£260.01-£290 |
|
4 |
50% |
£140.01-£170 |
£190.01-£220 |
£190.01-£220 |
£240.01-£270 |
£240.01-£270 |
£290.01-£320 |
|
5 |
30% |
£170.01-£200 |
£220.01-£250 |
£220.01-£250 |
£270.01-£300 |
£270.01-£300 |
£320.01-£350 |
|
6 |
10% |
£200.01-£360 |
£250.01-£410 |
£250.01-£410 |
£300.01-£460 |
£300.01-£460 |
£350.01-£510 |
Only households where the claimant or their partner is in receipt of the Limited Capability for Work Related Activity, or the Support Component of Employment Support Allowance can fall into band one.
The basic principles of the scheme are:
- Income to be used in the CTS calculation will comprise only earnings and tariff income (notional income generated from capital) in line with Universal Credit.
- No earning disregards will be made to income.
- For self-employed claimants, income will be calculated in accordance with Universal Credit rules (the “minimum income floor”, similar to National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage).
- There will be a lower capital limit of £6,000 and upper capital limit of £16,000:
- capital below £6,000 will be disregarded;
- where the capital of the claimant (and any partner) totals between £6,000 and £15,999, a notional tariff income will be included alongside earnings in the CTS calculation (each £250 or part thereof above £6,000 generates a notional income of £1 per week);
- where the capital is £16,000 or above, there will be no entitlement to CTS.
- The definition of capital to remain the same as in our current scheme, meaning some savings and property are disregarded. (For example, the household’s home and any payments made under certain government compensation schemes or charitable payments will not be counted.)
- No non-dependant deductions to be taken from CTS entitlement. Non-dependants are other adults in the household, usually this is adult children or elderly parents.
While every effort has been made to ensure that current claimants will not be disadvantaged under the proposed scheme, it is inevitable that a small number of claimants will receive less support than under the scheme. We therefore propose to include a discretionary fund within our scheme to assist customers who suffer financial hardship as a result of the changes to how council tax support entitlement is calculated.