Some people in Huntingdonshire could become eligible to not pay council tax under new plans that are being considered.
Huntingdonshire District Council is planning to introduce changes to its council tax support scheme to offer more people on low incomes a 100 per cent council tax discount.
Councillor Stephen Ferguson, the executive councillor for customer services, said he hoped the new scheme would help those most in need.
The district council has said the support scheme is designed to lower the amount of council tax paid by people on low incomes.
At a meeting of the district council’s overview and scrutiny panel this week (November 2), councillors heard that there are currently around 4,000 people in the district receiving council tax support.
Cllr Ferguson said the maximum discount most working-age people could receive was 80 per cent.
He explained that a working-age person with a child under five could receive an 85 per cent discount, with a small number deemed vulnerable able to receive a 100 per cent discount.
Cllr Ferguson told councillors that even with the discounts many still struggled to pay, adding that there was around £320,000 of uncollected council tax outstanding from people who receive council tax support.
He said the process of collecting unpaid council tax was “stressful for people already in crisis”.
Cllr Ferguson said the authority believed 96 per cent of those currently receiving support will get either the same amount or more support under the new scheme.
He explained that for those who may receive less support, the district council was proposing to create a hardship fund for the first year to help people adjust.
The district council estimates that the expanded scheme will see it receive £70,000 less in council tax funding a year, with an additional £44,000 proposed to be spent on the initial hardship fund.
Across all authorities that receive funding from council tax the income is expected to go down by around £1million.
However, Cllr Ferguson said the £1m would be “in the pockets of people who need it most”.
Councillor Stephen Cawley said the scheme was “laudable”, but said that £1m had “got to be found”. He asked where that money would be coming from and whether other people would have to end up paying more council tax.
Cllr Ferguson reiterated that the £1m was across all authorities who receive funding from council tax, and said Cambridgeshire County Council would be the biggest hit.
He said he could “think of better places” to raise money than “targeting people” on the lowest incomes.
Councillor Nathan Hunt said: “My eyes lit up reading this, this will make such a genuinely life-changing difference for the poorest in my ward.
“When I think back to knocking doors hearing people saying choosing between heating and eating this is genuinely life-changing stuff we should be doing here.”
Councillor Simon Bywater asked for care leavers to be “pushed up the list” to receive additional support.
The proposals are due to be presented to the district council’s cabinet later this month for approval. If agreed, the changes will be introduced from April 1, 2024.
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