Issue - meetings

Local Council Tax Support Scheme 2020/21 Consultation Responses

Meeting: 26/11/2019 - Cabinet (Item 7)

7 Local Council Tax Support Scheme 2020/21 Consultation Responses pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To consider the report on Local Council Tax Support Scheme 2020/21 Consultation Responses.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED to approve the following proposals to inform the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2020/21:

 

i)              The 2020/21 LCTS scheme is set on the same basis as the 2019/20 scheme and therefore the contribution rate is frozen for the fifth consecutive year.

ii)             The Council continues to protect Vulnerable and Disabled Residents and Carer’s on a low income.

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder – Finance and the Budget gave a summary of the report which noted there was a requirement to annually review the Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) Scheme and then to consult upon it before a decision is taken at Full Council in December on the final scheme. The consultation responses report was included in the report.

 

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee noted that while the report had never come to the Scrutiny Committee, he had been given a briefing on it and had concluded since there was no substantial change then there was no need for the committee to examine it.

 

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services said the recommendation to Cabinet should read ‘the Cabinet is recommended to approve the following proposals to inform the Local Council Tax Scheme for 2020/21’ removing the words ‘draft’ and ‘consultation’.

 

In response to Member questions, the Portfolio Holder – Finance and the Budget said that in previous years, consultants had been paid to carry out and analyse the results of the consultation, and that these results had not been useful for setting priorities. Around 7000 people had actively clicked on the link to the consultation, 2500 people had received the email notifying them of the consultation and the consultation had also been advertised in local newspapers. It was worth noting that those people who had been sampled by phone constituted a biased sample.

 

RESOLVED to approve the following proposals to inform the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2020/21:

 

i)              The 2020/21 LCTS scheme is set on the same basis as the 2019/20 scheme and therefore the contribution rate is frozen for the fifth consecutive year.

ii)             The Council continues to protect Vulnerable and Disabled Residents and Carer’s on a low income.