Sandwell Council is consulting on proposed changes to its Council Tax Reduction scheme.
Currently, the council spends around £31.7million supporting lower income households by reducing their Council Tax bill.
As the council faces significant financial pressures as a result of rising demand for services while costs are going up, residents have been warned that there are some difficult decisions that need to be made.
The council is looking at options for changing how it awards Council Tax Reduction by considering the following proposals:
- Introducing a minimum payment for people of working age – meaning households of working age who receive a 100% Council Tax Reduction would contribute 15% of their Council Tax bill. This would not apply to households with children aged five or under.
- Applying a band restriction when calculating Council Tax Reduction for properties in Band C and above.
- No longer disregarding the first £25 of an applicant’s earnings.
- No longer disregarding carer's allowance when calculating Council Tax Reduction.
The proposals would not affect people of pension age but would affect working age households.
Sandwell Council’s Deputy Leader Councillor Paul Moore said: “The council is having to make difficult decisions to help balance our budget.
“We recognise that times are difficult for many, many people.
“But equally, as a council we are under pressure to reduce our spending in many areas while continuing to support as many people as we can afford to within our budget. Demand for our services are growing, and the cost of running them continues to rise.
“This means we need to support people on the very lowest incomes, while still providing a very generous Council Tax Reduction scheme compared to other councils.
“We have made no decisions yet, but we need to identify what we can do to continue to help as many households as possible to meet the cost of their Council Tax bill.”
Take part in the consultation by searching Sandwell Consultation Hub online