Agenda item

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee is provided with a draft report for decision by the Mayor on the proposed Council Tax Hardship Scheme 2023/24.

The Committee is asked to: -

1.     Review the information provided in the report on the criteria for the Council Tax Hardship Scheme 2023/24, and

2.     Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 19 to 100 of the agenda which presented details on the proposed Council Tax Hardship Scheme that had been created in response to the recently agreed 15% Council Tax increase. It had been agreed at the Budget Council meeting that the scheme would be reviewed by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee prior to it being finalised.

Councillor Jason Cummings, Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer, Jane West and Catherine Black, Head of Payments, Revenues & Benefits and Debt attended the meeting for this item.

The report was introduced by the Head of Payments, Revenues & Benefits and Debt, during which the following was noted: -

• The proposed new Council Tax Hardship Scheme had been created to provide support for residents who may struggle to pay the additional cost of the 15% Council tax rise.
• The eligibility criteria for the scheme were based on income and family make-up. For instance, a single parent with three children may receive a higher level of support than a single person.
• Providing the income for a couple was below £500, they would be eligible.
• The scheme did not take account of any dependent income.
• An application for the scheme could be made digitally or via a paper application. Either face-to-face help and support or a call-back could be arranged to provide residents with support in making their application.
• A resident would need to provide evidence of their income if they were looking at an income band application.
• The application forms were currently being built using exist Council software.
• It was highlighted that most software had a translation option, so the application could be translated as required.
• Thought had been given to backdating the scheme, such as from when a resident moved into the area. This could be done providing proof of income could be provided. If an individual moved or their income changed, it could affect the award.
• A system of monitoring using manual checks would be put in place, including weekly monitoring of the application spend, the values claimed, the number of applications made and the levels agreed and declined.
• If an application was declined, then a discretionary award could be considered as an alternative.
• Once the new scheme had been agreed by the Executive Mayor, a fact file would be created to raise awareness amongst the community and voluntary sectors. A leaflet on the availability of the scheme could also be added to any reminder letters, along with signposting towards other available schemes.

Following the introduction, the Committee was provided the opportunity to ask questions about the proposed scheme and to provide its feedback. The first question asked how the £2m budget been reached and the contingency, should demand for the scheme exceed this budget. It was advised that the £2m figure had been reached following modelling of the potential impact of the Council Tax increase.  It had also been tested against other similar schemes and the budget for the proposed scheme was generous in comparison. The scheme was designed to be ongoing and would be topped up year on year; it would be closely monitored and, if the budget was running low, it would require a further decision on whether this should be increased.

Members heard that there was a separate scheme in place for two years from April 2022 to support residents moving from the previous Council Tax Support scheme. This was due to end in March 2024 and if there was any funding left over, it could be transferred to the Hardship Scheme. In addition, there was funding from the Government to provide Council Tax support, which would be used to top-up the Hardship scheme by an extra £345,000.

Further information was sought on the application process. It was advised that residents would be encouraged to submit applications online as this was the simplest route. If applications were made in writing, the applications would be reviewed by staff and entered on the online portal, with a process being built to automatically make the award. If an application was declined, the resident would have the opportunity to ask for it to be reconsidered. It was anticipated that there would be a team of people reviewing claims with a manager supporting. The level of claims received would be monitored and further support requested if needed.

In response to a question about the monitoring approach, it was advised that the scheme would be relatively easy to monitor as it could be defined as its own category within the software used. This would allow the level of spend, awards and declines to be regularly monitored.  It was highlighted that the number of applications made could be reviewed against pre-existing ward based modelling to ensure that the number of applications in an area was meeting expectations.  This would allow targeted communications to be produced if there was a lower than anticipated number of applications received from a specific area. It was agreed that sharing this data with Members would be helpful, as they could use their local knowledge to highlight potential discrepancies.

Although there was an income element involved in the application criteria, it was confirmed that the scheme was not means tested. Instead, it was based on household income.

Regarding how the preparation of the scheme had mitigated against the potential impact on groups highlighted within the Equalities Impact Assessment, it was highlighted that there had been no specific discriminatory issues highlighted. As the scheme was based on household income, it would be naturally balanced towards those earning less, with higher income thresholds for households with dependents.

It was confirmed that residents who did not have recourse to public funds, would not be eligible for the scheme, but that there were other routes for support. The Committee agreed that there needed to be a greater level of signposting to other support to provide a joined-up system for the public and to ensure people were accessing support to which they were entitled. It was also suggested that the naming of the various schemes could be reviewed to provide added clarity, as the current names were often similar to each other.

It was clarified that a household being in arrears on their Council Tax payments would not have an impact on their application. There was no criteria based on arears and any recovery process could be paused while the household was applying for the scheme.

At the conclusion of this item, the Chair thanked those present for their attendance at the meeting and their engagement with the questions of the Committee.

Actions arising from the meeting

Following the discussion of the item at the meeting, the Committee agreed the following actions that would be followed up after the meeting.

1. That a briefing will be arranged for the Scrutiny & Overview Committee in September 2023, to receive an update on the delivery of the Council Tax Hardship Scheme 2023-24.
2. That the Communications Plan for the Council Tax Hardship Scheme 2023-24 will be circulated to the Scrutiny & Overview Committee once available.

Conclusions

Following its discussion of the report, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee reached the following conclusions: -

1. The Scrutiny & Overview Committee welcomed the opportunity to review the Council Tax Hardship Scheme 2023-24 prior to its consideration by the Mayor.
2. The Scrutiny & Overview Committee recognised that the scheme in its current format had been developed using a data led approach and as such it was reasonable for the Mayor to accept the scheme as proposed.
3. It was reassuring that the was a robust system of monitoring being built around the Council Tax Hardship Scheme to ensure that it was reaching those most in need and allow adjustments to be made if needed.
4. Although the Scrutiny & Overview Committee accepted the reassurance given on the level of communication to be undertaken to promote the availability of the Council Tax Hardship Scheme, further reassurance would require the provision of the communications plan once available.
5. The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed that given the understanding Members have of their Wards, it would be helpful to circulate ward level data on the distribution of the fund to Members to help identify any potential outliers which could be addressed through targeted communications.

Recommendations

Following its discussion of the report, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee reached the following recommendation: -

1. As a method of testing the effectiveness of the Council Tax Hardship Scheme, that once a sufficient level of base data was available, ward level data on the distribution of the fund was shared with Ward Councillors.  This would allow any potential discrepancies in the volume of applications to be highlighted and appropriate action to be taken to target areas of concern.