Council Tax Benefit Changes 2013

How many people know about the change in the way Council Tax Benefit is going to be paid from April 2013?

From April 2013 Council Tax Benefit (CTB) will be re-named Council Tax Support, (CTS), and payments will become the responsibility of the local authority. The Council Tax budget will also be cut by 10 to 15% and will be paid from a “pot” system rather than a CTS budget fund. This means that the local authority will have to take into account every person who is eligible for a CTS payment and decide how much a person may receive in benefit.

Excluded from this are people of pension age and over.

For example a local council which has a CTS budget of say £10 million has to first pay the people of pension age and over, which may come to £2 million leaving only £8 million left for everyone else applying for CTS.  

The main bulk of people that are going to be affected by this change are those of a working age i.e. those below the pension age. If you fall into the working age bracket the amount of help you receive under the CTS scheme may be less than you currently receive on the current Council Tax Benefit scheme. 

The new system may mean that people who currently receive a full CTB payment will have their payment reduced and possibly have to pay 10 – 20% of their Council Tax.

This will inevitably lead to pushing people further into poverty and debt. (There is currently about 1 in 4 adults living below the poverty line, 13 million approx., and 1 in 3 children about 4 million). 

I feel this will lead to higher crime, a possible increase in the sex trade and a greater use of illegal drugs.  One benefactor may be the “One Stop” or “Pay Day” loan shops that are currently increasing in number in the local High street. These loan “sharks” charge very high interest rates, it is reported as much as 800% Annual Percentage Rate (A.P.R.).

McTaggart