Agenda item

Report of the Temporary Director of Customer and Digital attached.

RESOLVED Unanimously:

1.    That Cabinet notes the recent Government budget announcements and supports the requirement to carry out modelling impact assessments and report to Budget Council in February 2019.

2.    That Cabinet supports the proposal to review the hardship schemes and proactively promote such schemes as outlined in the report.

The Cabinet received a report that updated on the current situation with the Council’s Council Tax Support Scheme following recent Government Budget announcements. The report also sought agreement on how the Council should proceed with the scheme including a review of the exceptional hardship funds.

It has always been the Cabinet’s intention to consult on and implement a new scheme from April 2019 and work to progress this had continued. Details of a proposed alternative scheme was set out in the report.

However the recent Government announcement on changes to Universal Credit (UC) meant that they now needed to review the potential impact of these changes. Given the timing it was therefore deemed sensible to undertake an impact assessment and remodelling of the current/alternative scheme options.

In response to the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader, Councillor Caroline Moon explained that the CTSS could not be removed at Budget Council, as legally there had to be a period of consultation with all preceptors on proposed options.

Members discussed the need to review and amend the local hardship scheme to ensure that those most in need, received additional support automatically instead of having to apply.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    That Cabinet notes the recent Government budget announcements and supports the requirement to carry out modelling impact assessments and report to Budget Council in February 2019.

2.    That Cabinet supports the proposal to review the hardship schemes and proactively promote such schemes as outlined in the report.

Reason(s) for the decision:

1.     The adoption of a revised Council Tax Support scheme has been agreed as a priority in the five year Corporate Plan (2018-23).

2.     To ensure that any future new or revised scheme is intended to address the potential administrative burden of the rollout of Universal Credit and satisfy the statutory requirement within the localisation of Council Tax Support that consultation must take place with major preceptors and residents.

Alternative Option Considered and Rejected:

1.     Modelling work has been carried out on retaining the current scheme, and alternative schemes. The advantages and disadvantages of the schemes are outlined in Appendix 1 of the report. The rationale behind the analysis is to identify CTS scheme options, and consult upon the adoption of the said options. To adopt a banded scheme we would need to purchase specialist software. Any relevant software required may attract procurement requirements and software would need to be compatible with the existing processing system.

2.     It is also noted that any new scheme should address member dissatisfaction with the elements of the current scheme, and the potential administrative burden due to the roll out of Universal Credit.

3.     In light of the announcements in the budget regarding UC further work is required in order to ascertain the impact this could have for South Ribble under its current scheme and modelled options and it is proposed that this further detailed analysis is undertaken.

4.     Benchmarking with other Lancashire Local Authorities has shown that the majority are making no major changes to their existing schemes for 2019/20