Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Rejected
Paragraph: 87
Publish research assessing council tax support schemes and comprehensive local authority arrears data.
Recommendation
The Government should carry out and publish research to assess different types of local council tax support schemes and how they relate to council tax arrears. In addition to collection rates and levels of arrears, the Government should also publish local authority level data on: methods used to engage with debtors; collection methods; the 38 Council Tax Collection number of affordable repayment plans set up; and reasons for arrears. The new Office for Local Government should have a role in collecting, analysing and publishing this data.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to carry out research and publish local authority data on council tax support schemes and arrears, stating such research would not be useful and collecting the data would burden councils.
Paragraph Reference:
87
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
Local council tax support (LCTS) was put in place from 1 April 2013 to ensure that those in financial need are assisted with their council tax bill. Pension age LCTS schemes are made according to the terms of a centrally defined scheme set out in regulations. Reflecting the fact that pensioners are more likely to have fixed incomes and not work, this scheme provides reductions of up to 100% for those on the lowest incomes and is broadly equivalent to the former council tax benefit system. Working age LCTS schemes are designed and administered by local authorities. As such the schemes take a wide variety of forms specifically tailored to meet local circumstances and do not lend themselves to making like-for-like comparisons. Council tax arrears arise as a result of a number of factors including the size of the council tax bill (which comprises of charges set by a number of authorities in the taxpayers’ area), the circumstances of individual taxpayers, and local economic and cost of living-related matters. This range of factors makes it challenging to assess the underlying causes of arrears in different areas on a like-for-like basis. Given the wide variety of council tax reduction schemes in place and the multi-faceted nature of council tax arrears, the Government does not believe that the suggested formal research would yield results that could usefully identify a link between LCTS and arrears. The Government believes that councils are best placed to make judgements on how to best administer the collection of council tax, using their local knowledge. The Government has no plans to collect data on methods of engagement with debtors, collection methods, repayment plans set up and reasons for arrears, which would add additional burdens on councils.