Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2025-26 Consultation

A new Council Tax Reduction Scheme for Thurrock

Each year Thurrock Council must decide whether to change the Council Tax Reduction scheme for working age applicants in its area. There are no changes for Pension Age applicants as they are part of the national scheme. This year the Council is deciding whether to significantly change the working age Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Across the Council's area, currently around 8,823 Council Tax payers receive Council Tax Reduction of which 5,483 are of working age. The gross cost of the scheme is spread across Thurrock Council (83.88%), the Police and Crime Commissioner (4.05%) and the Fire & Rescue Service (12.07%) in accordance with the proportion of Council Tax which each organisation levies (which is shown in brackets). Currently, the total cost of the scheme is around £9.4m, with around £5.2m supporting working age households. The proposed scheme costs are estimated at £9.4m.

We are legally required to consult on any proposed changes to the scheme and we’re asking you to take part in this consultation to find out what you think about our proposed Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which would start from 1 April 2025. We want to:

• make the scheme easier to understand and access;
• provide the same level of support for households on the lowest incomes;
• make the scheme work better with the Universal Credit system;
• support families and applicants who receive a disability benefit;
• take away the need for constant changes in awards; and
• make the scheme easier to manage.

Thank you for taking the time to share your views. It should take around 10 minutes to fill in this consultation.

Background to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme consultation

What is Council Tax Reduction?
Council Tax Reduction is a discount that helps people on low incomes pay their Council Tax bill. The level of discount is based on the income of the household.

Why are we making changes?
From 1 April 2025 the Council intends to replace the existing means tested system which is largely based on the previous Council Tax Benefit system that was in place prior to the introduction of Council Tax Reduction in 2013.

What scheme is the Council proposing?
We are proposing an income banded scheme that is easier to understand and is more supportive for the people most in need. The changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme will affect working age households in the Thurrock Council area who will get Council Tax Reduction from 1 April 2025. Pension age households will not see any change as the scheme to support this group is set out by Central Government.

The areas we are consulting on are:

• Introducing an income banded scheme for all working age applicants. This will provide the same level of support for the majority of claimants as now (Part 1);
• Removing the charges for Non-Dependant (Part 2);
• Disregarding a number of elements of Universal Credit (Part 3);
• Replacing the current earnings disregards with a standard £25 per week disregard for any amount of earnings; (Part 4);
• Supporting families by continuing to disregard all Child Benefit and Child Maintenance (Part 5);
• Continuing to disregard disability benefits (Personal Independence Payments, Armed Forces Independence Payments, Disability Living Allowance) where the applicant, partner or dependant is disabled (Part 6);
• Disregarding the support component of Employment and Support Allowance and Carer's Allowance (Part 7);
• Continuing to protect War Pensioners by disregarding War Pensions or War Disablement pensions in full (Part 8);
• Maintaining the capital limit (maximum capital) at £6,000 but with no assumed or 'tariff' income (Part 9); and
• Removing the Extended Payment Provisions (Part 10).

Are there any alternatives to changing the existing Council Tax Reduction Scheme?

We have thought about other options but we do not think these are right for the reasons given below.

Support levels

The Council will continue to award up to 75% support for working age applicants on the lowest income.

Other income-banded scheme models

The Council is of the opinion that the proposed income-banded scheme provides an easy to understand and simple to administer scheme.