COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNT MAY BE SCRAPPED

First Published by: Wigan Today

UP TO 50,000 WIGANERS WOULD BE FINANCIALLY WORSE-OFF

Plans to scrap a Council Tax discount to single people are introduced. Wigan is said to be one of a number of Labour authorities who want to abolish the Single Person’s Discount to raise extra revenue to offset the effect of Government cuts. Almost 50,000 people who live alone across the borough are currently entitled to claim the 25 per cent allowance which works out at an average of £325 for a Band D property.

Opposition Tory Coun James Grundy says that a family were warned by the council’s own registrar staff that the allowance could go as they recorded the death of a parent in the town hall. Nationally more than 7.7 million people receive the relief and local authorities including Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Burnley and South Tyneside have already suggested changes to end or reduce the Single Person’s Allowance.

Wigan has 34 per cent of households currently eligible for the Allowance which is, say the council, “around the national average.” But Leader of the Council Lord Smith said; “There is a new bill going through Parliament at the moment which passes responsibility to councils to fund Council Tax but will only provide 90 per cent of the cash. “Any change will be the act of the Coalition Government.”

Council Head of Citizens’ Support Anthony Mohammed said that the Government were in the process of reforming theCouncil Tax system and from next April local authorities will be responsible for designing their own local Council Tax benefit schemes for Council Tax payers on low incomes. He said: “While the government has indicated that it will be changing the rules for some Council Tax discounts, they have not indicated that they intend to change the rules for qualifying for a single person discount.” But Councillor Grundy insisted that he had been contacted by a worried constituent who learned about the alleged changes threat to the allowance from a council officer as she officially registered the death of her father, leaving the widow as another single person household.

He attempted unsuccessfully to raise the matter at the latest full council meeting. More than 40 per cent of the 10,000 people in his Lowton East constituency currently qualify for the allowance, he pointed out. Councillor Grundy said: “My constituent was warned that the council are thinking of getting rid of the Single Person’s Discount, which she is rightly very alarmed about. “At first I though this must be some misunderstanding or misinformation because I hadn’t heard much of a whisper about it. 

“But now I find that a number of Labour councils, because they want to raise additional revenue, have written to the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles earlier this year asking to do precisely that, or certainly reduce it. “With the number of widows this would effect across Wigan, abolishing the Single Person’s Allowance would be inflicting the real Granny tax. “If this was to go through I would consider it nothing less than a tax on widows and utterly disgraceful.”

HOWEVER: COUNCILS MISSING OUT ON MILLIONS DUE TO COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNTS

First Published by: Gloucestershire

TAX breaks on empty properties and second homes cost Gloucestershire councils more than £6 million last year. The estimated bill for providing exemptions and discounts came to £6,306,000. Some local authorities give second homes a Council Tax discount, while owners of empty properties may also not be liable for the full amount.

There are exemptions for homes which are vacant for up to six months, undergoing major repair work or have been repossessed. A property empty for longer than six months may continue to qualify for a discount of up to 50 per cent. According to figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the cost to Cheltenham for providing these discounts and exemptions is £1,433,000. In the Cotswolds, it is £1,159,000 while Tewkesbury's figure stands at £446,000.

The three other districts lost out on more than £3 million between them due to the discounts. The Government published proposals at the end of last year which could see Council Tax imposed on empty homes aimed at ending the 'scandal' of abandoned properties. Cheltenham Borough Council gives a 10 per cent discount for empty homes, but does not give any money off for long-term empty properties. Revenues manager Jayne Gilpin said: "Cheltenham Borough Council exercised it's discretion to set the minimum level of discount when legislation was introduced in April 2004.”The decision was made in support of the council's strategy to reduce the number of empty homes in the town."

Tewkesbury Borough Council director of resources George Hill said: "Currently, Tewkesbury Borough Council charges a 100 per cent Council Tax on empty and substantially unfurnished properties where their statutory exemptions have expired. "Where a second home is substantially unfurnished, we award a 10 per cent discount." Ministers say the power to increase the levy – possibly by as much as an extra 50 per cent – on long-term vacant properties would be another 'weapon' in a local authority's armoury in the battle to make better use of housing, while giving a 'nudge' for owners of abandoned homes to bring them back into use.

But the Government insisted the so-called Empty Homes Premium would be discretionary with "essential safeguards and exemptions" to ensure vulnerable people, such as the elderly in long-term residential care, were not penalised by the move. In Cheltenham 403 out of 1,726 (23 per cent) stood empty for more than half a year, in Cotswolds 430 out of 1,139 (38 per cent), and in Tewkesbury 321 out of 822 (39 per cent). Cotswold District Council was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

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