POLICE PORTION OF COUNCIL TAX SET TO RISE IN CREWE AND NANTWICH

First Published by: Guardian

Crewe and Nantwich residents will pay more for police services in the next tax year.

But the price hike will keep 23 officers on the beat after the Government imposed massive budget cuts. The police portion of Council Tax in Cheshire is being increased by 3.94 per cent. It will add £5.69 a year or 11p a week to taxpayers’ bills for a band D home. Margaret Ollerenshaw, chairman of Cheshire Police Authority said: "We are aware of the financial strains many people are facing at the moment. 

“We looked carefully at the idea of freezing Council Tax at last year′s level. “After careful consideration, we decided this small increase would help maintain front line policing services and keep the people of Cheshire safe. "It means the reduction in the number of police officers in Cheshire during 2012/13 can be limited to 25, instead of the 48 required if we opted to freeze Council Tax." The total budget for policing Cheshire in 2012/13 will be £172.557 million, compared to £177.21 million in 2011/12.

The annual charge for a band D Home will be £150.22, compared to £144.53 in 2011/12. Police officer numbers are expected to reduce from 1998 to 1973 by March 31, 2013. But the number of community support officers is expected to rise from 215 to 222. Other police staff posts are expected to reduce from 1637 to 1510. This budget is the final one to be set by the 

Police Authority before it is replaced by a police and crime commissioner in November. Ms Ollerenshaw has described it as ‘arguably the most difficult of the 17 budgets set by the Authority’. She said, "We are working against a background of budget cuts - £33 million in savings must be found by 2014/15. 

“That level of saving is not easy. It is depressing to see the level of cuts we are having to make following the steady investment we have made over the life of the Authority to ensure the Constabulary has the capability and capacity to make Cheshire safer and to protect the public from harm.” “As more than 80 per cent of the budget relates to people, it is regrettable that the scale of the cuts means unavoidable reductions in the number of police officers and staff.

"We were offered a one-off grant to freeze Council Tax for 2012/13. “If we had accepted, the result would have been a shortfall for the following year when the grant was not available. “We must take a long term view of the impact of our decisions on policing.”  

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I WILL CUT COUNCIL TAX BY HALF

First Published by: The Guardian 

End councillors' pet projects and hold a 'SalfordGate' inquiry

People who know me have no doubt that I am the one to cut Council Tax here by 50%. It is not a simple task, but a necessary one to get the whole country talking up Salford. If we do it first, all others will want our secret of success. Certainly my new approach is different to that of all other candidates standing at this mayoral election. I appeal to them to join with me in us saying No to outdated political ways that long-standing councillors have forced on to our city. 

As Salford mayor I will use my considerable experience to refocus policy. I will put all directors to the test by having them draw up my list of essential services. If directors do not have the skills for the job they will have to go and be replaced by a mayoral protective policy on essential service spending. The pet projects that councillors like to dabble in during times of plenty will be put through my 'what and why?' microscopic test.

In times of hardship essentials have been neglected because of such pet projects. The worst example is the increase in one Salford regeneration project. Its estimate has gone up from £115million to £730million. A green light increases debt by £615million. As a Salford resident, I say that we never voted for a debt. In fact no council struggling to carry out its essential services should get caught up in any credit repayments trap, such as the Private Finance Initiative, that could mean a 35 year debt becoming a £82million a year bill. And guess who pays?

People on our streets agree that political groups are unlikely to welcome any inquiry into such things. This is where my unique plan for a SalfordGate inquiry steps in. The inquiry would be beyond the veto or influence of a majority political party, provided that there are grounds for the elected Mayor to call in such a scrutiny process. An increase of £615million in one project is sufficient grounds and I believe that Salford Council Tax payers have the right to know what is going on.

Not long ago there was turmoil in children services and more recently we saw day care centres facing the Labour group axe. Last month the number of empty properties in Salford was a record 12,000 while 14,000 are waiting for a home. Promises from our Council of new jobs are proving scarce in fancy new developments. They even continue to listen to supermarket builders whose plans would affect a Salford burial ground. How out of touch have council leaders become, or is it a case of complacency because of long-unchallenged political control.

My plan will cut out any waste to make Salford one of the lowest Council Tax places to live in England, at a time when Salford council would gift away our money to the better-able-to-pay firms and organisations such as the BBC. My professional record as health management trainer is my credential to assure you that I will protect essential services to young people, elderly and vulnerable citizens living in Salford. This election is unique, brought about by local people demanding real change. If we are going to do Salford justice we must have the SalfordGate inquiry, shelve the nice-to-do but extravagant projects to another day and get Council Tax down now, along with a council house rent freeze. 2012 is not the time for spend, spend, spend party policies.

Salford mayoral candidate Michael Felse - standing for the English Democrats, If elected I promise to serve as a full-time mayor, making an impressive difference and putting in place an over-arching level of integrity that will be beyond any doubt the best. Michael Felse is the English Democrat candidate for elected mayor of Salford. A former Labour constituency secretary and agent, he was one of the first to blow the whistle on the Doncaster corruption scandal and played a prominent part in January's successful referendum in Salford on having an elected mayor.

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COUNCIL TAX COVER-UP - THE TRUTH IS OUT

First Published by: Harrow East 

New evidence of serious errors in Council Tax bills - LABOUR'S COUNCIL TAX COVER-UP

The last Government and the Ministers are responsible for deliberately covering up serious problems over the banding of homes for Council Tax, Bob Blackman, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Harrow East, warned. New figures have revealed that Whitehall's Council Tax snoopers have been forced to redo the Council Tax bands of thousands of homes after appeals by householders across Harrow and the country.

Official papers from the Government Council Tax inspectors, the Valuation Office Agency, have admitted that many homes are in the wrong band for Council Tax and families have been paying over the odds for years. Accidentally leaked minutes have confessed that if the tax errors became known, the Government would lose money and would have to pay tax refunds. This was also ruled out since it would generate "adverse press coverage… in the current climate".

The combination of a campaign by 'Money Saving Expert' Martin Lewis, the publication of these leaked minutes and the ITV Tonight documentary, has produced a surge in Council Tax appeals. Now Parliamentary Questions have forced the Government to publish detailed figures on the changes to Council Tax bands. In the last five years, 500,000 existing homes have had their Council Tax band changed: 133,985 homes have moved down a band. In Harrow alone, 321 homes have moved down a Council Tax band as a result of appeals. This proves there are serious and systematic errors in the banding of homes, which Ministers have been covering up to save money.

Wales has been used as a test-bed for a Council Tax revaluation. Three times as many homes moved up a band as down. Yet since that 2005 revaluation, a succession of errors has also been uncovered with the Valuation Office Agency's work. To date, 1 in 20 homes in Wales have had their post-revaluation banding corrected. A wholesale Council Tax revaluation has thus caused more problems than it solved.

Bob Blackman said:

"We now have clear evidence of a Council Tax cover-up. The Labour Government has been caught red-handed fiddling Council Tax to make families in Harrow and across the country pay more. Whitehall bureaucrats know that many homes across the country are wrongly banded, but have refused to correct the tax inspectors' errors to save the Government money and save face. "The whole basis of our tax system is undermined if the state conspires to over-charge the public. Labour Ministers only want to reform the Council Tax system if it rakes in extra cash for the Government coffers."

Council Tax bills vary according to the banding of a property; for example, a Band E house pays 22% a year more than a Band D house (or £315 a year more for a typical home in England). Last year, Labour Ministers were forced to publish the minutes of the Valuation Office Agency's Council Tax Revaluation Programme Board. The Valuation Office Agency are England's Council Tax inspectors, and are an arm of HM Revenue & Customs. The minutes show the fallout after the controversial plans for an English Council Tax revaluation in May 2007 were postponed in October 2005. The Revaluation Board minutes include a series of comments which are blacked out, since they relate to "an ongoing policy issue".

The secret comments show that the revaluation exercise identified certain homes in certain streets were currently wrongly banded, and are paying over the odds (so-called 'consequentials'). Yet Ministers covered up this information due to the implications: having to pay refunds and lose money and the subsequent bad press coverage. The secret minutes stated: "What action should be taken by Groups on consequentials identified following data enhancement. Concern was expressed about the possible knock on implications for billing authorities and adverse press coverage this could generate in the current climate. Action Point  to establish potential numbers involved with GVOs. Action will then be agreed with ODPM and Ministers".

SURGE IN APPEALS REVEALED WIDESPREAD ERRORS

Financial guru, Martin Lewis ('Money Saving Expert'), has run a big campaign on errors in Council Tax banding, highlighting errors by the Valuation Office Agency. Combined with the cover-up exposed by Conservatives, this has lead to a surge in the number of Council Tax appeals. The BBC said: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6296849.stm BBC News Online, "Homeowners must check tax band", 25 January 2007. When a home is placed in too high a Council Tax band, any subsequent refund can date back for years, incurring considerable cost to the Exchequer. New Parliamentary Questions by Conservatives have forced Ministers to publish new details exposing the scale of errors to existing Council Tax banding of homes across England, following that the surge in appeals.

"Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the supplementary memorandum from the Valuation Office Agency presented to the Treasury Select Committee, dated 29 October 2008, which amendments to the Council Tax valuation lists involving movements to a lower band were made in each billing authority in each of the years to March (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008.

John Healey: This information is currently being assembled for publication. I will place a copy in the Library of the House as soon as possible."

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COUNCILS TURN TO BAILIFFS TO RECOVER TAX DEBTS

First Published by: BBC

I didn't feel safe in my own home

Debt advisors have warned of a big rise in the number of local authorities in England and Wales using bailiffs to enforce unpaid Council Tax debts during the recession. Council Tax default cases have risen by a third in the last two years to three million, government figures have revealed. 

The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has reported a 30% rise in the number of people seeking help to deal with bailiffs chasing unpaid Council Tax in the last three years. It said complaints of aggressive behaviour and overcharging by bailiffs were rising and has called for more support to be offered to those unable to pay.

Amanda Buchanan, one of those targeted by a bailiff, said when she had trouble paying her Council Tax bill she contacted her council, but her case was soon passed to a bailiff. Amanda's problems with debt started after a divorce. The bills started piling up and she owed £900 in Council Tax. The knock on the door came when she was breastfeeding her daughter who was aged three months at the time.

During the recession we're seeing more and more people under financial pressure, and finding it harder to meet basic bills like Council Tax. Peter Tutton, Citizens Advice Bureau: "It's one of the most personal things a mum and a baby can do," she said. "I was standing at my front door. I was in my home, my sanctuary. I'd asked him not to come in. "He physically pushed his way into my home, walked in and sat on the sofa. I didn't feel safe in my own home for months and months and months after that." 'Just wrong'

Amanda told the BBC she was charged £600 in fees by the bailiff for recovering the debt, but £400 was later returned after she got help from friend Mark O'Keeffe, who had previously worked as a bailiff. He told the BBC that debtors are often overcharged. "They do prey on the fact that most people don't know bailiff law, especially in terms of the overcharging of fees because most people won't be aware of what the fees are," Mr O'Keeffe said. "I think it is outrageous," he added. "For 95% of people who don't pay their Council Tax it is usually not a wanton refusal to pay. It is because they are struggling financially.

Former bailiff Mark O'Keeffe: 'Bailiffs should explain the fees they charge' "So to add on fees that total several hundred pounds to someone who is already struggling is just out and out wrong - criminal in some cases I would suggest." The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has seen a rise in the numbers of people facing bailiffs for unpaid Council Tax debts. Advisors say they are concerned at the speed with which some councils refer defaulters to bailiff firms instead of finding alternative methods of payments.

The CAB's Peter Tutton said: "The numbers of people who've come for advice about bailiffs collecting Council Tax has gone up by about 30% over the last two or three years. "During the recession we're seeing more and more people under financial pressure, and finding it harder to meet basic bills like Council Tax. So if there's aggressive enforcement against them it could make their debt problems worse."

Unclaimed benefit Councils defend the use of bailiffs because they have a legal duty to collect unpaid Council Tax, and point out that there are ways of helping people who have problems paying the tax. According to the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, £1.8 billion in Council Tax benefit goes unclaimed. "Councils certainly don't enjoy using bailiffs and they would much prefer to help people pay their Council Tax in the first place," said Corin Thomson from the LGA.

I accept that there may be instances where bailiffs charge more than is necessary but these instances are relatively few Steven Everson, ACEA "But the worst thing people can do is put their head in the sand, and not talk to the council, because it is those cases that unfortunately sometimes end up with bailiffs."

The bailiff industry says business has been busy during the recession, but chasing debts and therefore revenue has been harder because people have less ability to pay.

The industry itself is in favour of tighter control on bailiffs because it believes the law covering their activities is too complicated and should be simplified. Steven Everson, director general of the Association of Civil Enforcement Agencies (ACEA), which represents larger bailiff firms, told the BBC that sometimes bailiffs do overcharge debtors, though he said the practice was not widespread.

"In any industry there will be individuals who don't do things according to the book, and I accept that there may be instances where bailiffs charge more than is necessary but these instances are relatively few," he said. The government says bailiffs will be regulated, but probably not for at least two years. 

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LABOUR’S MATHESON RIDICULED OVER PARTY'S LATEST COUNCIL TAX U-TURN

First Published By: News Net

The Labour leader of Glasgow City Council Gordon Matheson has been ridiculed

After performing a massive U-turn over the Council Tax freeze. The criticism follows publication of his party's manifesto for Glasgow in which the number one pledge states that “Labour was the first council in Scotland to introduce a Council Tax freeze, and will continue to freeze Council Tax for the next 5 years.”

However the SNP has claimed that the leader of the Glasgow Labour group at City Chambers has now lost all credibility and have pointed out that Mr Matheson has been an outspoken critic of the SNP’s own Council Tax freeze. In a letter to Finance Secretary John Swinney in December 2010, Mr Matheson attacked the SNP plans for a further freeze saying "It is with a gun to my head that I agree to your short-term targets".

The letter followed earlier demands from the Labour council chief that the Council Tax freeze be scrapped. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland in August that same year Mr Matheson claimed that the SNP move threatened teacher jobs and services for the vulnerable and added: "I'm calling for the option of being able to raise Council Tax in order to offset some of the more brutal cuts that we will have to make. "We need to be able to have the option of comparing the impact of increasing the Council Tax with some of the more brutal options we face” Hear Mr Matheson attacking the SNP freeze on BBC Radio Scotland

The decision by Glasgow Labour is at odds with comments from Anas Sarwar MP – Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader, who when asked about the five-year Council Tax freeze on Newsnight Scotland on 30th January 2012, said “I don’t think that’s credible. I don’t think that’s progressive.” Commenting on Mr Matheson’s U-turn, SNP Group Leader Cllr Allison Hunter said:

“I’ve lost count of the amount of positions Labour have had on the Council Tax freeze. “Gordon Matheson says today he wants to freeze the Council Tax for the next five years, but Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader – Glasgow MP Anas Sarwar - has already said he doesn’t think that is credible or progressive. “And Gordon Matheson himself has been itching to put Council Tax up – saying being forced to freeze it is like having a gun to his head. So is he now holding a gun to his own head?

“Labour are just trying the same trick that backfired on them so spectacularly last year – people weren’t fooled then, and they won’t be fooled now.” Under Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour party initially opposed the freeze on Council Tax, but switched shortly before the Scottish election and pledged a two year freeze. However in the aftermath of Labour's defeat in the May 2011 Holyrood elections, Gray’s replacement Johann Lamont called the Council Tax freeze "unrealistic" and claimed it would "hammer public services". 

Speaking during the Labour leadership campaign last year, Ms Lamont called the Scottish Government's Council Tax freeze "reckless" and said it should be scrapped. “The fact is average Council Tax across Scotland went up by 60% under Labour - they just cannot be trusted on Council Tax, and voters know it. “Gordon Matheson’s arrogant threat that ‘no-one steps on Glasgow’ completely sums up Labour’s belief that they have a divine right to rule this city in perpetuity.

“On May 3rd voters in Glasgow will have a chance to elect an SNP Council which will bring in a whole new era of openness and transparency to their city.  We’ve spoken to over 20,000 people in Glasgow in the last 18 months – we will give them the council that they deserve.” The decision by Glasgow Labour to change their stance on the Council Tax freeze comes two months after the Labour group at Stirling Council voted for a cut in the Council Tax. Labour joined forces with the Tories in order to block the budget of the minority SNP group and force through a 1 per cent cut. Here is how BBC Scotland reported Gordon Matheson’s attack on the Scottish Government’s proposal to freeze the Council Tax.

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LABOUR AND LIB DEMS IN SOUTHAMPTON AXE COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNT FOR PENSIONERS

First Published by: DailyEcho

PENSIONERS in Southampton face a Council Tax hike

The Liberal Democrats seize power in Southampton, ruling Tories have warned that pensioners will face a Council Tax hike. Both Labour and Lib Dem opposition parties have confirmed they will remove the controversial 10 per cent Council Tax discount for some pensioners brought in three years ago by ruling Tories – costing £1m a year. They argue the current discount is an unfair give-away that benefits richer pensioners and is subsidised by other taxpayers.

The discount – worth more than £100 on average is claimed by 8,308 over-65s households in the city who do not get Council Tax benefit. Now Conservatives have accused the opposition parties of a “pernicious attack on pensioners”. Alongside crime, the discount will be among the issues at the top of the agenda for pensioners voting in crunch local elections which will decide who runs the council for the next two years.

Two months ago Labour leader Richard Williams said the party wanted to “reallocate the £1,000,000 rich pensioners’ Council Tax discount to services that help many more elderly and vulnerable people.” A fortnight later both Labour and the Liberal Democrats unveiled budget plans to cut the discount by half to just five per cent. The move would in effect be a five per cent Council Tax rise for 8,308 pensioners. Only the Lib Dems have made specific mention of the reduction in their election campaign manifesto, in a pledge to scrap “unfair discounts for the rich”. Labour made no mention of the proposed cut in their election manifesto.

But yesterday Labour’s Cllr Williams confirmed to the Daily Echo that his party would look to remove the discount and replace it with unspecified measures to help pensioners. “For next year, we’ll be looking for ways to change the pensioner discount so it benefits those that really need it,” he said. “At the moment it gives most to those that have most. Ten per cent off the tax on a five-bedroom house is worth much more than 10 per cent off the tax on a one-bedroom flat.”

Lib Dem group leader Adrian Vinson, who could hold the balance of power in a hung council, said his party would not support the overnight abolition of the discount but would back it being phased out in future years to protect other services for older people. He said: “We would wish to investigate ways in which the interest of less well-off pensioners could be protected. Our principle concern is not everybody is in hardship, even pensioners.”

Don Harper, from the Southampton Pensioners Forum, said the discount benefited the “poorest pensioners” who had an income, or savings above £16,000, too high to qualify for Council Tax benefit but were still struggling to get by. He said: “With the way prices are going up, if we don’t get the discount I’m sure a lot of people would have to think hard about heating and food bills. “We lost up to £100 a household in cuts to the heating allowance. The Council Tax discount made up for that.” Mr Harper added: “Some people have got this idea that because a lot of us own our own houses we are rich. It’s not true.”

But Christine Melsom, from the IsItFair Council Tax campaign group, said that while many of her members appreciated the discount, it was unfair. She said: “Pensioners are struggling, but they are not the only ones. We must remember that the discount is being paid for by other Council Tax payers, some equally hard up as the pensioners. I really don't agree with it at all.”

She said it would be preferable to raise the thresholds on savings and income to allow more pensioners to qualify for means-tested benefits. IsItFair is campaigning for new tax needs that takes into account ability to pay from income and is not based on property size or value. Tory Council leader Royston Smith denied the discount was a direct appeal to the grey vote, who are more likely to go to the polls than other age groups. He said it was designed to ease the doubling of Council Tax under the last Labour Government and to provide some relief to fixed income pensioners who had been hardest hit by rising prices.

“The withdrawal of the Council Tax discount is a pernicious attack on pensioners in our city,” he said. “The people that have got it are grateful for it. They might be asset rich but not cash rich.” Mr Harper said he doubted whether the retention of the discount would swing pensioners to vote to the Conservatives but said it would be on their minds as they decided who to vote for.

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

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