Council Tax Reduction โขSchemeโ Review
Table of Contents
The Council โขTax โขReductionโค (CTR) scheme offers financial assistance to individuals with low incomes, reducing their Council โคTax liability. Currently,โ the scheme operates โdifferently for pensioners and working-age applicants. The scheme for pensioners isโ set nationally, whileโ the council determines the rules for working-age residents – meaning our pensioner residentsโฃ will not be affected โคby any proposed โchanges.
Whyโ Review the Current Scheme?
Collecting Council Tax from households with the lowest incomes can beโฃ challenging due to limited financial resources. With โคrising household bills, it’s crucial to regularly assess the levelโฃ of support provided to these โฃfamilies.
Ashford Borough โCouncil currently โprovides a more โขgenerous scheme for vulnerable households – those with disabilities or โขcarer responsibilities – than any other council in Kent. โInstead โขof reducing support โคfor working-age residents generally, we are exploring options to increase assistance forโข those not currently receivingโค disability or carer benefits, bringing their support level in line with the existing Vulnerable โฃScheme.
The transition toโค Worldwide Credit has โขalso highlighted โขa needโฃ for review. As more complexโข cases have moved onto Universal Credit, elements like the limited capability for work element, disabled child element, and carers element have become more common. The current CTR scheme doesn’t account for these universal Credit components when calculating household income. This consultation โaims to address this, anticipating that all residents will be on Universal Credit by April 2026.
Proposed Changes
We are considering severalโ options to improve the scheme, including:
* โค increasing the maximum level of support โคfor all low-income working-ageโ households to eitherโ 90% or 100%.
* โ Disregarding the various disability and carer-related elements ofโข Universal Credit when calculating household income.
* Merging the โworkingโข Age Scheme and the Vulnerableโฃ Scheme intoโฃ aโข single,banded system based โขon โhousehold composition.
Importantly, all proposed changes โคwill continue to protect disabled and carerโค householdsโค by disregarding all disability andโฃ carer-related income,โข such as Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, โAttendance Allowance, and Carers Allowance.
No final decisions have been made, and the results ofโ thisโ public consultation will be carefully considered.
Noel ovenden, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resource (with Special Responsibility for Housing and homelessness), stated: “I support consulting on aโ simpler and fairer scheme, particularly in response to โthe removal of the KCC incentive โคgrant. This scheme โwill align with other districts in Kent and prepare usโค for Local Government Reorganisation. I’m pleasedโฃ thatโ anโฃ Exceptional Circumstances Fund will remainโฃ available to support those negatively impacted by any changes.”
We value yourโ input to ensure anyโค changes to the scheme are fair, transparent, and meet the needs of our community. The consultation will be โขopen onโฃ a dedicated portal โขat https://www.haveyoursay.ashford.gov.uk/council-tax-reduction-consultation from 19 September toโ 31โค October 2025.
Further details on theโฃ proposed changes are available on our dedicated Council Tax Reduction consultation web page: https://www.ashford.gov.uk/council-tax-reduction-consultation. You can also find โขgeneral details about our current Council Tax โReduction scheme online: https://www.ashford.gov.uk/council-tax-reduction.