Bob Neill MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local Government

2-4 Cockspur Street

London SW1Y  5DH

9^th August 2012 

Dear Bob,

I am writing to draw your attention to Early Day Motion 350 of which I am top sponsor and which reads as follows: 

That this House notes that the Government has given responsibility for deciding who should receive council tax benefit to local authorities, whilst simultaneously cutting the budget available for council tax benefit by approximately 10 per cent; further notes that the national Government cut to council tax benefit funding is happening against the backdrop of the planned 27.4 per cent real terms cut in funding to local government for the four years from 2011 to 2015; is concerned that councils are being forced into the position of having to either deny benefit to some of their poorest residents or increase the burden of council tax on other residents; hopes that to minimise hardship and to maximise fairness every local authority charged with administering a local council tax discount system will convene an independent panel of voluntary and public sector experts, including cross-party representation of councillors, to ensure that decisions are not influenced by short-term political aims and that consultation on where Government cuts to council tax benefit will fall is undertaken; and calls on the Government to reverse the cuts to the council tax benefit budget and to local government funding overall.

In order to limit the impact on the most vulnerable households in the city, Brighton and Hove city council proposes to directly absorb some of the minimum £2.5 million reduction that will need to be made locally and is currently consulting on the option of a Council Tax Low Income Discount to replace the benefit.

However, it is clear that the more certain groups are protected from the changes, the greater the impact on everyone else. 

Many vulnerable residents will be forced to pay council tax for the first time amounting to as much as £13 a month that they can ill afford, potentially tipping them over the edge and further consigning them to hardship and structural poverty.

The level of the council tax support grant is in part based on an expected decrease in take up next year and this decrease has been applied uniformly across all authorities.

However, in Brighton and Hove the caseload has increased by 7% over the period from 2009/10 to 20011/12 and is expected to increase further in 2012/13 and 2013/14.

Please can you advise why forecasts of future caseload have not been taken into account in the calculation of the grant and how the national totals have been established?

The changes will have an impact on council tax collection too - possibly resulting in increased costs and a greater workload. Claimants on low incomes will be required to pay more of their council tax thanks to the proposed reduction in council tax support, at the same time as experiencing reductions in other benefits through universal credit.

This means that council tax debts for those in receipt of council tax support may be more difficult to collect and potentially collection rates will be lower.

Even with local authorities taking all reasonable steps to recover all debt, this is an additional burden and a potential loss of revenue, which the government should take into account in its allocations.

I understand that the LGA, and even many Conservative led councils, are opposed to the way that the Government is localising council tax and I would urge you to reconsider the cuts to the council tax benefit budget.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP Brighton Pavilion