Have your say on the proposed council tax support scheme

What is happening to council tax benefit?

From April 2013, the government is stopping the national council tax benefit scheme and asking councils to introduce new locally-run discount schemes to support council taxpayers on low incomes. The new scheme will be known as Council Tax Support
The government has outlined the changes a new scheme should include:

• there will be no change to the amount of help pensioners currently receive
• the impact on the most vulnerable should be considered
• any new scheme should encourage, not discourage, people to work.

The new scheme will be designed to meet the needs of the local area and councils are allowed to decide the rules for their own scheme. This means people could have different experiences depending on where they live. Wiltshire Council are working closely with our neighbouring councils to try and make sure that where possible, we have similar rules for our schemes.

What effect could the proposed changes have?

Because the government is giving Wiltshire Council less money for the new scheme, it is likely that nearly everyone who is currently receiving council tax benefit will have to pay something towards their council tax in the future. However, we anticipate people of pensionable age will not be affected by these changes and will continue to receive their benefit as normal.

At the moment, the government helps people on the lowest incomes by paying all of their council tax for them. Under the new scheme, this could change so that people can only get help to pay part of their bill, no matter what their circumstances.

How can you tell Wiltshire Council what you think?

They are asking you for your views on how they support people to pay their council tax in the future and get your ideas on what a new support scheme should look like. There are some tough decisions to be made as we cannot provide everyone with the same level of support as we would like to.

The council tax payers survey

Between 5 September and 30 October 2012 you can have your say by completing the online questionnaire or alternatively you can print out a paper copy of the council tax payers survey 63kb.